> >From the new Patagonia catalog, a piece worth quoting for >all on this list to ponder a bit. Where they say rivers, we might think of all the waters we paddle. > >"THE SOUL OF THE SPORT" >"Of all nature's glories, rivers exert a powerful force on the imagination >and the spirit. Rivers permeate our language, our stories, our metaphors. >Nothing else draws us quite like the revelations we find in flowing waters. > These days thousands of people, for an equal number of reasons, grab paddle >or oar and set their boats downriver. For many, wild waters are a source of >exhilaration, a match of muscle and skill to liquid thunder and foam. Others >seek tranquillity or the pleasures gained from knowing the local rocks, >plants and creatures. However, veteran boaters are concerned about an >increasing number of river users who are "illiterate." For this group a wild >place is simply an exotic backdrop for other agendas; environment is not as >important as a fixation on gadgetry or goals that reach no farther than >miles made, rapids bagged, bodies buffed. In the words of one river guide, >"When a river is treated purely as a playground rather than a natural >organism, it loses its protectors." >America's waters are not in good shape. The lexicon of ailing streams is >lengthy and alarming. Laws and bureaucracies perpetuate the paradigm that >flowing water is the slave of economic gain and political whim, a commodity >rather than a paragon of creation. A large number of dams, or the reasons >for them, are aging. A disproportionate share of endangered species are >aquatic and riparian. The rivers we run can be called "free flowing" only by >a long stretch. More likely they are remnants of drastically altered habitat >wedged between massive mechanisms of watershed control.". . . . > On dry land or in the water, the soul of every sport begins with place. >Be responsible for what you love. Support a conservation group; start your >own. Become literate in the languages of the river - the intimate engagement >with place and the words to defend it. These waters not only give us >pleasure, they give us life. " *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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