On Earth Day, Wallace J. Nichols gave a keynote address at Duke University in honor of Evel Knievel entitled "Jump the Chasm: Are you an EcoDaredevil?" After the address, Elliott Hazen, a Duke University PhD student, was honored with the first EcoDaredevil award.
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Growing up in the 1970s, I idolized Evel Knievel. To me, he was a rock star, sports hero, and folk legend in one. He was both a daredevil and a cool character. Back then, his jumps over buses, fountains, and canyons inspired me to launch my bicycle into the air and over puddles, mounds of dirt, and many a hapless friend. Occasionally, in honor of his ill-fated jump over the Snake River Canyon, I'd jump my bicycle into the neighbor's pond.
Now, I find new inspiration in my childhood hero.
In 1961, before "Evel" became a household name, Robert Craig Knievel hitchhiked with the rack of a bull elk from Montana to our nation's capital to protest the culling of elk in Yellowstone. The Kennedy administration responded and countless elk were saved.
Half a century later, we face ever more serious environmental crises -- loss of biodiversity, a warming planet, collapsing fisheries, looming food and water shortages for billions of people, and the realization that our pollution has reached nearly every corner of the globe. Scientists forecast a "2050 Scenario" in which Earth is hotter, dirtier, and overcrowded with 9 billion people who are left to wage wars for what little remains.
In the ocean, the once-rich ecosystems that spared us from environmental harm are failing. Right now, Ocean Conservancy is racing to return the ocean to health through sustainable fishing, protecting marine wildlife, shaping how we manage our waters, and preserving magnificent ocean places -- our "Undersea Yellowstones," as we like to call them -- but serious concerns remain, chief among them climate change.
Jumping this chasm is the greatest challenge humans have ever faced. Waiting is foolish at best and disastrous at worst. Solving these problems will require revolutionary changes in society and technology, not incremental steps. We must be brave, creative, and outspoken enough to challenge the status quo in our respective industries, departments, and neighborhoods. We must undertake the audacious, the impossible, and the dangerous. We must risk financial, social, and physical comfort.
In other words, we must be EcoDaredevils.
Everywhere I go, I meet them. They are debating, creating, evolving -- yes, sometimes crashing -- but always, always coming back for more. Two Texas women cleaning a beach and inspiring Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup that is now half-a-million strong. Sir Richard Branson greening aviation. Feliciano dos Santos campaigning with music for clean water in Africa. Architect Renzo Piano turning a massive roof into a meadow with solar panels. WaterKeeper Julio Solis drag racing in Mexico to raise awareness of our ocean crisis.
Changing our light bulbs, inflating our tires, and toting our own reusable bags are all important gestures. But let's be clear: it's going to take action far more thrilling and substantive for us to make it over this canyon.
For some, speaking boldly about energy efficiency at the office is a risky bet. For others, it may be a massive transformation to "green" their households. Others may undertake bolder actions at higher stakes. The point is to do something for the planet that feels like a risk and an act of derring-do -- to you, personally.
They say that Evel Knievel broke every bone in his body at one time or another. But he kept on jumping. His steely will enthralled me as an 8-year-old. It still does today.
So, Earth Day is just behind us. The clock is ticking. It's 2008. Look deep inside and grab hold of your inner EcoDaredevil. Strap on a helmet, some red-white-and-blue leathers, and let's go for a ride.
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Comments
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caniscandida Posted 9:41 pm
30 Apr 2008
The caption under the photo should read "Evel," I guess, not "Evil." The difference might be important.
Love, congratulations and best wishes to Elliot Hazen, who is no doubt a terrific eco-activist. Does he put his life at risk, though, just for show?
The symbolism rather escapes me. One might think that to need to express oneself by traveling at high speeds on a gasoline-burning vehicle was part of the problem ...
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
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stevenearlsalmony Posted 11:15 pm
30 Apr 2008
Her 2005 presentation seems particularly timely in 2008. Please click on the following link,
http://www.populationandsustainability.org/papers/campbel ...
With thanks to Elliott Hazen from a neighboring eco-activist in Chapel Hill,
Steve
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001
http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/index.php
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petnoyer Posted 2:49 am
01 May 2008
If folks want to learn more about ecological impacts to the deep-sea environment (e.g. munitions dumping at sea and atomic testing in the 50s) and recent scientific discoveries in the abyss, please visit the deep dwelling EcoDaredevils at Deep Sea News.
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petnoyer Posted 2:55 am
01 May 2008
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jennacavelle Posted 4:01 am
01 May 2008
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Pompey Road Posted 11:20 am
01 May 2008
Bus jumping become popular when they started to dissemble mass transit, quit a few of them left as surplus from the process.
But Timothy Leary gave us the inspiration and the expansion of mind to believe we could fly.
Now alas with the few active brain cells I have left and with the sobriety of old age I just stare across the chasm and wonder.
I wonder how long it will take those caterpillar Dozers to fill that valley. No need to jump when in a few months I can just ride across. More practical than daring I know but I know now I can't make the jump nor stop Mountain Top Removal before my valley is filled up.
The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.
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EBAllred Posted 1:07 pm
01 May 2008
Eric Allred
http://www.ashesofthesun.com
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ehazen Posted 12:15 pm
05 May 2008
Especially for those of you in NC, please check out our webpage for green happenings at the Marine Lab and in Carteret County. Just google: Green Wave Duke. Keep on jumping!
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stevenearlsalmony Posted 3:26 am
09 May 2008
http://www.mywire.com/pubs/JapanTimes/2008/04/22/6279398/ ...
Japan Times
Is growth driving us to oblivion?
By STEPHEN HESSE | Apr 22, 2008 | 1491 words
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population, established 2001
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA
http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/index.php
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