It is not an exaggeration to say that New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park is under siege. A surge of oil and gas development threatens this ancestral site, recognized as one of the architectural marvels of the world and revered by Native Americans who consider it a living presence.
This summer, three of us were hiking in Alaska’s western Brooks Range when we encountered a pack of eight wolves. We were far from any help when they moved toward us, paused, and then disappeared behind a low ridge.
There is no serious doubt or debate: anthropogenic (human-effected) activities are driving more hurricanes than ever, more intense killer heat waves than ever in recorded meteorological history, more rising seas, more forest fires, more flooding and more salt water encroachment into formerly pristine, potable groundwater along coastlines.
It is not surprising that COVID-19, which ravaged the world, was disastrous for our country’s economy. Millions died from COVID complications; offices, stores and factories closed; and people were forced to quarantine at home.
Massive forest fires in western parts of our country are not only choking us with layers of thick smoke, but are leaving behind millions of acres of scorched hillsides, ridges and valleys.
Poor Butte County, California, again on fire, its smoke choking the air of states miles away.
For more than a year, our country longed for the economy to restart. But now that businesses are once again open, employers find themselves wondering where all the workers have gone.
Modern-day democracy has numerous weaknesses, as we’ve been made well aware: policy differences that cannot be resolved, corruption, manipulation of voting and elections, and the refusal of one side to allow the other to pass legislation.
Hikers are flooding our public lands, so I ask the question: Why can’t people just leave the poor rocks alone?
The wall between the United States and Mexico has come to stand for desperation and suffering for many people. For most of us who live within 20 miles of this 452-mile wall, it’s also seen as a bizarre experiment: How much damage can ripple into the surrounding landscape from a wall that cuts a 60-foot swath through the natural world?
