A Fountainhead

For much of my life the sight of nature claiming it's place despite man's best intentions would reinforce my sense of place: as man constantly subject to nature. To say this is not to state that we are at the will of nature, nor in control. It's something different. In participating in this thought process I have continually lost sight of the beauty of the production--e.g., this tree standing without regard for the landowner's past intention to erect a fence through it-- in order to champion nature's resilience or chastise man's greed.

Growing up during decades of rampant sprawl and consumerism, I have witnessed the power of man to destroy--and interpreted it as such. But, what I never recognized within that destruction was the creation. We (man and the natural world) are in a process of mutual destruction and creation; and further we do not represent opposing forces, but an interwoven whole. Truthfully, much of what we Americans build and buy today represents little respect for any notion of integrity. However, in recognizing the potency of nature to withstand these forces, I must also admit my parallel awe at the creative forces we have at hand. Accordingly, I can now look upon an architectural feat and an endless river valley and see, without disparity, the power of nature and man to build magnificent kingdoms.

Perhaps our current notions of environmentalism and natural preservation lack the understanding that balance in this global ecosystem will not result from fortifying the separations between human and everything else, but by simply acknowledging that separation does not exist.