Commentary / 28.09.2009
Into the Future
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Audrey Peterman[/caption]
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Frank Peterman[/caption]
The journey home passed in a blur of black asphalt highway and fast food eaten slowly. It’s 850 miles from Atlanta to Madison and at the conclusion of the Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great Outdoors conference I found myself racing back to begin the work that lies ahead. The 14-hour drive was fueled as much by eager anticipation and heady adrenaline as diesel, tacos, hamburgers and coffee. It seemed the Joy Jetta sped north across four state lines not merely to carry me home but into the future.
“At this conference we hope to begin seeding a new conversation,” said co-organizer Audrey Peterman. This small but incredibly dynamic woman with her charismatic husband Frank led a series of discussions and presentations that have set in motion a dialog to change the course of human history. “I don’t want to hear about saving the planet,” Audrey said. “The earth was around long before we came along and it will shrug us off long before it’s through. Right now it’s about changing how we live.”
Audrey Peterman[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1342" align="alignleft" width="284"] Frank Peterman[/caption]
The journey home passed in a blur of black asphalt highway and fast food eaten slowly. It’s 850 miles from Atlanta to Madison and at the conclusion of the Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great Outdoors conference I found myself racing back to begin the work that lies ahead. The 14-hour drive was fueled as much by eager anticipation and heady adrenaline as diesel, tacos, hamburgers and coffee. It seemed the Joy Jetta sped north across four state lines not merely to carry me home but into the future.
“At this conference we hope to begin seeding a new conversation,” said co-organizer Audrey Peterman. This small but incredibly dynamic woman with her charismatic husband Frank led a series of discussions and presentations that have set in motion a dialog to change the course of human history. “I don’t want to hear about saving the planet,” Audrey said. “The earth was around long before we came along and it will shrug us off long before it’s through. Right now it’s about changing how we live.”
In the middle of the last century, Carolyn Finney grew up on a wooded estate in Manhattan. Though not a child of privilege, this professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley recalls fond memories exploring the wild places on the property her father managed for a wealthy landowner. As the only African-American family in this affluent community Finney also remembers feeling less than welcome in this setting surrounded by nature. “It was not natural for us to be there,” she said.
As the keynote speaker in the second day of programs during the “
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