Last year I wrote a poem called “Man.”  Just 6 lines.  Here it is:

MAN

Strange creature.
Makes clouds in his dreams.
Sets them adrift into the sky.
Renames them “myths.”
Then spends his whole life waiting for it to rain --
GOLDEN POMEGRANATES.

So much of man’s activity throughout his history is related to the pursuit of myths.  Joseph Campbell said that a myth was a dream that tries to explain the inexplicable, the ineffable, that people try to reconstitute the dream into some kind of reality.  The problem is that reality is so harsh and unrelenting that the myth can only exist in dreams.  As a separate part of one’s existence.  Yet as a part that dramatically influences how one behaves in the real world.

I like all the writing of Isak Dinesen (really Karen Blixen) - but I’ve read Out of Africa several times and keep mining it.  Here’s a short part on the subject of dreams and dreaming:

“People who dream when they sleep at night know of a special kind of happiness which the world of the day holds not, a placid ecstasy, and ease of heart, that are like honey on the tongue.  They also know that the real glory of dreams lies in their atmosphere of unlimited freedom.  It is not the freedom of the dictator, who enforces his own will on the world, but the freedom of the artist, who has no will, who is free of will.

“The pleasure of the true dreamer does not lie in the substance of the dream, but in this: that there things happen without any interference from his side, and altogether outside his control. Great landscapes create themselves, long splendid views, rich and delicate colours, roads, houses, which he has never seen or heard of.  Strangers appear and are friends or enemies, although the person who dreams has never done anything about them.  The idea of flight and pursuit are recurrent in dreams and are equally enrapturing.

“Excellent witty things are said by everybody.  It is true that if remembered in the daytime they will fade and lose their sense, because they belong to a different plane, but as soon as the one who dreams lies down at night, the current is again closed and he remembers their Excellency.  All the time the feeling of immense freedom is surrounding him and running through him like air and light, an unearthly bliss...’the Kings of Tarshish shall bring gifts.’”

But then the person awakens, and the “Kings of Tarshish” have not brought gifts at all.  The mailman only brought monthly bills and offers of credit cards with high interest.  Simply put, reality teaches us that it doesn’t rain golden pomegranates.  Reality teaches us that if we don’t work, we may not eat.  It’s one thing to dream, and it’s another thing to bring that dream into reality.  Usually, it’s a very hard thing to pull off.

We at Ultraight Wilderness Toilet - however - have indeed brought off our dream.  And now it becomes our task to get every backpacker in the world to carry our toilet products; to make that action an ecological act.  Our company makes our toilet products for the millions of people who sincerely want to do whatever it takes to be good stewards of wilderness, back country, and parks.  And what it takes is for people - for the first time in human history - to take responsibility for their own body wastes.  Our toilet products were invented for and will be used by those who already carry out their cans, their food packaging, etc., after they've used these sacred places.   

Ecology, then, isn’t about “tree-hugging” or chaining oneself to a piece of logging equipment.  It’s about getting people to understand that every time they carry a piece of garbage out, wilderness, back country, and parks, are healthier.  And if those places are healthier, mankind will be healthier.

Nature is still the basis of all economies on earth. If we continue to disregard the harm being done to it, then we must face the consequences.  And as if on a drum beat, the consequences are becoming known by the day.  Here’s an example in some detail.  Please bear with me...I think you might find what follows interesting.

In old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest there’s an important fungi, a living organism, called mycorrhizae.  Some of them live underground.  We call them “truffles.”  They infect tree roots because they get their nourishment from trees.  The infected trees grow tiny hair roots that spread across the forest floor and find phosphorus and nitrogen that is UNAVAILABLE to the deeper roots.  ALL the conifers (part of the pine family) in the Pacific Northwest forests require truffle infections - or they die.  One experiment with Douglas fir seedlings showed that they died within TWO years of planting if they didn’t become infected with mycorrhizae.

For the infections to maintain themselves, truffle spores MUST repeatedly come into direct contact with tree roots.  How does this happen?  Spores are dispersed in the droppings of mice, squirrels, chipmunks, and voles.  They eat truffles.  These tiny creatures in turn form the food supply of the spotted owl population.  If the owl population declines its usually because there aren’t enough truffles to feed the owl’s food supply.  It can also mean that too many trees have been harvested to keep the forest healthy.  Most logging companies continue to harvest and plant trees, but also continue to resist acting on these intricacies of forest ecology management. 

In my next post I'll continue with Part 2.