Saving the Santa Ritas

The Santa Rita Mountains.  

I recently became stuck inside these glorious hills.  The vehicle which to

ok me into the mountains acted up on the fresh dampened dirt and left my friend and I stranded.  The paper which was brought to start fires had a little snippet about the Rosemont Mine and how large it is proposed to be.  I was unable to read the real article which was in the paper that came out while I was stuck, but when I returned and was at work I read the article on the front page of the Arizona newspaper.  The Santa Rita Abbey's nuns had me captive in hearing about their attempts to fight this insane endeavor. 

The Rosemont Project is a copper mining project aimed to use about 4,500 acres and produce more than 230 million pounds of copper per year.  3,330 acres of Forest Service Lands will be disturbed in this open pit 

attempt to satisfy our "needs". 

I had and still have my issues with the mine which sits in my backyard.  However, I would much rather see the old tailings be re-examined than see the virgin earth become raped and pillaged.  The little road and campsite which we sat in would be filled with dust and smells and sound pollution from the mine just a few miles away.  The serenity of the wild no longer peaceful, but

 irritating and sad.  I will remember my brief moment in this little wilderness and use whatever powers I have as a decision making human to work against the destruction of the beauty I love so well.  

Please visit www.scenicsantaritas.org to help keep these lands in their naturalness.  

Back In Bisbee

I have arrived in the random town of Bisbee Arizona again.  The smiles which greet me as I sit in the coffee shop bring me peace and happiness.  It feels good to be somewhere were people look forward to seeing me.  I have been on an adventure of great grandeur and learned many lessons on the human condition.  

My time on the land was rejuvenating, refreshing, difficult, immense and poetic.  I learned more than ever imagined.  How to plant seeds and how to keep them going.  How to maintain weeds, and how frustrating bugs really are.  I learned what it means to be human and experience love and life within families which are not your own.  I learned what life really is. 

Now I sit and ponder my next bold move.  Is it to stay and make a difference in a town which drives me mad?  Is it to run to the next town and fix whatever problems I can there.  Is it to head off into the wilderness and fix the only problems I really know how?  (the ones within myself) ?  Where do the answers lie and within what questions do we focus our energy?  

I have landed here again for reasons which are making themselves clear as each moment passes.  It feels like it was just yesterday I was sitting in this same seat imagining the possibilities of the summer.  Now as the summer hits her most fruitful moments and begins to wane I wonder the same things as I did then.  Only this time I have something under my belt.  I see a little more clearly and i have a little more understanding.  I am ready to move forward.