Divided and conquered?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] has been in the news recently, particularly in regard to its article 5, "collective self-defence." We've been watching increased attacks on America's public lands and waters recently and have seen, in response, a growing number of coalitions, groups, businesses and individuals come together to support our public lands and waters. We also have seen a number of reports on how folks like the Koch brothers have been funding and taking a long view on undermining what many would consider fundamental democratic values to benefit the 1% at the top. That, and other factors like recent election outcomes, have made us wonder if it could be time, and might be possible, to create a NATO for the United State's public lands and waters. It would include, but not be limited to such organizations as:

Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, a coalition of more than 500 businesses, organizations and individuals dedicated to conserving irreplaceable habitats so future generations can hunt and fish on America's public lands. The coalition is led by the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimitedand the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers seeks to ensure North America's outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands and waters. There's a Minnesota Chapter working to protect the Boundary Waters from the proposed Twin Metals mine.

Pategonia supports, among other grantees, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness, which seeks to protect and preserve wilderness and to advocate for the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

There are numerous other businesses, organizations and individuals who support protecting our public lands and waters (and air), our commons, our environment, our heritage. Part of being a democracy, it seems to us, is based on the idea that fish and game, and therefore the water and land resources on which fish and game depend, are not property of the king but belong to all citizens. It further seems to us that politics has failed us as an institution on which we can rely to protect our commons due in large part to the growing influence of money in and on politics, compounded by decisions like Citizens United.

One way we can respond is collectively. In fact, that may be the only way we can effectively respond, since both American and Russian oligarchs, and too many politicians, have benefited by setting us to fighting amongst ourselves. If we can learn to work together and speak with a united voice about our common interests, outdoor enthusiasts and environmentalists may be able to protect the common base on which we all depend. It needs protection from, among others, mining, fracking, free riders, pipelines and other "commons carriers." Isn't it time to join together to defend what we share in commons, and then we'll talk about how we divvy up the shares afterwards?

[UPDATE: Hunters, hikers unite to protect beloved public lands, waters, Denver Post 7/23/18]

I Went into the Maverick Bar

By Gary Snyder

I went into the Maverick Bar   

In Farmington, New Mexico.

And drank double shots of bourbon

                         backed with beer.

My long hair was tucked up under a cap

I’d left the earring in the car.

Two cowboys did horseplay

                         by the pool tables,

A waitress asked us

                         where are you from?

a country-and-western band began to play   

“We don’t smoke Marijuana in Muskokie”   

And with the next song,

                         a couple began to dance.

They held each other like in High School dances   

                         in the fifties;

I recalled when I worked in the woods

                         and the bars of Madras, Oregon.   

That short-haired joy and roughness—

                         America—your stupidity.   

I could almost love you again.

We left—onto the freeway shoulders—

                         under the tough old stars—

In the shadow of bluffs

                         I came back to myself,

To the real work, to

                         “What is to be done.”

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