The road to the San Rafael SwellThe road to the San Rafael Swell

This past Saturday I watched the movie “Wrenched” with two dear friends so it seemed only fitting to share a quote from Edward Abbey some time this week.

The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders. ~ Edward Abbey

After watching the movie we all felt like throwing a wrench of our own to defend wilderness. I know I felt deeply inspired.

Each time I take a journey into the wilderness I have mixed emotions because I am immersed in what I hold dear and each of my senses is elated by the wildness around and within me. But another part of me can not forget the daily and monumental assaults on the wilderness and its inhabitants.  A part of me wonders what will be there in 2050.

Still, I go there. I relish it. I am part of it.

And in my own small way, I defend it.

There are so many defenders of the wilderness and our voices are getting stronger. For those of us who can not get into the trenches to throw our wrenches we can still do that by writing our representatives, by supporting the groups that are defending the wilderness through donations, by protesting and volunteering to help. We can write about it on our blogs and through social media share what we can to enlighten people who may not yet understand…

We need to defend the wilderness we have left.

Mia