THE GREENING OF WILDERNE$$:
READ THIS FIRST
When I first sat down to write the very long and difficult story that begins on page 12 of this issue, it was more than three years ago. The themes raised in this story have been nagging at me for even longer than that — I made my first attempt to discuss the changing urban west and environmentalists’ shifting strategies in April 2001 with the "It’s Time to Look in the Mirror" edition. It received an extraordinary amount of feedback, the most in this publication’s history, from a wide variety of readers. What it did not generate was any response whatsoever from the organizations in the environmental community for which it was mostly intended. Since then, any attempt to discuss the concerns raised in that article have been met for the most part with, at best, stony silence and at worst, downright hostility.
The reason I delayed this story for so long is that I was angry too. Writing from a position of personal hostility is not the most effective way to deal with problems, though I freely admit that I have been guilty of typing with angry fingers from time to time. It was hard to accept that after two decades of being a friend and partner to most enviro groups in Utah, I found myself cast as something of a traitor and even a pariah, simply for asking what I thought were honest, if not also difficult questions. When for example, I sent photographs to prominent Utah environmentalists of the ‘24 Hours of Moab’ bicycle race, an event that has grown to an incredible size and operates adjacent to proposed wilderness, and asked why no one had felt the possible impacts significant enough to at least send out a monitor, one leader wrote:
"Let’s be honest: this email you’ve sent is nothing but part of your effort to demonize (us): No matter how we respond, you’re obviously determined to use it against us."
Pretty strong stuff.
That wasn’t my intention at all and never has been. What would be the point? I don’t think even he believed I had decided, after 25 years, to suddenly oppose wilderness, and since his organization is one of many in Utah determined to create a good wilderness bill, the comments were more curious than hurtful. But I’ve always felt that candor and the truth are the most effective weapons we can hope to possess to support our point of view. And to me, candor and honesty have gone missing from ‘our side’ of the debate for a very long time.
Or maybe it runs deeper than that. Perhaps candor is a matter of interpretation. Within the conservation movement, there seems to be a growing dichotomy between the more idealistic Thoreau-types and the New Environmentalists who have embraced the kinds of land preservation strategies that concern me so deeply. The two groups can look at the same tree and see different colors. Let me offer an example.
Lance Christie has lived in Moab for 20 years, has long been a respected environmental leader, an intelligent and articulate voice in the sometimes shrill and frenzied chaos that marks Moab politics. He has served on the Grand County Planning Commission and given tirelessly of his time and energy (along with his wife LaRue) to countless public events and projects. His motives are beyond dispute and lack any hidden agenda. In short, I know that when Lance says something or promotes an idea, he stands behind that belief with all his heart. But we don’t always agree.
Lance frequently posts information and analysis (his own and others’) in emails to a number of friends and associates, so when an email came across my monitor titled, "Rich Weasels in Aspen can do something right," I paused to give it a read. "Rich weasels" is a name I’ve used frequently in the Zephyr, so I had a personal interest. Here was Lance’s observation:
Under the Pitkin County building code, every new and remodeled home in Pitkin County must meet a strict "energy budget" of approximately 40,000 British Thermal Units (BTU) per square foot. Nationwide, the average home consumes 63,000 BTU per square foot per year. Homes that do not meet the energy budget must pay a fee to the Renewable Energy Mitigation Program. The $1.7 million collected in its first three years has been channeled into projects that offset greenhouse gas emissions, ranging from car-sharing commuting programs to an energy-efficient revamp of a local ice rink and providing solar hot water heaters in affordable housing.
At first glance, that sounds pretty encouraging to most people. In fact, I read the email to several of my friends (without commentary of my own) and each one of them nodded vaguely and said, "Well, they’re trying at least."
Maybe. You have to dig deep to recognize the absurdity in all this. Pitkin County, Colorado is the home county of Aspen, Colorado—one of the wealthiest communities in the United States. It has been called the town "where the billionaires are running the millionaires out of the valley." Do these people or its government deserve a pat on the back? Who can better afford to employ the latest energy-saving technologies than these guys? But what’s more important is noting the restrictions that were NOT imposed on the new home builders. Specifically---
Did anyone think to limit the number of square feet on new home or re-model constructions?
Probably not. I doubt if it even occurred to anyone on the Pitkin County Commission. But it didn’t take me long to calculate that a wealthy Aspenite living in a 15,000 square foot bunker/home and using the mandated 40,000 BTUs of energy per square foot limit will consume 600,000,000 BTUs while a redneck tool pusher living in a less efficient 2000 square foot double-wide can expect to use far less energy—about 126,000,000 BTUs.
Somebody tell me where our credibility is. And it’s a safe bet that this "redneck" lives in his drafty trailer twelve months a year, while many of these energy-efficient Aspenites spend a fraction of their time there. How can we offer praise to some extravagantly consumptive part-time homeowner? Imagine how much energy it took to construct a castle like that. Consider the natural materials, the cost to operate the heavy equipment, the energy to transport the workers to the job site (it’s doubtful that any of the contractors could afford to even live in Aspen). The mind boggles.
Still, Lance Christie’s praise for Pitkin County was sincere and well-intentioned and I respect him for that, and many, if not a majority, of environmentalists probably share his enthusiasm. I’m not one of them...I can find no reason to celebrate or conclude, based on examples like this, that we’re somehow becoming a more energy-aware, environmentally conscientious nation. In fact, I think this kind of misplaced optimism does us harm.
In fact, when it comes to figuring out where our allegiances lie, it’s getting more ambiguous by the day. Many of us don’t even know for sure what side we’re on. Recently, on two different occasions, I was chatting with a couple of realtor friends of mine. Somehow the conversation drifted to a topic that only vaguely resembled an environmental issue, but both of them, snarled lips classically in place, referred to me as, "you environmentalists," as if there were no fouler epithet.
"Now wait a minute," I said. "You better go take a look in the mirror before you start calling me names. Both of you are in the real estate/development business, right?"
They nodded.
"OK...you LIKE to see all the alfalfa fields turned into condo developments right?"
More nods.
"You believe that farming in a valley like this is not using the land to its highest and best use. Ultimately you believe that the New West has come to Moab, that its future rests with what some have called an ‘amenities economy,’ which calls for the influx of a more affluent, better educated urban population and that the Old West with its mining and ranching are a thing of the past....am I right Gentlemen?"
"Sure," they said. "So what’s your point?"
"My point is, you share those sentiments about the New West with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), the Sierra Club, the Grand Canyon Trust and any urban enviro who wears Orvis and LL Bean and recycles aluminum. I strongly urge you to send in your dues today."
Sometimes the contradictions are almost hilarious. Last fall during the local election campaigns for County Council, one race in particular, between incumbent Jim Lewis and challenger Dave Cozzins, got a bit nasty. Here were the rumors as they came across my computer in a variety of emails---
Supporters of Lewis (though I never heard this from Jim himself) were convinced that local mogul Robbie Levin, owner of the luxury lodge Sorrel River Ranch was funding Cozzins’ campaign to the tune of $6000. A claim denied by Dave.
On the other hand, Cozzins believed that SUWA was funding Lewis’ campaign and was also responsible for spreading the Robbie Levin funding rumor and other scurrilous rumors. All denied by SUWA. Cozzins even went so far as to suggest that SUWA was vandalizing his equipment (Cozzins is an independent contractor). I personally informed Cozzins that since most of the SUWA staff are attorneys from urban areas, none of them would know how to disable a bulldozer, even if they had the inclination. (You know me...always trying to find some levity in any dire situation.)
So..the conclusion here might be, if you believed the rumors, that Cozzins has no use for SUWA or its environmental policies and political agenda, and that SUWA opposes pro-development types like Dave Cozzins and Robbie Levin’s ever-expanding empire at Sorrel River Ranch.
Here’s the Reality and where it gets so complicated.
Dave is Old West, been in Moab for years, is a heavy equipment operator and independent contractor, opposes federal wilderness designation.
SUWA is New West, supports wilderness and opposes the traditional extractive industry that was the economic backbone of the rural west for a century.
Yet, Robbie Levin’s high-end luxury lodge is precisely the kind of non-polluting, tourist-oriented business that the environmental community has been touting as the Future of the Rural West for 15 years. Groups like SUWA just don’t want to say it out loud. But Sorrel River Ranch IS their kind of industry.
And while Cozzins maintains he’s Old West, he openly supports businesses like Sorrel River Ranch and I doubt if he rarely sheds a tear for the good old days when Bill Boulden ran a few cows on that property. The fact is, Cozzins AGREES with SUWA, except he doesn’t want to say it out loud either. So what’s everybody arguing about? SUWA, Robbie Levin and Dave Cozzins were secretly all on the same side in this little election brouhaha, even if they didn’t know it, and were at odds with each other, for no good reason at all.
In 2005 the stereotypes are so strongly entrenched that nobody has noticed the sides have shifted. Dramatically.
I offer these examples of conflict and confusion as a prelude to the main story that begins on page 12. Let me warn you: IT IS A VERY LONG STORY. The longest I have ever written for The Zephyr. More than 10,000 words in length. I have wisely broken it down into sub-categories and I suggest you read it one category at a time. It is a history of the environmental movement in Utah since 1988 and is as comprehensive as three years of research can make it.
Finally, I mentioned at the beginning of this story that I was angry with environmentalists. I was. I’m not any more, which is why I have finally been able to finish this long piece and feel comfortable with it. I believe the environmental community is composed of good people trying to do something noble, but that their strategy is backfiring on them. Even worse, I’m not sure many of them realize just how adrift they’ve traveled from the path we were all following a few years ago.
And specifically, I want to make it clear to my friends at SUWA that while I’ve quoted them more than any other organization in this issue, it’s only because they are the largest and most vocal group in Utah and frankly have been more forthright and open about their wilderness strategy than any other Utah environmental group. As you begin to read the story, you’ll see that it’s not a 10,000 word diatribe, but a heavily documented story that draws much of its material from past issues of SUWA’s newsletter, "Red Rock Wilderness." In many cases, it’s their words more than mine.
And please, when...or if...you make it to the end of the article, let me know what you think. All comments will be posted on the Zephyr’s web site and as many as possible in the next print edition. Thanks.
AT LONG LAST...TURIYA TO THE RESCUE
After years of pleading and whining and begging for someone to come forward and become The Zephyr’s first advertising representative, I am happy to announce that the Impossible has occurred...there really IS someone crazy and demented enough to at least attempt to deal with my eccentricities and generally grumpy demeanor.
Turiya (with the accent on the FIRST syllable, goddamnit) is now The Zephyr’s Vice President in Charge of Ads and I want all of you to call her immediately and sign up for very large amounts of ad space so she doesn’t get discouraged and quit.
Here’s the vital info:
TURIYA,
435.259.9358
She’s already made an excellent start. Thanks Turiya...
