We’re Rich! (In Nature.) But Few Give A Crap! Ugh.

[HuckleB]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/opinion/sunday/kristof-were-rich-in-nature.html?src=tp&smid=fb-share

"...

America’s most valuable assets aren’t controlled by hedge funds; they’re shared by us all. Gaps between rich and poor have been growing, but our national lands are a rare space of utter democracy: the poorest citizen gets resplendent views that even a billionaire is not allowed to buy.

Roll out a ground sheet, lay down your sleeping bag and the vistas are yours. Particularly in a grim post-9/11 era — an age shaped by anxiety and suspicion — there is something profoundly therapeutic about reconnecting with simplicity and nature.

After one 20-mile day in August of trudging mostly upward, sometimes struggling over huge snowfields, we arrived exhausted at Thielsen Creek in central Oregon. The majesty of the scene — snow-clad Mount Thielsen soaring overhead, the creek burbling below us, no one within miles — took our breath away.

...

The wilderness trims our bravado and puts us in our place. Particularly in traumatic times like these, nature challenges us, revitalizes us, humbles us, exhilarates us and restores our souls. It reminds us that we are part of a larger universe, stewards rather than masters of our world. That’s the lesson you learn as you snuggle exhausted in your sleeping bag and fall asleep outside to the magical sight of owls flitting against shooting stars."


-------------------------


Granted, I'm a little puzzled by a couple of Mr. Kristof's claims, considering that my anecdotal viewpoint is that I've seen far more children in the wilderness the past few years. Still, it's a great column, and the threats posed by the GOP are very real. Ugh.

:hi:

[TwilightGardener]

1. Good article. I am a HUGE believer in state and national parks--they are

my family's only vacation destinations, really. Bought a camper to enjoy them (so still have a hot shower and a microwave and coffee maker--not into roughing it that much). We drag our surly teenagers with us, take them on what amounts to forced marches on the trails, and make them paddle canoes and kayaks. They bitch endlessly (NO XBOX?? NO INTERNET??), and in a couple years probably won't come with us anymore as they grow up and move out, but I will have tried my best to instill a love of nature in them.

[HuckleB]

3. Good on you.

We took our boy on his first camping trip at 5 months old, and on his first backpacking trip when he was 8 months old. Heck, the first time he slept through the night was on that first camping trip. Now, he loves the trail, and loves the off-trail even more, though he is learning to be gentle when we go off-trail. I have no idea what he will be like, once he is seriously introduced to video games (he is 5 and 1/2, and has little experience with them, and hasn't cared much for them, and, while he likes TV, he'd rather be at the park playing soccer), but I have to wonder how different things would be, considering brain plasticity, if we helped kids learn about the world outside of computers, before we introduced them to computers.

[provis99]

2. so,

If you have a car to get there, like Kristof does, and gas money, and money for park fees, and firewood money, and campsite fee money, and camping supplies, you too can feel the same as a billionaire in a park! If you can't afford to travel to a park, like me, I guess you're shit out of luck, peasants!

[HuckleB]

4. That is definitely an issue.

Still, it's a lot less money than most other ways of venturing out into the world.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. I was thinking the same thing. I am one of the peasants. nt

[HuckleB]

5. .

:kick:

[HuckleB]

6. Good morning!