I often think of the Don Edwards lyric expressing thanks that “I wasn’t born no later than I was.” The world seems to be changing in ways that I find unsupportable. More synthetic, less authentic. Less wild; less free. The meadow behind my house where geese nest, deer graze and coyotes hunt will be built over within the next decade. “Progress,” you know…
And the seemingly inevitable rise of AI looks to challenge everything I value about being a human.
Still, we make the best of what we’ve got left, and fight the good fight where we may.
I’m glad there are outfits like Shepherds of Wildlife Society out there doing the deep work to sustain things that make life worth living.
…[W]e are a cinematic, media-driven cultural strategy organization working to restore public understanding of modern conservation. We are not a lobbying group or a membership-based advocacy organization. We operate at the level of culture, using film and strategic storytelling to shape how conservation is understood by mainstream audiences, institutions and decision-makers.
In a world of more than 8 billion people, most now disconnected from nature, the future of wildlife is increasingly uncertain. As human expansion continues and traditional ways of life disappear, wildlife is pushed to the margins, confined to parks or lost entirely. At the same time, the meaning of conservation has become distorted, moving away from its foundation in the wise use of natural resources and often excluding the people who live closest to the land.
We’ve touched on their work before, with their film on anti-poaching efforts in Africa and The Last Keeper, set in the Scottish Highlands. Their latest project hits closer to home.
In the untamed landscapes of the Rocky Mountain West, where vast cattle ranches meet wilderness, a quiet but fierce war is brewing.
The Real Yellowstone delves into the lives of ranching families who find themselves at the heart of a complex struggle. As stewards of both livestock and wildlife, these ranchers, whose families have worked the land for generations, face a web of rising real estate prices, predator attacks, and a powerful conservation movement that seeks to reshape the landscape they call home.
The future of the American West is not being decided in cities, it’s being decided on the land by families who have lived on it for generations. Who manage it. Who depend on it. The question is no longer just about wildlife. It’s about whether the next generation can afford to stay and what is lost culturally, economically, and ecologically if they don’t.
Look for the film on public television in the coming months. You can purchase a more complete version and a companion book on the website, and I would expect to find it on Curiosity Stream and other streamers soon.
If this all sounds like a Corb Lund song… it is.
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For the Continuity & Persistence file. It is still wild out there…
“Caught Off Guard,” by the great David Wright.
So you’re out in the bush working on your land navigation skills. It’s spring, and the bears are coming out of hibernation. By good fortune and a can of bear spray, you narrowly avoid becoming Hugh Glass, and instead have a tale you’ll tell your grandchildren.
Craig Rullman scouted this one up — per Military.com:
The U.S. Army 11th Airborne Division soldiers were hurt in the encounter with a brown bear while participating a “land navigation training event” at the base’s Arctic Valley training area, Lt. Col. Jo Nederhoed, a public affairs officer for the division, said in an email.
Both soldiers were carrying bear spray and used it during the encounter, officials said.
“We hope both individuals have a full and quick recovery, and our thoughts are with them during this time,” Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Cyndi Wardlow said in the statement. “In this case, having bear spray with them in the field may have saved their lives.”
Paul McNamee says
The meadow behind my house where geese nest, deer graze and coyotes hunt will be built over within the next decade. “Progress,” you know…
Churns my guts, every time.
Hitting the limit on A.I. tolerance myself. Loathe it and hate its apologists.
Quixotic Mainer says
Corb never gets old. Have you heard his song ”Counterfeit Blues”? He hits the nail on the head describing the world’s enthusiasm for becoming an awkward margarine substitute of itself.
As far as AI goes, the part in A New Hope where they won’t let the droids in the bar looks more likely all the time.
JimC says
Yep!
David Wrolson says
I have been down an AI rabbit hole lately and I am absolutely stunned that it is a subject of joking at OpenAI that the world will be covered with data centers and solar panels. That does not make me want AI more.
In the same vein-apologists say that it will solve global warming (questionable with its use of energy) and othe environmental problems. I simply don’t trust the AI to value the natural world-biodiversity etc.
JimC says
I do not want even the utopian version of the AI future — and I think the dystopian version is more likely.
Jean says
I have often said I was born 100 years too late. At 77 years of age, the world is VERY different than the one I was born into. Maybe everyone in the modern age feels that way. Thanks for the head’s up.
JimC says
Always good to hear from you Jean.