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The Lake Michigan Overlook at Pierce Stocking near Glen Arbor, MI.
I don’t want to protect Michigan’s environment because of political leanings. The part of my brain that wants to protect the Sleeping Bear Dunes doesn’t particularly care whether our nation’s next president is Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, or whether taxes should be raised or lowered. Of course, decisions of that kind are sometimes relevant to the prospects for vital environmental protections, and it is fair and important for conservationists to understand any connections that truly exist. Still, the heart of my desire to protect Michigan’s unduplicated natural beauty cannot exist within the political realm. In fact, it can’t exist in any realm of inherent conflict.
Think about this: each of us spends a near entirety of our moments in some realm of conflict. Take an hour to walk through a city. Surely, there will be beauty. There will be seemingly impossible feats of engineering. But there will also be conflict. Lots of it. Even our greatest developments don’t quite know how to exist naturally in nature. The same goes for our brains. Moments of solitude or reverence are all too rare.
Michigan’s protected nature areas provide an escape from all of the conflict. A liberation. I can walk through Nichols Arboretum by my home in Ann Arbor and observe life in harmony. I could plan a weekend (or, if I was lucky, a week-long) trip through Michigan and experience a vast array of natural beauty that is simultaneously halcyon and exhilarating. During such a trip, I could witness as much natural beauty as any person could at any location in the world.
I know this to be true. Having recently visited Northern Michigan with a group of friends from Brazil, Austria, Germany, and Colombia, I was not surprised to see on Facebook photos of the area numerous comments in Portuguese, German, and Spanish. And although the languages varied, the messages from all over the world were strikingly consistent: I WANT TO GO THERE.
An international crowd enjoying Pure Michigan.
It’s shocking and sad that our legislators cannot see what people from around the world perceive so clearly. Michigan’s natural beauty is world-class. In a time of immense struggle for many parts of our state, areas like Sleeping Bear Dunes, Tahquamenon Falls, and Mackinac Island serve as a sort of fall-back. These places, along with various state parks, inland lakes, beaches, and nature areas, have always been there for us. They provide an escape for Michiganders, and serve as much-needed tourist attractions. The world wants to see Michigan.
This is why I love my state. Why we all love Michigan. This is why we should join hands across the political aisle in hopes of preserving natural beauty so stunning that it transcends any political barriers. Our legislators apparently don’t understand this. In the past week alone, our state representatives have passed multiple bills eroding protections on sand dunes and placing harmful limits on nature areas. So we should ask ourselves one question: if our “representatives” don’t value our state’s most precious resources, why should we let them represent us?
12 Comments
I find the Great Lakes sand dunes to be fascinating. Something I would associate more with States like Florida and SC and NC.
Probably because those “representatives” were bought by the 0.01%ers. THey are only concerned with protecting what is in the best interest of the 0.01%, certainly not the 99%.
Thanks for sharing a side of Michigan we’re not hearing about much these days.
OT Kit, how come my diary (and probably a lot of others) are not making it to the recent diaries list ?
Is there a tech problem or something ?
Unfortunately, most Michigan voters are so-called “low information” voters. But this is true of most Americans, period. There are progressive enclaves like Ann Arbor (where I live), Detroit and East Lansing, but most of Michigan is actually Michibama. I’m not sanguine about the future. Americans are becoming progressively dumber, not wiser.
Sometimes I’ve noticed a delay in how long it takes for new diaries to show up. I can see your diary in my list now too. If you see others’ missing please come over to the watercooler or email editor@firedoglake.com.
I have heard great things about Ann Arbor. I hope to visit someday!
Oh..some how my original title disappeared. I think that confused the software.
Excuuuuuuuse me. You are really missing something here. Your so-called reps are not really reps. They PRETEND to be reps. Really, they are pandering soul-less no-talent loser gofer for thieves who want to force the people to sell their public properties and utilities. Why? Because they think that they can 1. do it (as in pull it off as in a bank robbery) and 2. they think they can get away with it.
Bashar al-assad thinks the same thing. So did Gahdafi. So did Mubarak. So do all tyrannical despots. But thats what people mutate into. Not so much by themselves, but as they occupy offices and change the power of the office, the office begins to attract the lesser beasts of society until you have maniacal killers and thieves in place. Its called – degeneration. And its a sign of social illness. Much like mental illness. Hand in hand.
You think its bad now? What do thieves with power want to do for a living – especially after they first disrespect you? Then after they rob you? Then after they brand you as expendable? YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET.
Sredge, the actions by Michigan’s legislature (and not only in regards to environmental protections) certainly suggest that your assertion is correct. And the Occupy movement has made significant strides in publicizing that assertion. I’m interested to see, though, whether that sentiment is reflected at the polls on November 6.
Joe, you seem to agree with my general premise that Michigan’s (and, I take it, America’s) representatives are not doing their jobs. However, I don’t see much value in likening Michigan’s legislators to Middle Easter dictators. We do not live in a totalitarian state; we should be grateful for this. Our system is not perfect — far from it — but the cure for an observed ailment is not to confuse it with an even greater ailment. Concrete problems require pragmatic solutions.
ADC, while I certainly share your disappointment over the leanings of our state’s representatives (and maybe the people who put them there), I’m not at all convinced that most Michiganders oppose environmental protections. Particularly among northern Michiganders, who are generally politically conservative, there exists a strong sense of obligation and desire to protect our state’s natural beauty. As this article suggests, I think it’s crucial that people understand that such desires can and should transcend political barriers.
The same could be said on a national scale. While powerful oil and gas lobbies hold significant power and attempt to politicize conservation, the tide can and will shift. In the near future, conservation will not be a politicized issue. At the moment, the acceleration of that process is of utmost importance.