Bravo Bryan. Elections have consequences. There’s another one right around the corner. Perhaps it’s time to bring these issues into the voting booth. Polls show overwhelming support for protecting endangered species and their habitat, which is our habitat as well. But passive support is not enough. Politicians need to know that there is a political price to be paid for turning a blind eye to what this rogue administration is doing to our natural heritage. For more information on what you can do visit the Endangered Species Coalition website https://www.endangered.org/
Bryan, this is one of the most important essays I have read by anyone in laying out in scientific, poetic, moral, political terms what is at stake; who we are as a species and as a civilization; what being a thinking, feeling person means; what having free will and power to choose means in real world consequences; and so much more. Mainstream media, our elected officials, faith groups, the many organizations in our country — where are the wide-spread articles and broadcasts and analyses like this one? I hear almost nothing disseminated nationally about what is actually happening as we speak; about the dire consequences of the reckless take over by amoral greed and hubris. I do believe a vast majority of Americans would be moved if they could see and hear what is actually happening. The information is all around us. It is being disseminated in niche groups who are talking only to one another. These are issues fundamental to our being, to all other beings, to the very orb on which depends our very existence. Where is the outrage; the urgency; the will to refuse to participate by ignorance and apathy in such destruction? This our time; a true tipping point for us and the planet. Thank you for highlighting the morality of being human. It has become the most endangered thing of all. Keep on writing.
My heart breaks at the thought of this terrible administration not respecting nature and it's precious life. I hope they can be stopped and greed is pushed back. Thank you, Pamela
Thanks, Neil. I used to write for wider audiences (Boston Globe and elsewhere). But in order to pay the bills now, Substack is demanding so much of my time and intellectual horsepower. But I do hope folks can share my posts wherever. It'll help!
Personally, I'm rooting for the pupfish, but just because the current administration in D.C. is so bad, I don't want to avert my eyes from what is happening closer to home, here in Vermont. The Senate's Democratic Majority Leader went before Vermont's Land Use Resource Board and said, "For too long, the question has been how are we going to protect the natural world from people, not how are we going to create a symbiosis and ensure our human habitat is adequate ...." (And yet, Vermont Conservation Voters gives her a lifetime pro-environment score of 100%.) The head of our housing finance agency told a public forum that we have to reform our housing laws so that so that "we can make sure that the human habitat is as adequately served as all the bear habitats and the other habitats that we have in the state." I guess somehow I didn't get the message that the flora and fauna in Vermont were "winning" and we human types were "losing."
Each of us must ask... as did Mary Oliver in the final lines of her poem- "The Summer Day... Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" We the people can make positive changes for all life on this our home planet. You do well expressing our community's concerns, Bryan. Thank you.
Brilliant, Bryan. “Death by a thousand clear cuts,” indeed. The ignorance and greed are staggering. Thanks for writing about the Rice’s Whale. You might also enjoy Mary Beth Rew Hicks’ two-parter on them on her Substack, Sea Cow.
I have come a place of awaiting each Chasing Nature post as I might the arrival any magical element of nature revealed. It’s always beautiful and compelling, asking the best of each reader, asking that we be attentive, thoughtful, respectful, compassionate. Thank you, Bryan.
A simple, brilliant essay and reminder of something we know at a deep level, but have yet to take on (with appropriate humility) as a human responsibility. Thank you.
I so feel you here. Your pupfish scenario is very poignant -- makes my heart hurt. As I note in this piece, there is a much deeper issue, which is that even with a strong ESA or functional EPA, we still exist in a culture and system that deems it acceptable to consider losing entire species in pursuit of economic growth. Heartbreakingly insane. https://cylviahayes.substack.com/p/assault-on-the-homeland-continues
Bryan - You’ve cut to the heart of the issue. Beautiful. Powerful. Concise.
Aw, shucks -- thanks, Steven!
Thanks Bryan for expressing what so many of us are feeling.
It's an honor to write of what folks are feeling. Thanks, Karen.
Bravo Bryan. Elections have consequences. There’s another one right around the corner. Perhaps it’s time to bring these issues into the voting booth. Polls show overwhelming support for protecting endangered species and their habitat, which is our habitat as well. But passive support is not enough. Politicians need to know that there is a political price to be paid for turning a blind eye to what this rogue administration is doing to our natural heritage. For more information on what you can do visit the Endangered Species Coalition website https://www.endangered.org/
Thanks, Patrick. Means a lot to me coming from you. And, yeah, action matters -- thanks for that link to the ESC Coalition!
Bryan, this is one of the most important essays I have read by anyone in laying out in scientific, poetic, moral, political terms what is at stake; who we are as a species and as a civilization; what being a thinking, feeling person means; what having free will and power to choose means in real world consequences; and so much more. Mainstream media, our elected officials, faith groups, the many organizations in our country — where are the wide-spread articles and broadcasts and analyses like this one? I hear almost nothing disseminated nationally about what is actually happening as we speak; about the dire consequences of the reckless take over by amoral greed and hubris. I do believe a vast majority of Americans would be moved if they could see and hear what is actually happening. The information is all around us. It is being disseminated in niche groups who are talking only to one another. These are issues fundamental to our being, to all other beings, to the very orb on which depends our very existence. Where is the outrage; the urgency; the will to refuse to participate by ignorance and apathy in such destruction? This our time; a true tipping point for us and the planet. Thank you for highlighting the morality of being human. It has become the most endangered thing of all. Keep on writing.
Very kind of you, Deanne. Thanks so much. You've expressed what so many of us are thinking and feeling.
Unfortunately, too many people wouldn't care or would actually approve.
Unfortunately, I agree. But we'll align ourselves with people who care -- and do what we can to appeal to the rest.
Hi Bryan,
My heart breaks at the thought of this terrible administration not respecting nature and it's precious life. I hope they can be stopped and greed is pushed back. Thank you, Pamela
We'll see how this all plays out in the courts. I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks, Pamela.
Yet another articulate and thoughtful article I so enjoy to read. I'm wondering if these get out to a wider audience than here somehow. They should
Thanks, Neil. I used to write for wider audiences (Boston Globe and elsewhere). But in order to pay the bills now, Substack is demanding so much of my time and intellectual horsepower. But I do hope folks can share my posts wherever. It'll help!
Wow!!! What a powerful statement. It needs to be read and reflected on far and wide.
Thanks, Hal! (So great to get out in the field with you and Laura!)
And what president signed the Endangered Species Act into law? Richard Nixon. Oh, the irony!!
A different era, to be sure. :-(
Personally, I'm rooting for the pupfish, but just because the current administration in D.C. is so bad, I don't want to avert my eyes from what is happening closer to home, here in Vermont. The Senate's Democratic Majority Leader went before Vermont's Land Use Resource Board and said, "For too long, the question has been how are we going to protect the natural world from people, not how are we going to create a symbiosis and ensure our human habitat is adequate ...." (And yet, Vermont Conservation Voters gives her a lifetime pro-environment score of 100%.) The head of our housing finance agency told a public forum that we have to reform our housing laws so that so that "we can make sure that the human habitat is as adequately served as all the bear habitats and the other habitats that we have in the state." I guess somehow I didn't get the message that the flora and fauna in Vermont were "winning" and we human types were "losing."
Thanks, Bruce. Humans always win, right? (Except in the many ways we lose.)
Each of us must ask... as did Mary Oliver in the final lines of her poem- "The Summer Day... Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" We the people can make positive changes for all life on this our home planet. You do well expressing our community's concerns, Bryan. Thank you.
.... and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my one wild and precious life! 😳
me too... that keeps us exploring and being surprised.
Brilliant, Bryan. “Death by a thousand clear cuts,” indeed. The ignorance and greed are staggering. Thanks for writing about the Rice’s Whale. You might also enjoy Mary Beth Rew Hicks’ two-parter on them on her Substack, Sea Cow.
Always a treat to hear from you, Julie. Oh, I'll check out Mary Beth's Substack! Thanks!
Nicely done - beautiful and clever, as usual. Thanks for putting words to the thoughts that we, your choir, feel.
An honor to do so, Bruce. As always, thanks for reading those words of mine!
I have come a place of awaiting each Chasing Nature post as I might the arrival any magical element of nature revealed. It’s always beautiful and compelling, asking the best of each reader, asking that we be attentive, thoughtful, respectful, compassionate. Thank you, Bryan.
So kind of you, Michael. Thanks. You're reading my mind as well!
A simple, brilliant essay and reminder of something we know at a deep level, but have yet to take on (with appropriate humility) as a human responsibility. Thank you.
It seems as if all this is fertile terrain for poetry, Scudder? Extinction, responsibility, humility?
I so feel you here. Your pupfish scenario is very poignant -- makes my heart hurt. As I note in this piece, there is a much deeper issue, which is that even with a strong ESA or functional EPA, we still exist in a culture and system that deems it acceptable to consider losing entire species in pursuit of economic growth. Heartbreakingly insane. https://cylviahayes.substack.com/p/assault-on-the-homeland-continues