Nature the destroyer needs our protection

The year began with news dominated by reports of death and destruction following the massive Indonesian earthquake. At first the death toll was counted in the thousands, then the tens of thousands, then over a hundred thousand. By some reports the dead and missing now number over a quarter million. So many lives gone so quickly, and not due to an act of humanity, but the raw force of nature. The reports tell that many of the victims were initially drawn to the shore, standing in wonderment as the water receded, then were swept away as the waves flooded in.

Standing in wonderment of the power of nature is something these victims share with those of us who explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth. Standing in awe of an approaching electrical storm; watching the power of a waterfall during spring thaw; challenging the snowy cold of winter in the local mountains or the Sierra; providing and hiking through habitat for stealthy predators such as mountain lions or grizzly bears. Usually we do not consciously think of the dangers to which we are exposing ourselves. Occasionally some of us fall victim to our flirtation with the power of nature. But the tragedy in South Asia brings home the massive scale on which raw nature can affect humanity, and while some stand in awe, many more stand in fear.

When the Sierra Club was first founded, the prevailing ethic of the time was to conquer nature-to put wild prairie under the plow, to harness wild rivers with dam and electrical turbine, to open up the earth to extract minerals. For more than a century the Club has encouraged society to restrain its impulses to subdue the environment. Dam projects have been abandoned. Wilderness areas have been established. Threatened and endangered species have been identified and protected.

Today we again stand at a crossroads. A strong ethic of harnessing, subduing, and exploiting the environment is evident with the current power holders in Washington.
This January, I attended the Angeles Chapter's annual retreat as a representative of the Palos Verdes-South Bay Group. I listened as I heard other representatives speak about their involvement in urban environmentalism to limit developments and increase local parklands. Some spoke of their problems involving their membership in group projects and group management. In my presentation I summarized our outings and social and conservation efforts. Our outings programs include evening conditioning hikes during the week, weekend hikes in the local mountains and deserts, bus trips to national parks, and international trips to New Zealand, Greece, Mexico, and Chile.

Our social activities include quarterly meetings, holiday and summer parties, and attendance at local playhouses and the Hollywood Bowl. Our Conservation Committee has been busy monitoring development on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, use of the Forrestal Nature Preserve, proposed development of a golf course on a county landfill, and proposals for development of property in Redondo Beach currently being used as a power plant. Our outings and social programs have direct benefits for our conservation and management issues--they are the social links that bring us all together and to those wild areas we so love and respect.

The years ahead are sure to challenge the environmental movement. The recent tragedies, local and international, will further the perception that nature is to be harnessed and controlled, not protected. The moves to control nature may eventually prove to be even more detrimental to the survival of humankind and civilization. When the next great wave of destruction threatens to engulf us, many may find themselves standing by the shore, hypnotized by a false sense of security, numbed to the instincts that knowing, respecting, and living in harmony with nature can hone.

Keith Martin is chair of the Palos Verdes-South Bay Group.