“QUIT OVER-CONSUMING OR QUIT OVER-PRODUCING CONSUMERS”

Dear Stiles:

Down here in Alabama, suggesting there might be too many people is tantamount to saying that college football is a communist plot and Elvis was a Yankee. The idea bounces off folk’s eardrums and comes back out like so much brain gas. But, of course, as you note in your latest polemic (Vol. 13, No. 4), there are way too many people on Earth and intelligent critters don’t argue the point with a straight face. Assuming you can find some intelligent critters.

“Standing Room Only” was a fine piece and you are to be commended for sticking your neck out (again). I reckon you are now, as they say in law school, “sitting on the horns of the dilemma,” whatever that means. I can hear the proverbial knees jerking across America as your gentle readers peruse your latest editorial.

My friend Pete Jones has an axiom that goes like this: “If we want a sane tomorrow, either we quit over-consuming, or we quit over-producing consumers.” I don’t see anybody backing off on loading the pantry. In fact, didn’t we hear President Bush recently say that he wants to increase the tax cuts in order to put more money in American’s pockets so we’ll start spending again? It’s enough to make you think consumption is our patriotic duty. Someone with a keen sense of the obvious could see that America isn’t rushing to emulate the ideology of “Live simply so others might live.”

I don’t know about Utah, but where I live is becoming an unrecognizable ghost of its former fine self. We’re looking at sprawl, air pollution, dying rivers, mega-malls, cell phone towers, an SUV (or two!) in every garage, and traffic the likes of which I haven’t seen since, well, since I mistakenly drove through Atlanta. You’d think we’d won the lottery and used the money to construct our own private Dollywood into infinity. If and when we’re done – then what? Can we ever say there’s an end to growth without admitting the House of Cards is precariously shaky? Like I said – brain gas.

There are those who believe in “parsimony” as an antidote to what ails us. To them I say: turn on the TV and locate a show featuring Jane Goodall’s chimpanzees. Watch the chimps very carefully, then imagine them having unlimited access to guns, alcohol and automobiles. Now, allow those chimps to multiply at will and voila!- there we are.

No, Homo erectus asphaltus is hard-wired to be acquisitive beyond limits. We are a greedy naked ape and might as well get used to it. In the long run, it’s much simpler to reduce our numbers and behave naturally than to socially engineer our way into more futuristic quagmires

At any rate, you nailed it good and now there’s liable to be a rash of hate mail, teeth gnashing, and even a threat or two. It’s in keeping with the times to be reactionary towards ideologically correct publishers.

So hunker down and remain brave in the face of those who don’t have the stomach for reality. The truth is a nasty business.

Keep the Faith.

Yrs truly,

Ned Mudd

THE NEED FOR “ENVIRONMENTAL REFORM”

Thanks much for Alexandra Woodruff’s "Marketing Beauty" piece; I really appreciate all that you're saying there. It also jibes with Jim Stiles' opening up the Zephyr to environmental self-criticism. Now if we can just reform the self-centered know-it-all-never-listen-to-anybody-else varmentalist, maybe some progress can be made.

Good luck,

Martin Murie

N. Bangor NY

THE “SHEER NUMBERS” AND SEPTEMBER 11…

Dear Jim
I was really impressed with the latest Zephyr. It must have been daunting trying to go to press these last few weeks, and you did a great job, especially in retaining your " lead " articles. Your article and John Theobald's were excellent,. I especially enjoyed Lance Christi's article, and felt he was able to condense an awful lot of information into 2 pages.

It is clear to me (and has been for a t least a couple of decades) that the sheer number of " us " will be our undoing, and that it was only a matter of time until somebody in the "Developing" world (God help us all!) would take violent exception to the United States' more greedy and bullying aspects . Our " beacon of freedom " shines rather dimly in those parts of the world that have no prayer of attaining our much-flaunted lifestyle.

 Like everyone else in the country, I was sickened and appalled by the events of Sept. 11. But it seems to me that the best way to honor the victims of this attack would be for us all to seriously re-evaluate our relationship with the natural world (which includes our fellow humans) and seek to live more lightly upon the land.

I also just checked out the new Zephyr website. As my young nephew would say, " Awesome!”

Sincerely,

Veronica Egan

Santa Fe, NM

MORE ON “MARKETING BEAUTY”

I enjoyed Alexandra Woodruff's article on the marketing of the wilderness experience. As I'm sure you're aware, media has played an overwhelming role in marketing wilderness, again in the name of a dollar. Journals like "Outside" didn't just ride the wave of extreme sports, wilderness and status, they generated much of the wave.

"Outside" was created by some former editors of "Rolling Stone" who decided they didn't have enough and that we didn't either. The land and the national psyche have suffered from it.

But when corporate America identifies a trend in national psyche that might jeopardize profit or their reputation, they reverse the trend or repair their reputation through public relations, a part of media.

It has almost come to the point where public opinion is made or changed through PR. But I believe PR is underutilized by those who work toward preserving the land. The PR industry has had a reputation of corruption and deceit and we believe we dare not go there. Used ethically though, it's a tool to activate and bring others around to a new (or perhaps old) way of thinking.

Is that corporate media I see using their PR machine to win the entirety of America over to selfish commerce? Why aren't we trying to overcome that effort with their same tools? Our job should be easier; after all, once reminded, who could really be opposed to wilderness protection in their heart and mind?

Richard Dixon

Salt Lake City, UT

THANKS FROM A NEW YORKER…

 Dear editor, a friend turned me on to Canyon Country Zephyr, it was appreciated. I was in Washington at the SUWA office three blocks from the capitol, when the pentagon was hit. The day before was a peaceful and productive one, spent lobbying congressional offices for Utah wilderness.

I came home on Amtrak, two days later, to see lower Manhattan forever changed. I am touched by the overwhelming support and expressions of grief from people everywhere.

I have had a love affair with the west since I was a boy, growing up in the Bronx, watching Sky King and Penny. I can't remember how many times I have come to Moab and the rest of southern Utah, to energize my soul. The magic of Coyote Gulch, is the tip of the iceberg of my special places, as is the enchanting Green River. I've driven every mile of Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang, loving the dusty trail. I can't imagine why it took me so long to discover SUWA and it's wonderful people and work. I hope to return again and again, whether it's with Wilderness Volunteers or just some of my friends, to replenish my heart in this wonderful land.

Gary Warren

Roslyn Heights, New York