I submitted the following essay/story to Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming but only an excerpt from it was published as a photo caption for one of Konah's photos that was chosen. The book is a joint effort of the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Classics and is available in its entirety online: http://www.ucsusa.org/americanstories/.

Beyond Reason

I grew up near the Buffalo National River which was declared the United States first National River in 1972. My dad taught me how to swim, canoe, and fish on the stretch of river upstream of Pruitt, Arkansas. We hiked the trails looking for the first dogwood blooms in spring. I never saw an elk in my childhood visits to the park. Elk were common in Arkansas until the first wave of European settlement in the mid 1800’s. Unsuccessful attempts were made to reintroduce them until 1981 when predecessors of today’s herd of 500 were brought in from Colorado and Nebraska. I’ve seen the elk several times now, but watching clouds of their breath condense in the cold air of a snowy day at Steel Creek last year was particularly magical.

The Old Timers in Arkansas, say the weather these days sure is weird. It doesn’t snow as much as it used to. The seasons don’t change when they’re supposed to. My grandmother talks about changes in moss on certain sides of trees, colors of caterpillars, behaviors of squirrels, and the shapes of persimmon pits. Whether she believes in “global warming” is another issue. A lot of folks still don’t believe that humans have any influence on the earth’s climate.

In ten years of training becoming a scientist, none of my courses covered how to change people’s beliefs. Scientists are trained in data, results, and reason, certainly not in persuasion. Although beliefs aren’t based in reason, they continue to serve as the knowledge base for social action. We’ve gained a universe of scientific knowledge and technology since the pope allowed printed material on heliocentrism in 1822 but we’re still in the Dark Ages in making connections among the scientific, public, and political communities.

In 1962, a small group of citizens organized to keep the Buffalo River undammed. They believed in the intrinsic value of wilderness and that it could generate revenue back when dams were fashionable and the outdoor industry was in its infancy. They had their eyes on the future. Like the founders of the Ozark Society, I believe we can make a difference in our environment and that it can be profitable. I believe that by carpooling, taking cloth bags to the grocery, using better light bulbs, recycling, and eating low on the food chain I can reduce global carbon emissions and save money. Of course these beliefs are not based in fact or knowledge; there’s simply not enough data to draw any definitive conclusions. I don’t know how big a difference we can make or how long the climate might take to respond to our changes in behavior. I do all of those little things in the hopes that decades from now I can go to Steel Creek on a cold winter day, hear the elks’ hooves crunch in the snow, and delight in romantic dreams of wilderness and great-grandchildren.