Learning to see the world first through an ecologist’s eyes, and then a geologist’s eyes, has been my blessing and curse for many decades. While shopping for a new home, I’ve vetoed many locations before pulling into the driveway. Yet the house next door might be in a completely acceptable spot. The same is true for backpacking camp sites.
People have erased natural and human-made disasters from history since we first started telling stories. Yet, IIRC, some decades-old Yucca Mountain waste disposal studies proposed deliberately inserting “this is a bad place” stories into our culture to help keep people away from radioactive nightmares for 10,000 years. Which would probably work fine, until a future developer renamed it “Glowing Acres” and built subdivisions and schools on top.
The historical records of many major earthquakes were deliberately destroyed to encourage growth or “preserve property values.” Even memorials to earthquake victims get vetoed.
Indigenous knowledge and practices informed by millenia of living there can be invaluable if we choose to listen and learn.
— Rex
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© Beartooth Media Group Inc.
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