see that more and more has begat serious consequences for the planet, including the climate change trouble we presently find ourselves in. We are beginning to see that Business-As-Usual is both unsustainable and destructive. We perceive, dimly, that we have to change things before things get changed for us.
But will we do more than burnish the rough edges of our behavior? I don’t know. As I said, it’s complicated. At least it’s comforting to know that ‘seeds’ of an agrarian alternative, such as horse power, are out there, being cultivated by knowing hands.
I pulled into the hotel parking lot.
At sundown, I drove to nearby Millersburg, the county seat, to watch the 4th-of-July fireworks. I parked near a bridge and meandered down to a big field where townsfolk sat in knots, talking quietly. I found a comfortable spot and settled in for the show, which turned out to be superb. As I watched the colorful explosions fill the darkening sky, I couldn’t help but think: we live in revolutionary times too. A different sort of tyranny is in charge, of course, two-hundred and thirty-two years later, requiring a different sort of liberation. But the goal is the same: independence. Liberty. And the pursuit of happiness.
All worth fighting for, I think.
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Chapter 6
Prisms
I am a conservationist, which means I try to make sense of the world through the prism of our relationship to nature.
While the particular light I study is refracted into narrow beams of interest, including land health, ranching, local food, conservation history, and the nature of work, the overall prismatic pattern reflects my desire to understand one topic: how to improve human well-being.
I’ve had this desire since I was a boy, undoubtedly influenced by my father, who was a doctor. His prism was neurology and he used it not only to heal but to explore his fascination with his fellow human beings. Although he didn’t talk much about his work, his obvious humanism and profound kindness towards others were deeply motivating to me. People fascinated my mother as well, especially the lives and works of writers. However, her view of human nature, likely reinforced by her reading material, was not as sanguine as my father’s. Still, her passion for human creativity made a deep impression on me at tender age.
These were prisms I inherited. Eventually, I discovered some of my own, including archaeology – with which I began to study the relationship between humans and nature. I read voraciously about past civilizations, learning in the process about the possibilities of human accomplishment and well-being. It was fascinating stuff, even if the stories often ended tragically. But it was on an archaeological survey in my late teenage years, hiking across the desert, that I gained a rare opportunity to study the fine line between nature and culture first hand, usually under a broiling sun.
Copyright ©2008 Courtney White, A West That Works, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction is permitted, as long as credit is given to the author.