Chaparral Wisdom

We have so much to be grateful for, something that becomes clear when you take control.

Celebrating the state of our species came to mind after learning of the loss of P-22, the legendary cougar of the Santa Monica Mountains and Griffith Park. He was mercifully euthanized by a team of caring veterinarians last month after sustaining injuries from being hit by a car. The news caused me to think about the multi-million dollar wildlife crossing bridge soon to be built over Highway 101 near Liberty Canyon in Los Angeles County. I wondered if someday wolves would be using the bridge, wolves from the pack that has been finding its way into California due to our efforts to reintroduce the species in Yellowstone National Park.

What accounts for these incredibly expensive and heartfelt efforts to care for species that used to be our competitors, our predators, creatures that once made living in North America a seriously dangerous affair? There was good reason Native Americans celebrated the Spanish having their guns – it made living in California much safer by dispatching the great terror of the landscape, the California grizzly bear. Not only did grizzlies kill humans, but the bears raided the valuable stores of acorns many tribal groups collected and depended upon for food.

But after thousands of years of civilization, many nations have become wealthy enough, secure enough, to view Nature as something to cherish, rather than fear.

We are experiencing a unique time in human history when a large percentage of the population values wildness, Wilderness, and all the non-human species we share this planet with. Beginning with the creation of Yellowstone National Park, followed by the efforts of John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt to protect even more, there is now broad public support for preserving Nature.

Such positive change is not restricted to our relationship with Nature. As Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker has pointed out, “Extreme poverty has been decimated: It’s gone from 90 percent of the world’s population to 10 percent. Literacy has increased from about 15 percent to more than 85 percent. Prosperity has increased; longevity has increased from about 30 to about 71 years worldwide, and 80 in the developed world.”

Even a superficial understanding human history reveals how far we’ve moved away from our standard operating procedures of violence, slavery, murder, and mayhem. And despite the not-so-small hiccup after the collapse of Rome, the positive advancements in philosophy, science, and politics, especially the little experiment in democracy, have been breathtaking. Empirical thought has replaced witchcraft and mythology.