Rex, I only belatedly came across your Sept. 2008 post on overpopulation. Thanks for broaching an issue that has all too often evoked only uncomfortable silence among elites (if not rank-and-file) in the Environmental Establishment. I stopped donating to Greenpeace perhaps 20 years ago after reading a piece in its members magazine which claimed that since most population growth in the world now took place among “people of color” in the Global South, ergo, for a white person in the Global North to be concerned about its environmental implications was in essence racist. As 1) a former Peace Corps volunteer in Central America, where the ruinous effects of rapid population growth were blatantly obvious, and 2) one who married a Honduran and thus has 2 kids who are “people of color,” I took umbrage at this. I sent a letter to Greenpeace telling them I would never donate again, which I have not, and saying that apparently they would rather see the Earth destroyed by need rather than greed, which is what overpouplation will ensure.

I’m glad too that you cited my colleague Al Bartlett’s video “Arithmetic, Population and Energy: The Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy Crisis” which is a MUST SEE for all environmentalists interested in approaching their cause with a basis in MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL REALITY rather than wishful thinking.

Walking in a small mountain town in last winter, I found myself surrounded by small hills, both majestic, and quirky “tree-house” temples, personally crafted by the individuals who lived near by.

It was cold and quiet and I felt radically alone in a dignified place I had not yet earned a rhythm with. I also felt met by the simple and ancient presence of the snow, hills, and delicately trodden terrain.

Up a road, there was a temple which seemed impossible to climb to the top of. It was wedged in a hill. I found a side route of old tiny stairs and climbed up. Close to the top I realized that there was a path leading behind the temple up the hill, with small temples drawing one further upwards. Each one had been somehow personally marked and had its own charm or magnetism, each one a brief stopping point. The hill was steep but I felt compelled to keep climbing on old, tiny stairs.

At the top of this hill was a larger temple up an even steeper slope, this temple was serious, dignified. As I reached the top, the slope of the hill drew my eyes upward – the temple lead to an opening simply revealing the forest.

The silence, smell, and depth of the wood was the most profound moment of my journey. It felt so sacred that I did not want to enter. The stillness marked a moment that at once filled me with a strong feeling of reverence, peace, and also a firm boundary.

It said: this forest is not you, not yours, it is the ultimate.

I was only able to stay for a moment before it felt best to return to the somewhat burrowed realm of the town.

I carefully retraced my steps down the mountain.

I don’t have a logic to put to this experience other than to say that I encountered a boundary – a real identity in the forest that I did not fully understand. I was at once convinced of the profound autonomy of nature, and yet comforted at the same time, clearly the people who had walked this path for 1000s of years had learned many things.

It’s inspiring to me that Naess lived and articulated a sensibility that now helps me make sense of my own experience, one I have difficulty finding words for. I hope it will root some humility into my often unconscious humanism – and humanizing of the land.

Coming to recognize nature is truly facing the edge of our own human abilities. This beautiful source is our edge. We must admit that we don’t understand… that we are small. This radically unspoken world constantly in creation is the real source of our life, insight, and creativity.

My heart breaks thinking it might be too late to achieve his dream, but his life inspires me to keep working. Maybe future generations will come to the senses we’ve abandoned.

Silly, arrogant humans! Even the so-called “humanists” that Naess talks about, who mean well, sometimes have their heads in the clouds, dreaming of transcending to a “higher” consciousness, when the answers are all right here in the dirt, on dear mother Earth.