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By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Could these efforts to privatize our public lands and increase the use of all manner of motorized vehicle use have anything to do with some humans' fear of silence? I wonder sometimes and think about Christopher Manes' description of "desert silence" of the California Mojave Desert in his essay, "A Natural History of Silence". He says "In the syllogism of the Mojave, sound requires motion, motion produces heat, and, therefore, desert creatures prefer to keep quiet. The dead calm forces you to hear the blood surge along your temples, a silence so pure it seems tangible, like a hand gripping your face."
In silence, we are forced to examine our lives, our hopes, and our dreams. To many of us, the wilderness is a place to think, to reflect, and to explore our relationship with the natural world. This is not possible with polluting engines or concession stands in the background. When quiet sets in, you get to ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. That answer isn't always pretty. To some, I fear, the roar of an engine is used to intentionally keep away that powerful introspection.
Crowds of snowmobiles and their exhaust in Yellowstone National Park (Photo courtesy
SaveYellowstone.org)
Conservationist Dave Foreman said in his essay "Where Man Is A Visitor," that he feared many proponents of the development of wilderness show no "gut passion for wild things." In our world today, many people seem only able to appreciate nature when they can show that they can control it, manipulate it, or destroy it.
Foreman said that wilderness asks us if we can show self-restraint to leave some places alone? It asks us if we can "consciously choose to share the land with those species who do not tolerate us well?" And, finally, it asks if we can "develop the generosity of spirit, the greatness of heart, not to be everywhere?"
Unless you are comfortable with the park ranger being eventually replaced by a mega-mart employee wearing a blue smock and use fees in the double digits, you had better tell your elected representatives today to resist industry efforts to motorize and privatize our public lands.
This is supposed to be the land of the free, not, as the "Washington Post" titled its June 24, 2001 commentary, the land of the fee.
RESOURCES
1. Read about the attempts to make everyone pay for the natural world in a past Healing Our World article, "Should You Need A Pass to Visit Nature," at
http://www.ens.lycos.com/ens/
feb99/1999L-02-28g.html.
2. The American Recreation Coalition's website can be found at
http://www.funoutdoors.com/
index.html.
3. Visit Dave Foreman's group, The Wildlands Project, at http://www.twp.org.
4. See the organizations who support the anti-environmental organization Coalition for Vehicle Choice at
http://www.vehiclechoice.org/
climate/climad.html.
5. See a detailed article about the corporate takeover of nature by Wild Wilderness at
http://www.wildwilderness.org/
docs/profit.htm.
6. See the Sierra Club's position at http://www.wildwilderness.org/
docs/carlpope.htm.
7. See a revealing article about how the portrayal of nature and animals in Disney films has forever skewed our understanding of the natural world at
http://www.oneworld.org/
ni/issue308/nature.html.
8. See the "Washington Post" column on the problems with the USFS fee program at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/articles/A36045-2001Jun22.html.
9. Check out Corporate Watch for an article about corporate attempts to minimize our environmental problems at
http://www.corpwatch.org/greenwash/
background/2000/world.html.
10. Dave Foreman's and Christopher Manes' essays appear in "Places of the Wild," edited by David Clarke Burks, Island Press, 1994.
11. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Express your outrage at the blatant attempts to turn nature into the land of brand names and product placement. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at
http://www.visi.com/
juan/congress/ziptoit.html. Tell them it is time to end killings like these.
http://www.visi.com/
juan/congress/ziptoit.html.
Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle. He can be found seeking out the last of the wild places with his wife and new son. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at
jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his web site at
http://www.healingourworld.com
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-03g.html
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