Has Jesus Come and Gone?

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By Daniel Geery (about the author) Page 5 of 6 page(s)

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Mariah: What are your feelings about holding up a multi-million-dollar project that could be used to serve economic and social interests to protect a fairly unknown species-say, the snail darter or the Furbish lousewort?

Brower: It's unfortunate that we don't always have something furry and cuddly to support; you can get a lot of support for furry and cuddly things. I believe that the diversity of life of which the snail darter is a part is important to us. The diminution of that diversity is not good for us. To make a world that becomes more and more a world of starlings, rats, pigeons, and man is to make a world that is not going to be very satisfactory to humanity. I think that we had better realize that we've preempted enough territory four ourselves; we should leave the snail darters, the whales, the coyotes, and the wolves alone in their territory, and try to get by where we are by doing better in our territory. Instead of waiting until we've wiped out all these things that make the Earth beautiful, we should turn around and go back where we've been, and do better.

We ourselves came from the forces that are in the wilderness, yet we haven't the beginning of an idea how many answers there are to the questions we haven't even learned how to ask in and of the wilderness. That's part of what Thoreau had in mind when he said, "In wildness is the preservation of the world." I've been trying to get that message through to the people who think wilderness is just where the hardy, wealthy few make footprints for their own pleasure. Anybody who thinks that would evaluate the Mona Lisa by weighing the paint. Wilderness is terribly important as our window to how the life force works and always has worked-quite successfully, at a very low hourly cost.

Mariah: What forms of commercial or economic development do you condone for the future?

Brower: I condone, particularly as I watch the resource bank being overdrawn rather heavily, going back where we were with building, and going into recycling, refurbishing, renovation, and retrofitting. We've already put some good bones into our past construction, and those bones offer us the very challenging opportunity to keep a lot of people busy making old structures usable, and delightful. I'd like to see more of this.

I would certainly like to see the development of the railroads. I would love to see the [Army] Corps of Engineers stop pouring concrete into rivers, and be given the assignment of getting the railroads back into operation. The Corps has the engineering skill; it knows how to get the contracts; it has the political muscle to get the job done.

I would like to see the Bureau of Reclamation reclaim land, for the first time in its history, rather than just overcome deserts, and inundate fertile valleys. I'm not against all the Bureau has done, but there a few things I'd like to have undone, like Glen Canyon Dam and Hetch Hetchy Dam. I'd like to see the Bureau's emphasis shifted to getting lands that have been exhausted by poor agricultural practices back into operation. I'd like to see the Bureau of Reclamation build a nationwide constituency, and reclaim abused land in Tennessee, West Virginia, California, and Utah.

Mariah: Does it bother you that environmentalists always seem to be telling people what they're doing wrong instead of what they should be doing right?

Brower: No, it doesn't. When we say it's wrong to build dams, we're saying it's right to have free-flowing rivers; there are two sides to every coin. I think it's the opponents of conservation who like to say it's negative to want to save something-I think it's positive. There have been times in our past when thrift was looked upon as a virtue.

FOE's new book, Progress as if Survival Mattered, goes into some 18 sectors of society and tries to outline how each of those sectors would be operated if we had more conservation conscience in them, as if we thought it is fiscally responsible to leave the environment with as great a net worth when we pass it on as when we acquired it-to see if we can operate the environment, the Earth, while we are here as brief tenants, as we do a public trust. A trustee at the bank has got to make sure the beneficiary gets all that's coming to him or he can be hauled into court. I think the corporate and government managers of land, and the private managers of resources, should operate by the same ethic.

Mariah: Do you believe it's more important for people to adapt their personal lifestyles toward more ecologically conscious living, or to fight social or legal environmental battles?

Brower: It's a good idea to do both. I think personal lifestyles can be changed to great advantage. And everybody should fight an environmental battle now and then-don't take them all on, because it's very exhausting; take on one or two that move you.

As for changes in lifestyle, I've seen for myself the advantages, when I wanted to go to Nepal. As I approached 64, I decided I'd better go fairly soon or it might not be possible. When I was 63 ½, I started training: I wanted to go to Nepal the following October. I pushed food and drink farther away than usual, and that was helpful. But the main thing I did to get rid of some weight was to start walking down my hill in Berkeley to the bus a mile and a half away, 800 vertical feet lower, rather than drive my care to work. As a result, I put 600 miles on my boots and 6,000 fewer miles on my car.

Counting parking fees, depreciation, gas, and bridge tolls, I saved about $3,000 in those ten months-which more than paid for the trip. I also saved myself from carrying 25 extra pounds, and I lost 22 more pounds on the trip itself. Now I'm as light as I was when I was married, 34 years ago. My wife thinks that's pretty good, and so do I.

I had intended to retire at about the age of 66, or maybe sooner, but I came back feeling that I wouldn't retire until I was 128. I felt that good. It is just amazing what your body will do if you change your lifestyle that much. It doesn't hurt to walk; it's good to walk.

Mariah: What outdoor activities do you enjoy now?

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Geery lived off the grid for 15 years in an earth-sheltered, solar heated home, while his kids learned in school that solar energy isn't feasible. NAPTA hosts a page on Geery's foibles in (more...)

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