"When it comes not just to nature but to questions that concern humanity in general I think there should be no borders... " Rok Rozman, Slovenia.
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| Climbing in Bears Ears National Monument, Utah |
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| "When it comes not just to nature but to questions that concern humanity in general I think there should be no borders... " Rok Rozman, Slovenia. |
I listened to many individuals
on my trip through the Balkans last month. History in not an abstract there. It
is alive for them. The Ottoman Empire, Communism, World Wars, Yogoslav Wars,
Bosnian Conflict. This region has been through more than most in terms of
conquesting. There is a deeper awareness of shared value here that I have not
experienced so directly before.
A sense of pride over a tiny
stream and an open sharing of what it means to keep it healthy. I know this
awareness is alive and well throughout the globe, but so many of us have yet to
open our eyes, experience what is there and what it means to lose it before we
can know the value. Now we are about to lose much of it in the West...
I came to the Balkans wanting
to hear the human stories, the struggles. To listen to the rivers, to float on
them, to climb above them.
The people in Balkans'
communities around rivers are united against political agendas and development
interests that are working to quickly destroy their backyards for a quick
return on investment. An investment that disregards the balance of nature and
in many cases a sustainable future that is finally being realized after
generations of war. They are organizing and asking for accountability of their
governments through lawsuits. They are starting their own NGOs dedicated to
protecting the environment. Communities are beginning to help others and share
knowledge and resources against developers.
Value is something that
transcends money. Value is having clean drinking water for you and 100,000 of
your neighbors. Maybe we only know that value after months spent sleeping at
the source with guns and grenades as happened in 1993 in Kruscica.
This value is certainly
understood by native cultures in the US as well. Being so transient, so
nomadic, consumers, as most of us are in the so-called First World, how do we
adopt and share this understanding?
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I am hopeful that NGOs and
companies are now stepping into the fray in the US over Utah's public lands.
But it is the force of all of us that is needed to push back against
shortsighted government and development. It is a universal struggle. Worth defending,
worth protecting.
all images ©Bennett Barthelemy
