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Into the Wild
By Melissa Turner, editor
It is something my family loves to talk about with a certain wistfulness. In the seventies, my parents decided to go “back to the earth”—escaping their hectic lifestyle in urban Massachusetts for the wilds of Maine. I wasn’t born yet—when my parents and my sister and brother embarked on this adventure. Although, having heard all the stories, I feel a certain fond association to their experience—perhaps because it speaks to my soul.
My family “roughed it” camping out all summer while they worked together to build a house. They put in a garden. They had a horse, a pony, a cow, some goats and chickens. They endured some frigid “30 below” temperatures that blew in from time to time. In fact, going “back to the earth” in Maine is one of my family’s most endearing experiences.
Throughout all time, generations have longed to “reconnect,” to go “back to nature.” Thoreau’s bold words have sent many an idealistic young person packing to the woods to find themselves. But something I’m not quite sure we gather from Thoreau’s experience is how to balance the simple, nature-inspired life with the pressing everyday choices we must make in mainstream society today.
In a moving scene from Sean Penn’s film “Into the Wild,” the main character Christopher McCandless—a young idealist inspired by Thoreau—confronts his own greedy nature when he shoots down a moose for himself, fails to prepare it properly and bugs take over the carcass. Suddenly an unbelievable feast becomes a huge lesson in wastefulness.
McCandless wrote in his journal: “June 14: Maggots already! Smoking appears ineffective. Don’t know, looks like disaster. I now wish I had never shot the moose. One of the greatest tragedies of my life.”
If there is anything we can learn from “back to nature” experiences, it is an appreciation for the fact that the earth’s resources are precious and that we must have respect for the elements that enrich our lives—earth, water, air.
Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once said, “Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.” What choices can we make this year to change this?
We hope the environmental choices (or “solutions” as we like to call them here at EnviroLink) we share in this 2008 supplement will inspire you to weigh the impact of choices you make about using the earth’s resources—from water conservation in the face of drought, to energy efficiency upgrades, to green retail and restaurant alternatives, to reconnecting with the local outdoors scene.
melissaturner@wmsco.com
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