I read a really inspiring article about people who devoted their lives to preserving nature on Ian Lawton's lovely
soulseeds.com
blogsite. Wonderful stories showing that we do so much good when we
try, and even more importantly, when we are open and able to admit we
are wrong we can change and we can redress the balance and put the past
behind us..
Aldo Leopold, Paul Watson and Julia Butterfly Hill are
three examples of people who became activists after significant
experiences with nature.
Aldo Leopold was one of America’s most
famous conservationists, but he wasn’t always an environmentalist. He
was a hunter before he became he became passionate about conservation
and ironically it was through hunting that it happened. A profound
experience up close and personal with nature changed his life, and his
motivation. Aldo was with a group of friends hunting wolves to clear
the mountain in order to hunt deer. Aldo shot one particular wolf. He
looked into the eyes of the dying wolf and watched a fierce green fire
dying in her eyes. At that moment he realized that something in the
mountain, something in him was also dying. It could not ever be
recaptured. It was after looking at this fierce green fire dying that
Aldo Leopold’s life was changed and he went on to become one of the most
significant American environmentalists of the twentieth century.
- http://www.cof.orst.edu/leopold
More
recently, the activist, Paul Watson had a similar experience. It was in
1975 and he and one other were on a small boat, resting between Russian
whalers and a pod of whales. They naively believed that the hunters
would not shoot while they were in the firing line. This changed when
the captain walked on to the deck, motioned with a thumb as if to slit
his throat and shot a harpoon that narrowed passed over their heads and
struck a whale behind them, a female. A male whale immediately launched
itself at the Russian boat but was harpooned in the head. It fell back
in agony. This is when Watson’s life was changed. He caught the eye of
the whale just before it fell back on his boat. It would have crushed
them. He saw in the whale’s eye what he described as “understanding”.
The whale appeared to tense its muscles one last time to avoid landing
on their boat, thereby saving their lives.
The
experience changed Watson so deeply that he committed his life to
saving whales. He continues to do this, despite criticism. The criticism
comes from conservatives and it comes from progressives who say that he
damages their reputation with his cavalier approach. His answer to that
is, “So!” He’s not doing it for them, and he’s not doing it for the
organization. The whales are his clients and his concern.
One last
example comes from Julia Butterfly Hill who in the late 1990s lived for
738 days inside a 180 foot tall, 1500 year old Redwood tree to stop it
from being cut down by loggers. She named the tree that she got up close
and personal with “Luna”. The happy ending to this story is that her
sit-in at the top of the Redwood worked. Luna lived on, as did other
trees in the area.
- "Luna" The Redwood Tree Julia Butterfly Hill helped to save
She
said: "I wake up in the morning asking myself what can I do today, how
can I help the world today. I believe in what I do beyond a shadow of a
doubt. I gave my word to this tree and to all the people that my feet
would not touch the ground until I had done everything in my power to
make the world aware of this problem and to stop the destruction."
- Julia Butterfly Hill on protest!
What
an inspiring group of people! As Ian comments: "That’s the sort of
commitment we humans need to show. If you’re the sort of person who is
motivated by getting up close and personal with nature, then create
plenty of opportunities to do that. Remind yourself that your life is
dependent on the life of the earth, and your life affects the earth in
every moment."
Read more at
www.soulseeds.com
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