One of the things I love about days like yesterday, is meeting with people who understand all the footnotes without even glancing down to the bottom of the page. I’m talking here about the inherent recognition that the living things in an environment are valuable, that the habitat is worth saving, that the good will of a hundred volunteers with a sense of community is irreplaceable, and that a myopic and concrete-lined city council could fail to see this again and again.
Last night Lisa Owens Viani of the San Francisco Estuary Project, who organized a very demanding day with lots of bumps in the road, who cut her environmental teeth saving Baxter Creek in El Cerrito, and who now pals around with buddies like Ann Riley who wrote “Restoring Streams in Cities“, this very Lisa wrote me a quote from her eco-advocate friend in Portland.
“Endless Pressure, Endlessly Applied.”
Turns out this is a famous quote from Brock Evans, ex-marine, environmentalist and highly successful attorney who is now in Washington DC. His list of publications is impressive, and he is recognized as one of the most successful environmental attorneys in the nation. He practiced for a long time in Washington State (beaver mecca) and even ran for congress. Although he didn’t win, his campaign manager is now a US senator. (Maria Cantwell). In a recent blog post he discusses the thunderdome match between the environment and the redeveloper, and how much still has been accomplished.
How could all this happen, given the wealth and political clout of developers?
Answer: the same way as it has always been. By small bands of determined individuals who personally knew and loved the places, or the values, about to destroyed. The enormous public support came a bit later. First it was necessary to speak out, to challenge and take action — to show the way. The vast majority were volunteers. All they really had was their courage, their determination to never back down. Ordinary folks like the rest of us. They are the ones who did it.
Well this I am starting to believe. From Susan Kirks with badgers to Heidi Perryman with beavers, just ordinary folks doing what they knew was right even when they felt discouraged or hopeless or slighted. Endless Pressure, Endlessly Applied.
The journey really is to Ithaka, not Babylon.
