AMERICA'S GEOGRAPHY OF HOPE
Remarks of Mark Van Putten
President & CEO, National Wildlife Federation
[Edited transcript of September 15, 2001, Virginia Environmental Assembly]

Good morning. Its good to be here on such a beautiful day, surrounded by friends, colleagues and people who share similar values. It is heartening to see so many of you here, even though we are all shocked, saddened and grieving over the tragic events of this past Tuesday.

For each of us the impact of last week's tragic events is enormous and deeply personal. And every one of us is responding to these events in personal ways as individuals and as citizens who have come to appreciate more than ever the meaning of our American democracy. And how we respond as a movement is also of critical importance.

Leadership is more important at times of crisis than ever - and leadership from us in the cause of conservation is more important today than it was last Monday. Each of us is called upon to show leadership in different ways, and I know that collectively we are capable of providing the kind of leadership that will provide comfort and chart our direction for the future.

What is the nature of this leadership?

First, we must affirm and confirm the relevance of our conservation values - what we believe in and what we stand for - in these very different times.

Our movement is founded on fundamental values that are widely shared and are at the root of the American character. And as Americans become more introspective in the wake of last week's events, as they search for new meaning in their lives to respond to these events, we can help connect them to the enduring values in which we believe and which we know are so important. Now more than ever is a time for a values-based conversation about conservation - to talk about our work in the deepest possible terms and to use our resources to reach our constituency, and anyone who will listen to us, to speak about these values.

I want to talk for a few minutes about these enduring values and how we can appropriately express them at this very difficult time.

First of all, our tone really matters right now: how we say what we say is as important as what we say. We must beware the appearance of zealotry. We must guard against the occupational hazard of self-righteousness, or appearing smug. And we must always demonstrate the highest degree of tolerance of those with whom we disagree as we engage in debates over policy. Believing deeply in our cause, as we do, does not mean that we are intolerant of those who have different views. Now, more than ever, by our tone and by our demeanor we must be measured and reflective, yet confident.

Second, we must focus on the current relevance of our values. Nearly forty years ago, Wallace Stegner, the great writer and conservationist wrote this:

Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forest to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarette cases; if we drive the few remaining species into zoos or extinction; if we pollute the last clean air, and dirty the last clean streams, and push our paved roads through the last of the silences…. We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope. [Emphasis added.]

The "geography of hope." We understand today more than ever before the significance of nature's geography of hope. Nature reminds us of the eternal rhythms of life of which we are a part and which endure over time. We know that life continues; the sun will rise, the moon will set and the birds will return again next spring. Last week after the terrorist attacks, NWF's Chief Naturalist Craig Tufts sat on his deck at home watching hawks and monarch butterflies on their annual migration, and he wrote this:

Seeing and recognizing that some wonderful aspect of life on this planet goes on, no matter how frightening and uncertain other parts of our lives may seem, helps steer things back to whatever normal may mean to us in the months ahead.

Many of us found the same solace in nature that Craig found, including many people at the heart of these horrific terrorist attacks. The New York Times reported Thursday that people were flocking to a garden in lower Manhattan to seek comfort, to grieve and to connect with each other in sharing their grief.

I've seen the healing power of nature at work before. Several years ago I went to the Ronald McDonald House at the Cleveland Clinic to dedicate the National Wildlife Federation's 20,000th Backyard Wildlife Habitat. More than 100 volunteers, many of whom were parents of children with terminal diseases, worked together in creating this habitat. Their stories of the solace they found in that urban garden during their moments of suffering were moving and powerful.

While Nature has the capacity to heal us, it also equips us to meet the daily challenges of life. Reflecting on Tuesday's events, National Wildlife Federation Board member Steve O'Hara wrote:

I'm preparing for a jury trial tomorrow… my third jury trial in the space of five weeks. It is a stressful time for me, a time when I go more and more often to sit at the side of the creek by my office and reflect - while watching the tide come in and go out, along with all the activity of the wildlife that the water sustains. I would much rather be on the water in my kayak but when I can't, it is enough to be near it, to see it, to hear it, to smell it. It relaxes me enough to allow my mind to work again. I am so glad I left the 34-story building I was in last year and found this little oasis by the creek, almost in the heart of the city. [Emphasis added.]

"Almost in the heart of the city" - Stegner had it half right. The geography of hope is not only found in far-away wilderness areas that we drive up to and look in. We understand the geography of hope represented by nature is all around us; it's in our backyards, it's in our schoolyards, it's in our urban parks. We understand this geography of hope is available to everyone everywhere.

And, we understand that the natural world offers more than comfort at times of grief or stress. Conservation is about building communities, about caring for others and about building a better future for people. We know from experience that some of the most enduring personal relationships in our lives are created and strengthened when we experience nature with someone we love, whether in a duck blind, in a garden, in a schoolyard or in an urban park.

Why is this so? Why does nature help us to connect with other people?

I think it's because in nature we can be together as children again in awe of the majesty and beauty of nature's enduring rhythms. Nature isn't only a refuge for solitary reflection - it is an essential ingredient in forging stronger communities and stronger commitments to each other. You understand this and you participate in this kind of community building in suburban and urban neighborhoods all across Virginia.

Our conservation ethic is also the basis for our dedication to diversity. It is remarkable how a shared conservation ethic and shared sense of stewardship binds us to people unlike ourselves - people of different genders, races, nationalities, sexual orientation or backgrounds. The common ground of conservation leads us to tolerance and it bridges the differences that ancient hatreds focus on in order to divide us. By caring for nature together, by common acts of stewardship, we build bonds based on our universal faith in the future.

Every time you plant a seed in the garden, every time you put out birdseed for birds you trust will return, every time you take a child by the hand for a walk in a park - these are acts of faith. They are acts of faith in the future and acts of faith that, together, we can make it a better future.

While we believe in a geography of hope, we are not hopelessly naive. We already understand some of what Tuesday's events mean for our country. America lost its "unilateral innocence" last week.

We understand now in a way we didn't before that we cannot be safe within our own borders unless the United States demonstrates international leadership to create multilateral institutions that will extend the rule of law and propagate our democratic values. And we can't seek the benefits of multilateral action only when it serves our immediate purposes. I sincerely hope that President Bush's leadership in marshaling the international community to eradicate the global scourge of international terrorism will result in similar leadership in nurturing the international institutions required to avert global climate change, to stabilize population growth and to expand global trade in a way that incorporates our commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable development.

We also know that our values and beliefs are not luxuries at a time like this to be discarded because of national need. We understand that our values are more important than ever and that we will likely be called upon to defend them vigorously against those who may seek to take opportunistic advantage of this week's tragedies. If you doubt there are those who will do so, I refer you to Representative Don Young's comments as quoted in the Washington Post: he said America should not rush to conclude Middle Eastern terrorists were responsible for last week's attacks because they might be the acts of "eco-terrorists."

We understand that at a time of great national need, even if it is a time of war, protecting places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not a luxury. Abraham Lincoln understood this. During the Civil War he protected the magnificent Redwood trees of California's Mariposa Grove - now part of Yosemite National Park - because it demonstrated his faith in our nation's future at a time of war.

What is a luxury at a time of war is wasting resources. At such times the conservation of our natural resources becomes a matter of national security. We've all heard stories from grandparents and parents about recycling metal, cloth and other materials for the war effort. We've heard stories from them of the national effort to conserve gasoline and other fuels.

Like then, waste is a luxury now. What is a luxury now is a fleet of sport utility vehicles that are not as fuel efficient as other passenger vehicles, even though we have the technological know-how to do better. What is a luxury now is producing much of our electricity from half-century-old, polluting, coal-fired power plants when we have the knowledge and technology to do better - to increase conservation, improve energy efficiency and deploy the renewable energy technologies that would put us at the forefront of the 21st century instead of defending the dinosaur technologies of the past century.

We stand for these things. We stand for conserving and using wisely our precious natural resources. We stand for the kind of faith in the future Lincoln demonstrated during the Civil War; for the innovative use by creative human beings of new technologies in service of enduring values; for building stronger communities for our fellow citizens; and, at a time of national introspection, for focusing on what matters most - family and community, not the amount of material goods we can accumulate.

And we stand for a world that recognizes the importance of wildlife and wild places. As Aldo Leopold said in the opening words of A Sand County Almanac:

There are some who can live in a world without wild things, and some who cannot.

We know that we cannot and need not live in a world without wild things. Our volunteers, members and supporters know it too. They are looking to us for leadership in communicating about our enduring values to fellow citizens in communities across America. And I'm confident that we are ready and able to rise to this challenge and to provide the quality of leadership these difficult times demand.

Thank you.