In l990, Gary Snyder dedicated a new library at UC Davis with a magnificent speech, perhaps the single most eloquent “environmental” speech I’ve ever heard or read.
In it he gave us the library as a watershed, of things and thoughts, and found its commonality with the land on which it stands.
It’s called “The Forest in the Library.”
It’s worth some remembering. (It’s not available on-line, as far as I can Google, but it can be found in a book called “A Place in Space,” which can be had through the astoundingly wonderful abebooks site for a mere $4.00 plus shipping.)
Here’s the first of a couple of quotes:
Yes…this is the best expression of a long-standing conviction that has been growing in me, despite my inability to express it clearly.
Let me put it boldly:
Noting is more conservative than wanting to save the earth, the air, the woods, the water, and the world they create together.
Am I making any sense?
Here’s how I put it to the social conservatives at Rod Dreher’s/Dallas Morning News/Crunchy Con/Beliefnet site. I don’t think they like me over there but I believe in my heart and soul that trying to save the earth is deeply conservative and keep trying to convince them, and this process seems to help me gather my thoughts.
On the table is the question: What should social conservatives do about Obama?
I called for:
…a conservatism not just of sexual mores, but also of money, blood, and
earth. Meaning — no foreign adventures, a Federal budget that is not
all things to all people, including corporations, and a recognition
that our civilization depends on the natural capital of the planet.
Kit Stolz 