In many of the western towns I have visited, consumption and ownership of natural resources are among a locale’s most pressing issues.  The West’s natural resources are used in diverse and profit-generating ways: locals speak of mining and the clean-up of old mines, logging, ranching and agricultural production, hunting and fishing, capturing the aesthetic value of land, harnessing alternative energy resources, and addressing water scarcity.

Boise is by no means unique in its approach towards natural resources. Newly constructed homes march westward in files of yellow timber and green lawns.  The city lies along the Boise River, which is dammed in multiple locations in order to provide irrigation and drinking water in a high desert climate (a debate is on-going as to whether an additional dam should be built).  Meanwhile, business and community leaders speak hopefully of growth and of the recovering real estate market.

But as I stand on a hillside overlooking the city, I experience one sudden and overwhelming thought: This is not going to work. Boise, among so many of our cities, is not on a consumption path that can be sustained into the future.  Increasing numbers of the population cannot possibly occupy the consumption footprint of our predecessors; there’s simply not enough earth to go around.

In Collapse, professor and author Jared Diamond argues that many past human societies failed as a result of their inability to address and prevent ecological collapse.  From Norse Greenland to the Mayans, Diamond posits that contributing factors such as environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, and a lack of friendly trade partners influence a civilization’s decline, but that a civilization’s response to environmental problems is the most significant factor in determining its success or failure.

I believe in humanity’s ability to innovate our way out of problems.  I do not believe that the world is going to self-destruct at some future point as a result of the environmental damage we have wrought.  However, I do believe that the way in which we use and conserve our resources now will directly influence those that we have available to us in the future.  I am awed  by the lands I have seen and by the abundance those lands provide; I hope to be a voice in ensuring their continued fecundity and wildness.