We are all going to die. That’s a fact. All of us also need to lose ten pounds, exercise five times a week, quit smoking and stop listening to identity politics media. As humans, we are one of the few species that can project and imagine the future. And [...]
I love words. I listen to their songs for hidden stories. Like the sounds of water laughing over rocks. The forests speak to me. Yellow aspens chatter. The pines whisper. White clouds are clean and pure. So in the environmental movement, why do I often hear, “We catch more [...]
Once, I was traveling through Qamani Tuaq in the Kivalliq region of what is now Nunavut, the former Canadian Northwest Territories. I met an Inuit native there whose name was Ikutaq (or some close approximation). He might have been twenty or seventy, the elements chiseling their harsh breath on [...]
Cradled between three birch trees is where they will find me. I look at my rifle. A bolt action 30.06 manufactured by the Savage Arms Company of Connecticut. It has a Redfield 4x telescopic sight and is accurate to 200 yards. It can kill anything from prairie dogs to [...]
Imagine waking up one day, and being faced with another new environmental crisis… say, saving the beavers, who might be faced with extinction. Imagine that you call attention to the plight of the beavers, and scientists do some research to uncover the causes of the beavers’ demise. Then people, [...]
Most of my friends are apoplectic over actions taken by the current administration toward the environment. They can’t understand why anyone in their right mind would remove stream protections or “OK” the Dakota Access Pipeline. To them, that makes no sense. In my last post, I talked about frames [...]
In my last post I talked about failure of the environmental movement’s messaging. It’s no secret that the other side, the fossil fuel industry, is investing in think-tanks to shape public policy. Since energy policy and the environment are complex issues, you may not even be aware of the [...]
There’s an old adage that says you should never be the first one to tell someone their baby is ugly. Yet, someone has to be first. The messaging of the environmental movement is failing. There, I said it. It’s just an observation. I know it sounds like a criticism, [...]
The Trump administration is a disaster for Americans who want clean air and water and to reduce global warming. Under his onslaught, it is also easy to lose hope or become cynical. We should worry about Trump’s executive orders, but we should also be concerned with cynicism. If you [...]
Let’s call him Art (not his real name). Art drives a Buick Enclave, I would have guessed a Ford F150. He’s from a small town in southern Illinois, population 3,000. Art’s driving cross-country with his wife. We are trapped in a laundromat watching clothes tumble. He’s drinking a beer, [...]
