South

Frankly, Patagonia has left me speechless. I will say that after my last journey, I was wrecked for days, partly due to the slow recovery of my eyes, but primarily because I had just trumped everything I'd ever done up until that point in my brief existence. Along those lines, I recently learned that the dopaminergic system in our brains rewards us while in the pursuit of goals, and to a much lesser extent when that goal is actually achieved... Accordingly, I'm in the process of tuning into what I want the next few chapters to look like, and more importantly how they might contribute to the overall trajectory...

I recently presented some results of my project at a water conference in Coyhaique, the climax of which was a presentation by an official from the regional government discussing their plan for "sustainable development", which includes more ranching, more tree harvesting, and more construction (it was at this point that I decided the word 'sustainable' has no agreed upon meaning and should be avoided at all costs...). Sadly, this 'open-for-business' philosophy has also permeated into the management of Patagonia's glorious national parks. At Cerro Castillo National Park, CONAF (the corrupt and inept Chilean forest service that has tragically been tasked with the management of national parks) has delegated park management authority to a number of nearby landowners: in the fall, they were charging ~$8 to use their private trail and had no qualms with visitors using CONAF's trails and campgrounds for free; when I arrived this spring, they were charging ~$15 to get into the park and use CONAF's trails, and had prohibited access to all campgrounds 'because of snow'. I'm willing to pay for maintenance, but CONAF's trails and campgrounds are unmaintained! This is rent-seeking at its finest. 

I believe we will challenge ourselves to create better, higher quality lives for ourselves that respect the ability of future generations to do the same, when every single individual understands the inherent value of biodiversity, the absolute necessity of intact environmental systems, and the irreproducible beauty of the natural world. One way to achieve that seemingly impossible goal is ubiquitous, free, accessible public land. Strong forces are working hard to turn the few remaining public lands over to private hands, as much as in Chilean Patagonia as in the southwest United States. Of course, we each have our cause célèbre, but this is a domino we should not allow to fall! The loss of these lands constitutes a major threat to our health, independence, primal roots, and the core of what it means to be a living human animal.

(Not speechless, I guess)