Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

Thoreau, traveling in the most supremely basic way down a river in Massachusetts takes note of the surrounding landscape. He finds a section of land which has been ravaged (italics mine):

"Here too was another extensive desert by the side of the road in Litchfield, visible from the bank of the river. The sand was blown off in some places to the depth of ten or twelve feet, leaving small grotesque hillocks of that height... Thirty or forty years ago, as we were told, it was a sheep-pasture, but the sheep, being worried by the fleas, began to paw the ground, till they broke the sod, and so the sand began to blow, till now it had extended over forty or fifty acres. This evil might easily have been remedied, at first, by spreading birches with their leaves on over the sand, and fastening them down with stakes, to break the wind. The fleas bit the sheep, and the sheep bit the ground, and the sore had spread to this extent. It is astonishing what a great sore a little scratch breedeth. Who knows but Sahara, where caravans and cities are buried, began with the bite of an African flea? This poor globe, how it must itch in many places! Will no god be kind enough to spread a salve of birches over its sores?"

I find his plea poignant and so relevant today as we are reduced to preserving blocks of wilderness in the heart of suburban America, where the Roadless Yak is no longer roadless. Will no god be kind enough to heal our earth?

I think its really time to assume our own responsibility, to take local action (if we can't take on the larger national projects) to save the vestiges of wilderness in our surrounding areas. I've linked a somewhat academic article, but here is a section that seems to reflect the crux of local action and links to the passion that Thoreau felt for the place that provided the land he lived on:

"Civic environmentalism uses the power of place--a citizen's love for a certain place, be it where she lives, where she hikes, or simply where she goes to sit quietly and find some peace--as a foundation for innovative, dynamic collaborations among governments, citizens, and private companies. Because they are site-specific, civic environmental policies are better suited than command-and-control regulations to deal with certain issues, such as polluted runoff, habitat protection, and reuse of contaminated land."