Somewhat ironically, the closest view of what my local terrain would look like pre-European, is from high up in the sky in an airplane. You can still pick out clearcuts and range land opened up by homesteaders and commercial timber industries, but the green carpet of Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest seems to cover everything, punctuated by rising strata volcanoes with glacier caps, signaling the tectonic action of two great plates sliding atop one another in a slippery game of tug-o-war. The outcome of this activity could be catastrophic shifts in the land we stand on, or fly over, causing quakes with magnitude rarely felt, and never recorded in modern records. These majestic mountains would blow their caps right off, and we have the modest “burp” of Loowit in 1980 as a minuscule hit at what any of these peaks could unleash if compelled into full scale eruption.
Still (may it stay so for my lifetime), this ecology is evolved for the moments of sudden shift, and today, nearing fifty years of regrowth without much human engagement. this volcano has demonstrated what our natural systems are capable of when allowed to showcase evolutionary technique. Mother Nature is one of the most adaptable things going, yet we the people think it’s our right, and worse, duty to inflict our own will on her surface. Our species throws out millions of years it took these systems to perfect a thriving ecology that provided more than enough, and for selfish intent, hoards what it thinks are the most valued parts, for convenience, dominion, and hierarchy of haves and have nots, all artificial and extremely detrimental to most life on this finite planet. Even in the picture below, the inner ring of volcanic hummocks are bordered on all sides by commercial timber extraction plantations. The green forest of healthy looking trees are actually a monoculture of genetically modified trees all scheduled to be cut and removed from the landscape in our lifetime. This area is not protected, there are exclusion zones for scientific research, but those could be removed in time, and the timber industry is counting on it.
What about those pre-European conditions you were talking about Liz? Yes, the concept that what was here when enterprising European men landed on this continent would blow our minds today if we could even comprehend them. Birds on migration routs blocking the sun out for days, imagine that many birds- you’ve never seen it in your life time because those birds were taken by industry. You’ve never seen truly intact temperate rainforests because our ancestors came and cut them all down. The nice National Park you walk through with gaping mouths is young growth, only hundreds of years instead of thousands. We the people who are still taking too much, think a trip to Yellow Stone where wild elk, grizzly, wolves, elk, and some unique tectonic thermal features are curated for your viewing pleasure, is intact wilderness, are kidding themselves. It’s epic Mother Nature, to be sure, but it’s a mother with her legs, arms, and head cut off.
The violent depiction I’m describing should be jolting, out economic prosperity- and it’s really only a top few people holding the majority of that prospect, comes from the blood of our ecology. We don’t watch, so we’re not haunted by it. We know Mother Nature is being ripped apart somewhere else, and snuggle into our warm beds in well built boxes with secure streets and 24-hour security controlling us, oh, I’m sorry, protecting us. Don’t worry, if you aren’t doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide and no reason to fear big brother- he’s your keeper, obey. Assuming we have free will- and our (agreed upon?) Federal Constitution, which reinforces this, along with that not so catchy tune we sing at big sport ball events, “land of the free home of the brave”. Our ancestors were brave enough to genocide people, animals, and landscapes to get us into these mega stadiums today. To sing about our contrived illusions of free choice and ready to defend their own supremacist patriot views, yes, brave. We think we’re just watching it happen in other places on our social media consumption feeds- our addition to screens, and disconnect in real time. Perfectly blue sky every day folks!
I’m not a Luddite. I’m not against modern medicine, vaccines, GMO (with a lot of regulation), or invention. I am against these acts without any thought to the finite natural world or global humanity. Humanity is part of the natural world, not party to it when they please. Sit with that for a moment and sip your latte or artificially sweetened whatever- it’s most likely not water out of the tap in your home- which should be a red flag to us all, but no, we love flavored water now, who cares where the water comes from- it’s endless right? WRONG! Big wrong indeed, and we are only just starting to really see how our own lives are effected here at home. Wells are drying up, and utility prices are going through the roof. Get all the smart tech and electric cars and plug it in plug it in. Ask your auto-bot about everything, let the computer to the thinking for you. Don’t think about what that artificial intelligence is costing us in clean air, soil, and water.
No, just keep watching the colorful screen and get back to your drudgery job that will never pay enough to get a break or feel ahead in your finances. For those not feeling akin to this narrative by now, you are upper class folks (and I’ll fold myself in- I own property without debt and have higher learning education) and are probably living the lifestyle of convince perpetuated through whole sale annihilation of our planet. You are in the seats pictures above. That’s not a bad place to sit, really. You feel like those freedoms and brave actions are righteously all around you and something to celebrate. Or, you could be doing your part, recycling, eating local, tipping well, trying to move away from driving somewhere every day, or even growing a little of your own food. That’s one step, and for many right now, that seems to be all they can do. So, I’ve begun to daydream a little bit, just to take the edge off. Daydreams about 5,000 year old forests with trees girthing out with 20′ diameter trucks, supporting so much wildlife, it’s impossible to see the trees through the animals.
Actually, this dream has been the vision of EEC Forest Stewardship for a long time, and it’s a modest goal to be sure. Producing a small amount of local food without destroying (and in fact, enhancing) the landscape where cultivated. Inspiring others to look in similar directions, even just buying or picking local where and when they can. Noting the imbalances in our food systems and helping to explain why. Rooting us in our natural world and thinking about whats growing on there now. A lot. This is what keeps me floating down the river of life with optimism. Nature will find a way, she’s brilliant. We’re part of that evolutionary genius, and ,at times, we shine. Adaptation will be key.
When standing in the sea of post-European development now “just scraping by”, I can see the wild elk herd still grazing around the fenced fields of hay that will be cut and removed form this landscape to feed domestic stock that will feed us. There are some protected forest beyond where trees might one day be thousands of years old. Further still are the hills and ridges that signal tectonic uplift with rounded glacial edges. This stretched the scale of time we’re living in, reminding me that, though humans are now on a path of irretrievable climate disruption that will reshape our world and rewrite our histories once more, we’re still surviving, and around us, some of nature remains thriving and adapting to suit the epochs ahead. There will still be clearcuts scaring the sides of many ridges to come, but evolution will not be stopped by our short lived arch in the scale of geologic time. Let’s make the best of each day, and eat some sugar that was harvested by people on slave wages far away, then imported to our well stocked grocery stores or assimilated into commercial products we love to buy from our discount box stores. These European conveniences will also have to go, but that does not mean we can’t thrive in abundance, it’s just going to look very different for those who open their eyes.
EEC Forest Stewardship 