In Their Words ....

Last week I was running on a dirt road, when I noticed a large bird perched in an orange and red-leafed maple tree, in the center of a small graveyard.  The tree and graveyard, placed in the center of the field, sat untouched.  After summoning people from nearby houses, we concluded (with binoculars and patience) that the bird was an immature eagle.  It finally flew by us, and headed to a nearby beaver swamp.  We were all delighted by our sighting, and I was cheerful the rest of the day.  Then a thought occurred to me: "Someday this field may be part of a housing development, and there will be no place for an eagle to sit, undisturbed by security lights, cars, alarms and such."

With thoughts like these, I wonder how I can keep land from being developed?  So what I've done is to make the Land Trust a beneficiary for a Tax Deferred fund I've established at work.  I've chosen the Land Trust because I feel passionately about the organization.  When I die a plot of land will be saved for nature, and be undisturbed by subdivisions and the pollution of people.  This is one small gesture I can contribute to preserving large tracts of land from development.  I hope to do more in the future, but this is what I can do now.

In college I was greatly influenced by Beat poet and environmentalist Gary Snyder.  He wrote  "We are defending our own space and we are trying to protect the commons.  More the logic of self-interest inspires this:  a true and selfless love of the land is the source of the undaunted spirit of my neighbors."  And "I hold the most archaic values on earth...the fertility of the soul, the magic of the animals, the power-vision in solitude...the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe."