Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Zambia bound...

"Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love."


-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov

"We shall make our most useful contribution to a world in dire need of concern for the neighbor and the stranger if we begin by trying to make ourselves as individuals able to love."

-Rollo May, 1953

Today I leave for Zambia. I wish I had something fancy to write about what to expect, but it's early in the a.m. in Chicago, and I haven't had a drip of coffee yet... If anything, I hope to arrive in Lusaka free of expectations. Take it all as it comes, and absorb all I can while navigating through an entirely new ocean of social and sensory stimuli. I'm sure it'll be quite the ride..

I'll be working for an environmental NGO that has demonstrated competency in achieving conservation goals in Zambia. It has raised awareness of biodiversity and habitat loss, and the corresponding population nosedives of cute, charismatic African wildlife such as lions and cheetahs. With these cute creatures as their poster children, The Zambia Carnivore Programme has been able to work toward habitat protection. Habitat not only for lions, African Wild Dogs, and leopards, but for all of the other organisms living in those corresponding grasslands and valleys. A biodiversity and habitat protection plan via snapshots of large predators. Seems like an effective strategy. Obviously the organization is much more complex and employs many more strategies to achieve its goals. But the aforementioned is an influential method of raising awareness...

More importantly, however, is the effort put forth to illuminate both the short and long term benefits of conservation for surrounding communities. A lot of people mistake conservation with the whims of rich white folks who would like to have pretty playgrounds to vacation in. Not so. Conservation and people are directly connected, and it's no secret that communities surrounded by an unhealthy environment are in trouble.

As much as it is about wild creatures, conservation is about people. The ZCP understands this, and I have a feeling there is a lot to be learned from them in terms of developing goals with foundations in conservation that can ultimately lead to sustainable development. If you're interested in web surfing, you can check them out at www.zambiacarnivores.org


I also slapped a couple more photos from interior Alaska on this post. All of them were taken in Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve sometime in early October.

Anyhow, while chuckling like a couple of idiots at the enormously beautiful landscape in front of us, Scott and I happened upon a local guy out on a dirt road that informed us of a public use cabin just a few miles up a nearby trail. We thanked the man and headed in that direction. That night was cold enough (I think it dropped into the mid teens) for us to be sufficiently pleased with a cozy cabin warmed by an old stove.


We thought we might see quite a few wild creatures in this little drainage. We'd heard a few grizzled bears, a collection of black wolves, and even a wolverine had frequented the area. No carnivores were to be found on our saunter, but we did lay our eyes upon a moose, a few live caribou, and one very dead caribou.




The views from a neighboring ridgeline were big and uninterrupted. Including this choice sunset lingering over glacier-capped big ones.





A perfect view for an early morning. Enjoyed with a fresh cup of coffee and an old skull..





Sunday, October 24, 2010

Clarity in the Tok and Slana valleys

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

-President Abraham Lincoln
November 21, 1864

After a half dozen cups of hot coffee black in the Tok Valley's chilly morning air, we packed it up and headed south to see what was happening with the Slana Valley. We found what we figured we might find: big peaks, blue skies, expansive wetlands, crystal clear water, and honking flocks of waterfowl. Pausing for a few brief moments of landscape absorbtion, and pondering another cup of mid morning coffee, we quietly slid into a super-sized valley tucked behind a few super-sized, 16,000 foot Wrangell Range volcanoes.

The night before, Scott and I found ourselves on top of a mountain discussing the growing disconnect between humans and the land. Depression, apathy, complacency, and expectancy seem to be omnipresent in North America, and I suggested this had something to do with the current lack of connection between humans and the land. Most people would deny this suggestion, arguing that a connection to the land is romantacized and outdated. These same people assume the land is solely a commodity needed to be developed, insist there is no need to maintain a connection with it beyond exploitation, and ignore the priceless free systems that a healthy environment offers a community. Others would simply be oblivious of the disconnect and want to change the subject. If you're skeptical, try to think about the number of corporate logos you recognize. Now name as many species of tree as you can in your community. Peter Forbes observed that the average American can recognize over 1,000 corporate logos, but cannot name three species of tree in their own city. How's that for disconnect?

Scott and I continued, changing the subject to the question of happiness. We talked about our genuinely happy friends with rich souls in Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and even Nebraska. Friends who have gardens growing fresh kale, chard, carrots, squash, berries, apples and more. Friends who put halibut, crab, salmon, or trout on their plates in the summer, who have elk or moose meat on the dinner table throughout the winter. Friends who revere and embrace approaching storms, who aren't afraid of the changing seasons. Friends that understand the value of rich soil, clean water, and strong connections with public land. We talked about the free systems a healthy environment provides: clean water without the need of expensive filtration and purification systems. Rich soils full of bugs, birds, and natural humus that doesn't need expensive synthetic fertilization. Biodiversity, allowing people to supplement their store-bought food with fresh fish, red meat, birds, and wild berries. Clean air. And a community full of people that understands the importance of the land surrounding them. I told Scott that I feel happiest, most at peace, when I am living with a deep connection to the land, and that I wished I could share that feeling with everyone I know. We sat on top of that ridge talking about such things, overlooking a rich valley crawling with ungulates and running with clean water. Two happy souls, absorbing the evening's final warmth from a cold alpine sunset .



Coming down from the ridge after the sun tucked itself behind the Wrangell Range, we talked about how our world has come to the point it has. We talked about the corporatocracy in America, and its ever-expanding influence. For-profit corporations buying political campaigns, resulting in politicians owing favors to private--not public--interests. For-profit corporations ultimately writing legislation, subsequently pushed and backed by the politicians those corporations sponsored in the first place. Many of these corporations also happen to control numerous arms of the media- the very outlets from which the majority of Americans receive their information about purchased policymakers, controversial legislation, and ambiguously illegal corporate involvement. For-profit corporations can replace human jobs with mechanized systems to save money. For-profit corporations can replace rich, diverse farmland with synthetic monoculture to save money and create synthetic seed that does not naturally reproduce so that farmers have to buy seed each subsequent year, forever endebted to the corporations. They can outsource jobs and externalize toxic wastes to save money, dumping jobs overseas and pollutants into our publicly owned airsheds, watersheds, lakeshores, and seashores. And through legislation and various media outlets, they can convince us that they're doing what's in our best interest. Sounds crazy. Yet it's the reality. Funny system, ain't it?

What's interesting is the fact that the very people trying to right the ship are the ones most publicly marginalized. People working to protect clean, drinkable water are marginalized as radical environmentalists. People advocating literacy and strong foundations in ethics are marginalized as elitists. People fighting for common decency, fair wages, and job security in the workplace are marginalized as leftists and socialists. People struggling to maintain possession of their indigenous land or basic rights like accessible, clean water are marginalized as terrorists. And people shouting the loudest in support of for-profit corporations are heralded as patriots.

So we walked and talked. Private interest controlling political campaigns, federal and state level legislation, and the media. A combined manifestation of Orwell and Huxley's prophecies, here and now and in the flesh. We talked about the complexities and interconnectedness of the economy, of natural resources, of private interest vs. public service and a healthy middle class, of the commercialization of human existence. Of the undeniable importance of education and ethics and how they're being marginalized for the sake of Wall Street. We talked as we meandered back to our clean, spartan, creekside camp.

The situation is far more complex than just these thoughts. We'd just covered the tip of the iceberg. But we agreed that a good start to getting things back on track is to help people remember the importance of the land. What we do has consequences. Our actions tangibly affect the land around us, and anybody who believes otherwise is living under an illusion. When people begin to remember the importance of our actions and their environmental ramifications, people will begin to remember the importance of a healthy biotic community, healthy watersheds, clean water, clean air, and robust biodiversity. And when we have a healthy environment, we can have sustainable industries providing jobs that help stimulate a local economy, a real community.


So Scott and I wrapped up our night in an aspen grove under crystal clear Alaskan skies with a couple Whitehorse-brewed IPA's. A couple souls in the trees, hoping to distance ourselves as far from corporate interest as possible. Searching for autonomy, authenticity, real and uncommercialized experience. I sat next to our fire and our creek looking through the aspen branches at Venus, shining brighter than I've ever seen her before. And I shared a few laughs with a good friend in the woods.

Clarity.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Boreal perfection

The mountains in the western fringes of the Yukon are fine, indeed. Dozens of gravel-bed creeks and rivers creeping directly into high, frosty mountains without a trace of commercialization. These creekbeds flirted with me the entire trip, beckoning me to come explore their upper reaches to see what was behind the first folds of mountains. Paradise Lost might be found behind those first few folds...


The Donjek River; a perfectly pleasant landscape with rich, robust forests and ice cold, clean water. With some rainshadow sunshine to boot, it made a boy want to find an old, nearby trapper's cabin with a functional stove and a musty old library and set up camp for a lifetime.



A couple of beastie boys gettin' ill on a snag on the Donjek River. This river made us feel as internally groovy as we externally appear in the photo, if not groovier.



If you've ever been to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota/Ontario, then the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge would make you salivate for days. More lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands than you could shake a stick at, bigger peaks than you've likely ever seen, and a raucous cacophony of geese, ducks, swans, and owls. A gang of trumpeter swans, together with a trio of great-horned owls filled the silence at our snowy camp.


Slowly swimming through one of hundreds of lakes, these swans took their time enjoying an eastern Alaskan sunrise.


Solitude in Alaska. Me encanta.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Takin' it slow in the rainshadow

For a guy living with the liquid sunshine of Southeast Alaska, the massive rainshadow behind the Wrangell and St. Elias ranges offers a significant temptation to slow things down and enjoy the sunrays. When you're in the sunshine with a stove, a few extra cannisters of propane, and a cooler full of tasty soups, teas, and cold ones, it's next to impossible to pack up the car and get a move on.


A lakeside retreat with the same clothes for the fourth straight day. I smelled pretty good. I can't guarantee Scott smelled the same. I didn't help myself to any close range sniffs..



Not able to take much more of the stresses of big mountains and blue skies, Scott opted for a pseudo nap along the center stripe.



Looking fairly Yellowstonesque...


The lake ice creeping forward with each passing night, hinting at old man winter's lingering presence..


Big views from the highway.

Luego, Kluane

It's hard to imagine a better scenario than the following: crisp temperatures that require a down vest and a set of wool gloves, broken skies with dramatic cloud coverage ripping through the sky at 30 knots, heavy hitting peaks covered in fresh snow, a couple cool beverages with a cool friend, and a complete lack of mosquitoes. Some might call that combo "the Yukon in the fall, plus one commrade."
Relaxing in the trees with a jug of cold water and a YT boreal sunset. Hard to find a better way to spend an October hour.

Let's take a little closer peek at that evening's ridgeline..


Scott enjoying what appears to be a Pink Lady apple in front of what appears to be a charismatic set of tall boys under a broken blue sky.

Oh boy. These mountains look just as good the morning after, which ain't always easy...


Despite the continous stream of snowcapped big boys, I still couldn't help snapping off photo after photo of good lookin' landscapes. The Yukon is among the most photogenic of ladies I've come across in all my days of sauntering.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Gliding through Kluane on two feet and four wheels

Although not made entirely of sugar, Scott and I both agreed that the damp winds and accompanying light sleet in 4 degree (celcius) weather warranted time spent in a cozy little backpacker's structure next to Lago Kathleen (where we met a friendly gal from northern Alberta). The structure had a sizeable wood burning stove that generated enough heat to encourage more than one of us remove our down layers. A nice unexpected find on a frosty Yukon afternoon.


Lago Kathleen, doing her shimmering thing in the autumnal afternoon light.



After having a humorous conversation with a Parks Canada warden, we decided to take her advice to walk a trail a few clicks north of our cozy little shack. The wind was undeniable once we got out of the trees, but the uninterrupted views of wild Yukon terrain were exactly what the doctor ordered.


Looking northwest toward the icy peaks, wondering if we had the minerals to climb atop them without any appropriate gear or rations.


Megan (the Albertan), Scott (the Boulderian), and Daven (the Juneauite).


A wet-footed ponder atop a sloppy knoll.

Beginnings of a boreal sojourn

A week with an old friend in an old jeep and 700 contiguous miles of mountainous landscapes in the north country. Not a bad way to start an October.


Cottonwoods displaying their annual end-of-the-season outfits in Haines' Chilkat Valley.



Atop the pass in the tiny sliver of British Columbia, protruding into what could've been a Yukon-Alaska border. Biting winds were the theme of this afternoon, despite my lack of gloves...


A soon-to-be not-so-lazy river, babbling its way through southern Yukon's boreal forest in the early a.m.


These kettle ponds looked like promising moose habitat, particularly when we saw signs drawing attention to hunters that hunting was prohibited in these wetlands. Sure enough, when I gazed down toward the second pond, a big ol' bull sprinted silently into the willows. By the time Scott laid his eyes upon the scene, the moose had pulled the ol' disappearing act.


Scott doing the Twisted What's Up Dance, and me taking a moment to reminisce of bygone days when we walked like Egyptians next to an elongated yet thoroughly shallow Lago Dezadeash.