But I heard Terry Tempest Williams speak this evening in Brookens Auditorium at the University of Illinois, Springfield, about the preservation of wilderness and wild lands. About the high percentage (70%? I didn't fact-check this) of Illinois land that is privately owned. Audience members mentioned rampant development on Springfield's west side, turning some of the richest soil in the world into subdivisions (of bland architectural sameness, in my opinion), and questioned the wisdom of a MacArthur Boulevard interchange for Interstate 72.
Converting farmland to commercial strips and opulent housing is still just re-purposing private land, and proves that the owner of land can do with it as s/he pleases, even sell it to someone who will transform it, oblivious to its heritage -- and its natural resources, including other "beings" who reside there.
Williams made a point about sustainability depending upon respect for animals, plants, rocks and rivers. And that is where my recent personal experience overlaps this discussion.
I give you an audio/video recording I made on March 17 in Oak Ridge Cemetery, of frogs calling. Elsewhere on this weblog is a shaky video of more frog calls, and a pair of Mallards browsing the edges of what I've been calling "the sludge pond."
I've seen a Great Blue Heron here twice, and an owl once, and often see and hear Red-Tailed Hawks hunting in this area. On my walks with Jake, I eagerly anticipate reaching this spot (among many others) because of the wildlife I might see or hear there. Just a few minutes' walk from home, instant spiritual enrichment.
Tomorrow I'll record a video showing this same spot as it appears this week. The tree trunk will be a visual reference point.
