In a recent blog post I characterized “the hot air emanating from Washington DC” as more dangerous than the smoke from California’s devastating forest fires. (I was talking about some of the tragic proclamations coming from the White House, not the comedy of the even more recent government shutdown.) Because Wild Idea Buffalo Company is first and foremost a conservation minded company, I was, of course, referring to the United States’ abandonment of the Paris Climate Accords, the opening of our public lands to the extraction industries, and the reduction in size of protected lands across the west.
That blog post elicited a thoughtful response from one of our good customers who, I am sure, had our best interests in mind: “…Great products, philosophy, photography and all around company with whom I feel good about supporting. One thought, please let this be a politics-free zone…specifically, statements like “dangerous hot air from Washington” have no place and moreover ruin the tranquility of your brand."
Here is my email response: "Thanks for your support. Sorry if my comment offended you. Certainly don't want to be too political. I respect your comment about keeping things apolitical, but please understand that conservation has been my life for 70 years. I don't consider defending our natural world political, I consider it survival for my grandkids. Very best regards."
I’ve been thinking about that benign exchange for a couple weeks and have grown embarrassed with my weak response. What we do at Wild Idea is not a game of commercial strategy. We feel that we are playing for “ALL the marbles.” We are engaged in a great, existential struggle that none of us can afford to ignore. We are doing, through our actions, what most people can’t do directly or won’t do, and what most of creation has no voice to do. Though it is soothing to think that our brand is tranquil, it is not so. Wild Idea Buffalo Company is about underscoring the destruction that out-of-control capitalism has visited upon the natural world. The suggestion that it is all a marketing strategy is insulting; though I’m sure our valued customer did not intend any such thing.
Between the time of that initial blog post and now I went to see the movie The Darkest Hour. If you haven’t seen it, go as soon as you can and watch Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Winston Churchill in front of the English Parliament. Churchill is, of course, surrounded by politics as he strains to make England see that opposing Adolph Hitler is much more than a political stance. Notice the look on the face of Ronald Pickup who plays Neville Chamberlain as he realizes that his efforts to appease Hitler have been little more than the a scolding finger in Churchill’s face – the equivalent of saying, “Now, now Winston, let’s keep the language kind and civil.”
Or consider Major Buttric of America’s infant Continental Army. Imagine him in 1775, standing at the Concord Bridge commanding the rag-tag group of common men, much like most of us. On the other side of the bridge stands lines of red-coated invaders. Major Buttric and his men are facing down the most powerful army the world had ever known. If you’ve ever been to the Concord River Valley, you know it is one of the most idyllic and peaceful places imaginable. You also know that even after 250 years, the air is still thick with the tension of that day in 1775. Now imagine Major Buttric turning to the embattled farmers who stand shoulder to shoulder with him and saying, “Now boys, let’s keep this place a politics free zone.” No. What Buttric really said was: “Fire, for god’s sake fellow soldiers – Fire!”
I do not mean to minimize those battles fought to protect our civilization or our freedom. Quite the opposite. I only mean to elevate the importance of defending our environment and to point out that victory often comes through uncomfortable words and actions. The stakes could not be higher. We are fighting for life itself.
77 comments
Dan – It is because of great people like yourself and your family that I became passionate about bison, and why I consider myself – not only a wildlife biologist – but a bison biologist. I believe so deeply that we can restore the ecology of our fragmented grasslands by restoring bison to them that I, too, have devoted my life to the restoration of the species and our Great Plains. I see a lot of biologists taking the same route as your commenter, often saying “If you want to keep your job, and be a well regarded scientist, best keep your views to yourself.” I refuse to believe that. As a scientist, if I don’t stand up for what I believe to be true based on the evidence, then I have failed. Bison have walked the prairie’s of North America for at least 130,000 years, and for the last 200 years their mere existence has been part of our political sphere. To stand for the conservation and restoration of our natural heritage is to stand among the great – Roosevelt, Hornaday, Leopold, Muir, and others.
I stand with you Dan, for the sake of our species and kindred alike.
-Nic
Thanks for sharing, Dan. You always seem to sum up everything in a short but sweet blog. I guess that is why you are such a great writer. Your beliefs (in addition to the great product) is why I respect your business and recommend it to everyone I can. I only wish I could afford to offer financial support to your mission and others of the same ilk. Long live Mother Earth and all she supports!
Damn straight, Dan! It’s a flat our war and one need look no further than the Sunday 1.21 NYT follow up story on the Malheur Refuge takeover, sympathetic locals saying things about conservation efforts like “How do we get along with people who are trying to take everything away from us?” and characterizing Yellowstone National Park as two million acres of natural resources gone to waste, the trees too close together because there’s no logging, and, by-the-way, can’t some of those bison be used for meat?
Hoorah! Yes, we are fighting for the survival of the future. Somewhere, the natural world has been relegated to a footnote – if it’s not being touted as “how to get rich, never mind the cost.” Quite apart from delicious meat – I could buy bison or elk elsewhere – the ethos of Wild Idea is why I shop here. Selfishly, I want it to succeed wildly, so others adopt the same ethos and, step by step, we change the world. I worked for decades on projects trying to improve the environment, and it devastates me to have all the (minimal as they were) regulations that protect land and air and water and children and animals rolled back. It kills me to see lands set aside now opened to pillage and rapine by private companies who don’t pay enough taxes to clean up the horrors they leave in their wakes. (Who knows? With fracking, it may literally kill me … methane is a dreadful greenhouse gas…)
Thanks, Dan. You are fighting the good fight.
May Blessings find you on this beautiful New Mexico Day Dan,
The Global Climate Change Accords are a Farce wrapped inside of a Lie, concealed in an Enigma. They have little to do with Climate Change (of which human activity is a small factor, but a factor that should be responsibly addressed nonetheless) but rather with globalist concerns to burden the USA above and beyond other countries and beyond all this to tear down her Sovereignty. We Luv what you are doing in restoring the great plains ecosystems and providing NumYummie Buffler for all our tables. We believe you have consumed some of the Globalist “progressiveNOT” Big Brother Control the Nations Cabal Kool Aid and are deceived in your Climate Change Global Accords perspective. Blessings upon you and your family. Sincerely …Tears, Passion, In Yeshua ~anthony Klein, Olam Convocation of Ministries~Friend of The Bridegroom.
SO well said! And my sentiments exactly, Dan. It is your mission and that of your wife Jill and daughter and son-in-law that has me spending money on your meat. I only wish my limited budget allowed for more purchases and that my friends with greater means could see that they vote not only on Election Day but with their dollars every time they buy their food. Our cheap food has come at a cost that too many turn a blind eye to. And like you, too, I saw “The Darkest Hour” wishing there were more leaders here in the US like Churchill. I will be forwarding this post far and wide. Thank you for your hard work and advocacy.
As you know, we must watch our language, first and last. “Protection” does not come from a federal paper, protection comes from feet, and hooves, on the ground. Words subverted by political air need to be rooted in native grasses again. The Paris accords may not make a half degree of actual difference but let’s talk about putting the offal back into the ground — which we can do. Capitalism now means everything and nothing. Thank you for your years and years of finding daily actions for the good.
Great and true…nothing should be above nature life. It should be the first and most important “rule” on this planet. And we should show respect with acts…meaning a better living, a most respectful life toward the planet.
(Sorry ig my english isnt too good, and best regards from Barcelona).
I am moved and grateful for your words. We have been doing prairie restoration work ourselves on a much smaller scale, motivated by our deep concern for all the rest “of God’s creatures.” Where are they to thrive as our earth keeps being overwhelmed by human demands? How can we live differently, out of respect for ALL creation? We ask ourselves this question daily. It is why we buy your product. It is especially about your deeply felt and lived principles. And it happens to taste great.
With deepest respect,
Linda
Amen!
Or, we could read the grapes of wrath and understand why the word “Okie” is political. What isn’t political now?
Thank you, once again, Dan, for a thoughtful rendering of words.
Brilliant, perfectly stated, and thank you. Thank you and the entire Wild Idea team for everything you do to embody compassionate and custodial capitalism as a model, not a branding strategy.
Thank you!
Sometimes a person has to speak up and take a stand. Thank you for your comments and your actions for conservation.
Amen Dan. Amen! And thank you. We must ALL recognize that this isn’t a political battle. It is a battle for Mother Earth. And that is as apolitical as it gets.