{"id":119923,"date":"2014-05-29T22:28:08","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T04:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/adventure-and-wilderness-where-do-you-fit\/"},"modified":"2014-05-29T22:28:08","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T04:28:08","slug":"adventure-and-wilderness-where-do-you-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/adventure-and-wilderness-where-do-you-fit\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventure and wilderness: Where do you fit?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

We go out and play and explore and climb and hike in the outdoors. In Southwest Colorado, that\u2019s just the thing to do.<\/p>\n

But why do we do it? What does it all mean? What\u2019s the bigger picture here?<\/p>\n

Andrew Gulliford explores these questions in Outdoors in the Southwest: An Adventure Anthology, a newly released book of short essays and interviews that he spent the last eight years compiling and writing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s designed to be used for class study (in scholastic lingo, it\u2019s a \u201ccollege reader,\u201d not a textbook), but anyone interested in the subject shouldn\u2019t be shy about taking a look. Heck, if you\u2019re a student or even in a book club, there are ready-made discussion points (study questions) all prepared for you at the end of each chapter.<\/p>\n

Gulliford, for those who don\u2019t know, is a professor of history and environmental studies at Fort Lewis College. He also writes a monthly column for The Durango Herald. He grew up in Southeast Colorado, lived for a while in the Rifle area, and has been in Durango since 2000, when he arrived here from Tennessee to direct the then-new Center of Southwest Studies. As far as the outdoors, he\u2019s a hiker, river-runner and hunter, for starters.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s interested in, and concerned about, the present and the future of the outdoors. And, dealing as he does with students, he wants to present the younger generation with some things to think about as they go about their wilderness pursuits. He wants them to be thoughtful users of the outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greens are graying,\u201d he said in a phone interview. If we don\u2019t introduce younger people to the ethics of environmental heavyweights such as Aldo Leopold or Bob Marshall, then the movement may not last. \u201cI hope this will point students in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the book\u2019s 413 pages, there\u2019s plenty of room for reflection. Stories come from renowned writers such as Edward Abbey, Terry Tempest Williams, Craig Childs and Barbara Kingsolver. They come from desert canyon rats, boatmen and guides.<\/p>\n

They come from those who\u2019ve stared death in the face. You\u2019ll encounter lightning and mountain lions, get stuck in a canyon, get dumped off a raft and tumble 900 feet straight down Engineer Mountain.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a book of \u201ccautionary tales,\u201d Gulliford said. He\u2019s using it in his American wilderness class with the hope that if students read about these mishaps, they\u2019ll be able to avoid them.<\/p>\n

The book begins by exploring the need for wilderness and ends with the need for stewardship, for protecting what we\u2019ve got. It concludes with perhaps the most challenging essay, written by Phil Brick, professor of politics and environmental science at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Brick challenges the reader to be an advocate for the outdoors \u2013 no excuses or lip service allowed.<\/p>\n

First, Brick says, write things down. Share your love of wilderness with those who don\u2019t have the chance to go explore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to get the word out, to give people a reason to care,\u201d he writes, and then starts the next paragraph with one of the book\u2019s overarching themes: \u201cBut is just knowing and caring enough?\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, to protect what you love, whether it\u2019s from development or from climate change, what actions are really going to produce results? Recycling and bicycling to work are good, but that\u2019s not the answer, he says. You\u2019ll make real change only by becoming part of the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo influence the process, you don\u2019t need a lot of money. But you will need a willingness to sit down and engage in the give and take of public lands politics,\u201d Brick writes. \u201cThe aphorism \u2018The world is run by people who show up\u2019 is surely right, and to that I might add: The world is changed by people who keep showing up, no matter the odds.\u201d<\/p>\n

johnp@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

Andrew Gulliford will speak about and sign copies of his new book, Outdoors in the Southwest: An Adventure Anthology, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Maria\u2019s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

professor\u2019s latest book poses challenge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[738,132],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-119923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-environmental-issue","tag-fort-lewis-college"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119923"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=119923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}