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BP Oil Spill: Who Is Responsible For Oil Drilling And Spilling?

May 27th, 2010

The Quintessential Summary of the Most Important and Bizarre Aspects of the BP Oil Spill, the Response and Who Is Responsible…

Cleaning Spilled Oil In The Mississippi River Delta from the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010. Photograph courtesy of Greenpeace and the Mobile Press-Register.

See also the blog post, “New Oil Spills Threaten Fresh Water.”

A neighbor of mine installs solar power systems, lives completely off the grid and drives only restaurant oil powered vehicles. He has a sign on the side of his work truck that says, “Vegetable Oil Powered Vehicle. NO WAR REQUIRED.” He was a conscientious objector to the Viet Nam war, which if you dig a bit you will find was also a resource war like those of the 21st Century. Recently this neighbor had black T-shirts printed that have a picture of an oil drilling rig in flames sinking beneath ocean waves with a slogan across the top, “Happy Earth Day 2010.” His dark sense of irony is not humor.

Over the last 10 years, the battle has heated up over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil drilling promoters claim it would ease our pain from high gasoline prices. Fact is that the total amount of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is enough to power America’s gas guzzling habit for only a few weeks. We could “develop” far more extra oil than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could provide, merely by cutting down on driving and increasing car pools. Carl Donohue of Skolai Images wrote a quality blog post about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and recent hearings held on its wilderness status. His previous well-written post was called, “A Tragedy In The Gulf of Mexico.” The controversy of oil drilling has been in the news for a long time.

‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Has Been The Call For Too Long

On the front page of Section E of the Sunday November 6, 2005 Denver Post, the headline read, “The Big Rush To Drill.” The article covered most of the page and jumped to 4E. It discussed the future of natural gas and oil drilling in the Colorado Rockies. An area east of Parachute, Colorado called the Roan Plateau had 70 gas and oil drilling sites on it. The Roan Plateau next to Interstate 70 and the Colorado River, is rich in both energy resources and wildlife habitat. The article said nothing of what would happen to the water supplies of most of the West’s major cities if oil somehow leaked into the Colorado River.

The Earth Island Journal Spring 2010 issue had “To Drill Or Not To Drill,” splashed across the cover. Members of the Earth Island Institute will remember that cover as a timely one for years to come.

The Natural Resource Defense Council issued a press release on January 26, 2010 titled, “Oil and Polar Bears Don’t Mix. Stop Shell Now.” It said Shell gave the green light to exploratory drilling off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It pointed out that though the NRDC won a major court victory defeating Shell’s oil drilling plan two years ago, the oil giant is back gunning for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge again. “The shores of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are Alaska’s main birthing ground and denning area for polar bears…. The oil industry has no proven method for cleaning up oil spills in icy water.” The press release further explained that polar bears that swim in oil slick waters or step in oil washed up on shore and try to lick off the toxic oil would die. Whales would also suffocate or be poisoned and “hundreds of thousands of birds would be killed… and seal populations would be severely impacted by the spilled oil.”

A thick black soup in our ocean waters, covering our beaches, saturating our fragile wetlands, and destroying aquatic life and industries, is not the only legacy of oil drilling and spilling. Robert Redford in 2009 warned us in an article for the Natural Resource Defense Council, “We Can’t Drill Our Way Out of This Mess.” In November 2008 just after Barack Obama was elected, Robert Redford also wrote a piece in the Huffington Post in which he said, “Part of the change Americans just voted for in overwhelming numbers was to move away from the failed energy philosophy of ‘drill, baby, drill’ to a more farsighted strategy.”

Even after the spilled oil began to wash ashore on the Gulf Coast and President Barack Obama had put a freeze on additional oil drilling permits, there were still 17 offshore oil drilling projects that were given the go-ahead without any hesitation. Isn’t it time to say enough? To find permanent alternatives? Currently it is difficult for elected representatives of the American people to make any more than small changes in any policy because corporations now legally have the same rights as citizens. This further escalates the manipulation of the political process that has been increasing for years. Is this government by the people, for the people or a free system? Our political process is like a giant Super Bowl ad, produced by the companies with the deepest pockets. What will happen in 10-15 years when fossil fuels are much more scarce? Will we keep burning fossil fuels until we can hardly breathe and have to walk in sludge everywhere? We cannot allow corporate greed and an obsession with growth to dictate our future. Growth enriches the few and leaves most of us worse off.

Who Is Responsible for the BP Oil Spill?

It’s time we snap out of our denial. Who is responsible for the BP Oil Spill? Every single one of us who drives a car, truck or bus that is powered by petroleum. I think I am doing my part. I recycle. I drive very little, less than 8,000 miles a year, even with all my traveling. I eat local, organic food. I minimize my footprint. However, I realize none of this is enough as long as I am contributing to the need for offshore oil drilling or any kind of oil drilling. Now that I have been jarred out of my complacence, I plan to buy an all-electric car as soon as possible. Hello, they have been available for some time. And, don’t believe the propaganda about batteries not being good enough yet. I highly recommend the documentary film, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” It is an eye-opener.

For weeks now I have been inundated with BP Oil Spill press releases from the environmental organizations to which I subscribe. I have been listening every day on NPR for blow-by-blow updates on the unfolding tragedy. If you want to make yourself sick, do an internet search on the BP Oil Spill and read the articles and comments. I feel I may have something to say about this maritime Chernobyl, but frankly I have not been sure what to add to the maelstrom, other than the idea that every one of us who uses petroleum is part of the problem and partly responsible. Here’s a timeline of the bizarre developments in this Century’s largest environmental catastrophe:

Wacky Timeline Of An Oil Drilling Maritime Chernobyl

April 20, 2010: Environmental Defense Fund issued a press release outlining how damaged ocean ecosystems are and how only 25 percent of U.S. Fisheries will be able to continue. The majority of all fishing communities are already on the brink of collapse. Catch shares, a method of regulating fishing and stabilizing the 50 fish stocks that are threatened has been working and could be expanded with introduction to Congress. Read More >>

April 20, 2010: two days before Earth Day, the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform located 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast suffered a catastrophic explosion that caused the oil drilling platform to sink. Nearly a mile below the Gulf of Mexico water’s surface an oil gusher started with an oil well blowout. Eleven oil drilling rig workers are missing and considered dead, while 17 others were injured. In Depth Summary >>

April 21, 2010: National Public Radio later said that President Barack Obama held an emergency White House meeting about the BP Oil Spill disaster.

April 22, 2010: Earth Day: Celebrations worldwide mark the 40th Anniversary of the day that commemorates environmental awareness. Much of this year’s focus is on the development of energy alternatives to petroleum and coal.

CNN Breaking Oil Spill News Story Titled: “Exploded Oil Rig Sinks! (DRILL! BABY! DRILL! HAPPY EARTH DAY!)”

April 23: The New York Times and other major media first reported the BP Oil Spill catastrophe three days after it occurred. Treehugger blog in its BP Gulf Oil Spill Cheat Sheet said the oil spill was reported on April 20 but does not identify who reported it. I can not find any reports before April 23 in the online versions of the major papers. If anyone finds it sooner, let me know which media.

April 30: The Nature Conservancy reported that the first wave of oil came ashore around noon, approximately 45 miles south of New Orleans on the Mississippi River Delta. The seas were running six to eight feet high and an abnormally high tide made it impossible for responders to employ the booms that would normally help to contain the oil slick.

An Environmental Defense Fund press release quoted an e-mail from Paul Harrison, Senior Director for Rivers and Deltas, leader of EDF’s Coastal Louisiana restoration campaign for the last four years writing from the Gulf Coast, “News accounts can hardly do justice to the epic human and environmental tragedy that is unfolding…. It is especially sad that this catastrophe threatens the fishing communities of the Gulf that have become national leaders in transforming ocean fisheries to sustainability…. It appears that the oil slick will most directly devastate the salt marshes and the species that rely on them along the coast—including hundreds of migratory bird species that are nesting and breeding as we speak. This area also produces 50 percent of the nation’s wild shrimp crop, 35 percent of its blue claw crabs and 40 percent of its oysters. We are doing everything possible to coordinate with our colleagues at National Audubon, NWF, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, the Gulf Restoration Network, and others—as well as coastal community contacts—to monitor the extent of the damage and provide whatever support we can. For those interested in doing what you can to help go to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana Website, where you can sign up to volunteer.

May 2: Greenpeace issued it’s new “Spill, Baby, Spill” bumper sticker to raise awareness and funding for oil spill cleanup support and to fight new oil drilling.

May 3: Sarah Palin, former Vice Presidential candidate and the Alaskan who added the phrase “Drill, Baby, Drill” to the language said that even though the BP Oil Spill is potentially the worst ever, it is no cause for giving up off-shore drilling.

May 5: The Sierra Club’s new Executive Director Michael Brune reported on his visit to the Gulf Coast. He described oyster boats and crab nets sitting idle and out of work and the size of the spill reaching up to 76 miles from its source. “You can’t see this mess and not be angered by the impact BP has had on this entire region. Now BP is running an expensive public relations campaign in an attempt to mask the full extent of the damage in the Gulf and minimize their accountability…This disaster is a wakeup call. We need to stop the expansion of offshore drilling, immediately. We need to eliminate subsidies and giveaways to companies like BP, which had more than $5.5 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2010 alone. We need our leaders to deliver a plan to get us off of oil by promoting clean energy solutions that already exist, we just need the political will to implement them.”

May 7: Matter of Trust collected hair clippings from thousands of salons, barber shops, even pet groomers across the country, along with pantyhose and stockings — all to be used to help mop up the oil threatened wildlife and livelihoods in the oil’s path. Read More >>

May 8: The Sierra Club, fishing industry, shrimpers, and local leaders rally in Lafayette Square, New Orleans, Louisiana and call for BP disaster response and clean energy solutions. Read More >>

May 11: The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Natural Resources Committee held hearings on the environmental and economic impacts of the BP offshore oil drilling disaster. Witnesses from BP America and Transocean Ltd. testified, along with fishing and tourism industry representatives and environmental scientists. Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced reforms to the Minerals Management Service, the agency charged with overseeing offshore drilling operations. Read More >>

May 12: The White House unveiled a legislative package to respond to the BP Oil Spill Disaster. The
 Sierra Club called for an oil drilling moratorium and a clean energy policy. Read More >>

May 13: The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act was introduced by Senators Robert Menendez, Bill Nelson and Frank Lautenberg. It would raise the liability caps for oil companies from $75 million to $10 billion to help ensure that they pay the full costs of economic and environmental disasters caused by their negligence. Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) blocked the act by objecting to a voice vote on the measure. Read More and see the video >>

May 17: Rush Limbaugh blamed the Sierra Club for the BP Gulf Oil Spill. He asked his listeners, “When do we ask the Sierra Club to pick up the tab for this leak?” and blamed “the greeniacs” for driving oil drilling offshore. Sierra Club supporters responded with outrage and donations to the Sierra Club. The response has been enough for the Sierra Club to launch a new fund-raising campaign in Rush Limbaugh’s name. The goal is to make Rush Limbaugh the Sierra Club’s top fund raiser.

The League of Conservation Voters sent out a press release called, “Dirty Politics Spilling Into The Gulf.” The press release said, “In 2009 alone, oil companies spent $154 million to lobby to perpetuate the oil addiction that led to the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster.”

May 20: The Nature Conservancy issued a press release announcing a video made just before the oil came ashore. The video gave insight into the role marshes have in protecting valuable wetlands in the region. The press release also directs readers to the Nature Conservancy’s blog that will feature regular Oil Spill updates from an ecological standpoint.

May 24: National Public Radio reported that independent scientists estimated the amount of oil spilling daily could be as much as 10-20 times BP’s estimates of 5,000 barrels.

May 25: The Los Angeles Times reported that Sarah Palin accused President Barack Obama of a slow response to the BP Oil Spill because he had campaign support from oil companies. She questioned whether “there’s any connection there to President Obama taking so doggone long to get there, to dive in there, and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico.” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded that the oil companies do not consider Obama an ally, “We proposed a windfall profits tax when they jacked their oil prices up to charge more for gasoline.” Gibbs said, “My suggestion to Sarah Palin would be to get slightly more informed as to what’s going on in and around oil drilling in this country.” The oil and gas industry donated $2.4 million to Sarah Palin’s running mate, John McCain, in the 2008 election, and $900,000 to Barack Obama, said the Center for Responsive Politics.

The U. S. Inspector General’s investigation of the Minerals Management Service that was overseeing offshore oil drilling said that MMS staff members “accepted tickets to sporting events, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies and used government computers to view pornography…. An inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine…at work. The report cites a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency’s Louisiana office.” Read More >>

The Wall Street Journal reported, “BP Decisions Set Stage for Disaster.” While the well was in progress it threw up many challenges to BP, “swallowing expensive drilling fluid and burping out dangerous gas. Those woes put the Gulf of Mexico project over budget and behind schedule by April 20… BP made choices over the course of the project that rendered this well more vulnerable to the blowout…. BP for instance, cut short a procedure involving drilling fluid that is designed to detect gas in the well and remove it before it becomes a problem, according to documents belonging to BP and to the drilling rig’s owner and operator, Transocean Ltd. BP also skipped a quality test of the cement around the pipe—another buffer against gas—despite what BP now says were signs of problems with the cement job and despite a warning from cement contractor Halliburton Co. Once gas was rising, the design and procedures BP had chosen for the well likely gave this perilous gas an easier path up and out, say well-control experts. There was little keeping the gas from rushing up to the surface after workers, pushing to finish the job, removed a critical safeguard, the heavy drilling fluid known as “mud.” BP has admitted a possible “fundamental mistake” in concluding that it was safe to proceed with mud removal, according to a memo from two Congressmen released Tuesday night.

May 28: President Barack Obama’s 30-day moratorium on new oil drilling will expire. Arctic drilling is set to proceed. Read More >>

BP Accountability, By the Numbers

[From a Sierra Club press release. Courtesy of Progressive Media.]

$450 MILLION…The estimated total BP has spent so far to clean up its catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

$93 MILLION…BP’s daily profit during the first quarter of this year.

5…The approximate number of days of BP’s profits that would cover its total cleanup costs thus far.

11 percent…The percentage of Americans who hold a positive view of BP, according to a new poll from NBC and the Wall Street Journal.

2 percent…The size of the current leak relative to what BP promised federal regulators it could handle in its drilling permit application.

260…The number of failure modes the supposedly “fail-safe” blowout preventer used on BP’s leaking Mississippi Canyon 252 well head.   
 

6…The number of dead dolphins that have washed up along the Gulf Coast.

87…The number of dead sea turtles that have washed up along the Gulf coast.

6,414…The number of claims filed against BP so far, mostly from fishermen and others for lost wages.

400,000 pounds…The amount of hair collected and being sent to the Gulf to be used to soak up oil.  In response to the spontaneous, nationwide outpouring of hair, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration issued a fact sheet stating: “Recent reports of a need for hair are exaggerated and not helpful to the response effort.” Meanwhile BP may still attempt a widely-ridiculed “junk shot” using golf balls, old rope, and shredded tires to slow or stop the leaking oil.

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Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 3

May 12th, 2010

Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log: June 14-September 14, 1971 by Ardis Hyde

(Ardis, David and Philip Hyde in Their Camper. Continued from the blog post, “Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 2.”)

Part Three: Layover In Ketchikan, Alaska

Totem Pole, Totem Bight Park Near Ketchikan, Southeat Alaska, 1971 by Philip Hyde.

June 23, 1971: It rained hard all night. We arose at 7 am to find the tide was low again. After breakfast we drove to the 13-mile end of the road. We put on rainproof pants, jackets and boots and continued on foot to where we could see old cannery docks and fishing boats. We crossed a stream rushing down the steep slope to the sea. We passed by an electric power plant on the stream. We walked up the boardwalk part-way and stopped where the walk became a bridge that crossed the creek again. Everywhere beautiful white flowers of different varieties were blooming. A dogwood-like flowering ground cover was quite showy.

Back to town in the camper, straight to the Centennial Building and the Museum where we ate lunch and went in. Beautifully designed and situated building with the Graham Jennings archway overlooking Ketchikan Creek. Drove out Tongass Avenue and stopped to look at the float plane ramp up close. Private boats and planes everywhere. Philip made a photograph of the Ketchikan Pulp Company Mill. The next long stop was at Totem Bight Park on a point of land near the water’s edge. We walked through the forest to get to a grouping of totem poles and ceremonial house. The best view was from out on the rocks in the water looking back. Rain had stopped so photographs were easier, though it was windy and cooler.

We continued out North Tongass Avenue to an overlook point. Bay island broke through across the bay with snow capped peaks appearing and nearby islands in the foreground, one of which had a light house on it, more photographs. High mountains on Gravina Island also now visible. More stops at each of the two waterfalls for pictures. Near the second waterfall Philip concentrated on a close-up of the dogwood carpet. At the end of the road we turned into the Forest Service campground to find it small and already full. Pulled back up to the main road and parked at a turnaround to eat dinner.

From about 7:15 until 9 pm we parked back at the boardwalk. We could see it disappearing into the forest. We continued to wander slowly down what became a narrow spongy path lined with the blooming dogwood carpet through a deep cedar forest. We came out to the water at a small private cabin. It appeared to be unoccupied so we continued to follow the tidal zone bordered by the forest. There was a richness of flora: cinquefoil, shooting star, flowering wild fruit trees, fruit of cedar trees and so on. We observed a deep ochre and shades of orange in the seaweed cover of the rocks at low tide, black mussels and white barnacles interspersed, purple sea stars. Philip took Hasselblad 2 1/4 photographs with his high speed Ektachrome film. We could make out where the sun was still up, above rising clouds.

We had so much light that the last picture of the day was not until nearly 10 pm when we drove back toward town. It was complete with a soft sunset color, foreground of water reflections, and islands, close to the road that turns off to go to the Totem Bight Park, labeled “Recreation Road.” Prince of Whales Island with snowy peaks plainly visible.

With David asleep we wandered around downtown Ketchikan window shopping as it was still light around 11 pm. We finally hit the hay as dark fell around 11:30. We had parked at the nature trail parking area at Ward Lake Campground. As we drove in we could see small ponds and lakes on either side of the road with lily pads on the surface. Decidedly cooler and down to 40 degrees during the night. We wondered if it could be clearing.

June 24, 1971: I woke up at 7 am and announced sunshine, our first since Victoria six days ago. Philip broke out his 4X5 for the first time on the trip and…

CONTINUED IN THE BLOG POST, “Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 4.”

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Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 2

April 7th, 2010

Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log: June 14-September 14, 1971 by Ardis Hyde

(Ardis, David and Philip Hyde in Their Camper. Continued from Blog Post, “Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 1.”)

Part Two: Kelsey Bay, British Columbia to Ketchikan, Alaska

Ridge of Wonder Pass Peak, Mt Assiniboine Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada, 1995 by Philip Hyde.

June 20:  The Canadian ferry at Kelsey Bay depends on tides for its arrival and departure times. When we arrived at the dock under a heavy gray sky around 9:30 am, the ferry called the Queen of Prince Rupert was just unloading cars. We pulled into the parking lane to wait. They measured our rig. Including the Avion Camper and Utility body 1968 GMC Pickup, we measured 21 feet in length. They let us drive on at about 12:50 pm. The car deck is arranged for two stacks of cars on the outer edges. Campers, motor homes and small trucks park in the center lanes. We watched the closing of the car deck drawbridge, then climbed the stairs to the upper deck to see the bow lowered into place for the voyage. Next we went to our stateroom. David was glowing over “my own top deck.” He climbed up for a nap. Philip and I also had a brief nap on the bottom bunk. The dimensions of the stateroom precluded any possibility of sleeping on the floor, which we would prefer over a soft, sagging bed. The wash basin and seat reduced the area available.

When David woke up we went out on deck. The sky was full of clouds, but they were pretty ones. The air was mild, but we needed to be bundled up when walking the bow deck due to wind. We were excited to see numerous schools of killer whales, cavorting and spraying, emerging with high dorsal fins showing. We went in to dinner at 6 pm. The food was very ordinary but the service was good. The notable feature of this passage is the closeness to islands all the time. The islands are wooded with bare gray rock bases up to the high tide line. We finally got away from logging evidence but logs still occasionally floated by. We headed away from Vancouver Island during dinner and into the open ocean. Experienced a slight choppiness at times, but the whole voyage was generally smooth. Philip went out to the camper for the night to have more sleeping room. He said it was 70 degrees and too warm. Our stateroom was well ventilated. David and I slept well.

June 21, Monday:  Over an ordinary breakfast, we visited with a young couple from Toronto. They were headed back to Toronto by way of the Prince George Highway. Before breakfast we had the experience of searching for David. We had left him in the stateroom to go to the car deck. He had gone down a stairway, made a few turns and couldn’t find his way back. We retrieved him via the purser, who called the room to tell us David was at his office. We went out on deck after breakfast: rain and a low ceiling. We were close to shore and coming into Prince Rupert. We were the first ones off the ferry after the big bus at 9:15 am. First we drove to the local museum, then out to a view point overlooking a tidal rapid, Butze Rapids Park. Dreary and rainy all day. Lunch and naps. On out to Prince Edwards to the pulp mill. Stopped for pics. Small fishing port, nets drying on dock racks. Back into town and down to the ferry dock. Still early but many cars already parked in line up. I baked cornbread for dinner. Rain began in earnest and continued hard all night. Drove to get gas and oil supply in town and then back to parking area for the night.

June 22:  Philip woke up at 5:20 am, dressed and went to inquire about lining up for Customs. Turned out to be very routine. We passed onto the ferry Wickersham promptly. It was immediately apparent the difference in the way the two ferry systems operate. The Canadian ferry was immaculate, run with great efficiency and good service. The Alaska lines ferries were just the opposite. We settle down for the five and one half hour passage to Ketchikan, Alaska. David was occupied with Sesame Street Magazine until noon. We tried the cafeteria which was very poor, ugh. Weather continued wet with low clouds. Only a slight inkling of the high mountains along the inside passage. We were never away from the sight of land. We pass large and small islands and the passageway widens and narrows as we progress. At Ketchikan harbor the water had frequent jelly fish near the surface, pale orange and round.

The ferry Taku was at the dock when we arrived. As it pulled out we pulled in broadside to the dock with the exit door on the side. We were among the first to leave and drove onto Tongass Avenue. After getting our bearings and local information we drove right out to Saxman Village to see the Cape Fox Indian Dancers. They perform when a cruise ship comes in like the one this time called the Halia. We got there for the last two dances. Donations were asked for and we were appalled to hear that only $8.00 was collected from three bus loads of tourists. I bought souvenir leather doll pins. Next we spent some time at the adjacent Totem Park. A light rain fell but Philip took pictures anyway. In the yard of the Pentecostal Church across the street native forget-me-nots, Bachelor Button and wild roses grew in lush profusion.

We continued along South Tongass Avenue to the point where two islands just off shore caught our attention and stopped us. They were so like those we have seen in photographs of the Inland Sea of Japan, up-tilted strata, moss, bonsai conifers topping them. It was low tide so we could walk onto the smaller one. We broke out all of our rain gear. Philip photographed under the umbrella I held for him. David had a marvelous time exploring the tidal zone, pretending he was an Eskimo harpooner after whales, seals, dolphins, walruses, etc. On our way back he invited us into his house, a beautiful shelter provided by a huge overturned tree, the roots in a beautiful cross-work pattern overhead. Indeed, we entered a little room. He had found a piece of plywood drift, placed two rocks on it and offered us coffee. “The best coffee I’ve had,” Philip said. Literally and figuratively it was, our most hospitable moment so far.

We drove on out the road past the end of the pavement at eight miles. Beyond that we stopped for a photograph of a bald eagle perched on a snag. He was immature and wouldn’t fly away even when Philip moved close in. Soon we stopped at a wide pull off for the night and went to bed exhausted right after dinner. The drying line hung full of wet clothes. It poured hard outside as we fell asleep to the low roar of a roadside waterfall.

June 23:  It rained hard all night. We arose at 7 am to find…

CONTINUED IN THE BLOG POST, “Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 3.”

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Photography Workshops Taught By Philip Hyde

April 5th, 2010

(New content has bee added to four of the sub-tabs under INFO on the Philip Hyde Photography website. For example: under Workshops As Instructor, the text below has been added. More to come…)

El Capitan, Clouds, Fall, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, 1973 by Philip Hyde. Made while visiting Yosemite Valley to teach at the Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops. New York Life Insurance made this Yosemite classic into a poster. The New York Life logo was taken from the outline of El Capitan in this photograph.

(To see the photograph full screen Click Here.)

In 1952, two years after Philip Hyde had earned a certificate of completion from Ansel Adam’s Photography Program at the California School of Fine Arts; Minor White, lead instructor, asked him to return as a guest lecturer and guest teaching assistant. In the summer of 1968, the Ansel Adams Gallery invited Philip Hyde to attend an Ansel Adams Gallery Workshop taught by Ansel Adams and others. The next summer Philip Hyde became a teaching assistant and by the early 1970s, Philip Hyde was a co-instructor with Ansel Adams and other luminaries in various workshops such as Morley Baer, Dorr Bothwell, Norman Locks, Alan Ross, Dave Bohn, Yousef Karsh, Bob Kolbrenner, William Garnett, Steve Crouch, David Cavagnaro, Roger Minick, Ralph Putzker, Arnold Newman, Wynn Bullock, Jerry Uelsmann, John Upton and others. Philip Hyde sometimes taught the Ansel Adams June Workshop with Ansel Adams and other instructors, other years Philip Hyde co-taught the Color Workshop and some years he taught both workshops.

Philip Hyde also taught photography workshops for such organizations as the Museum of Northern Arizona, Friends of Photography, John Sexton, Morningbird Ranch, Sierra Photographic Center, Tahoe-Truckee Photographic Workshops, Utah Museum of Natural History, UCSC Extension, Anderson Ranch, Ray McSavaney, Point Reyes Field Seminars, Sea Ranch, Yosemite In Winter, Kenab Workshops, Piet Van de Mark, Owens Valley Photography Workshops, The Alaska Photographic Workshops and Nature Photography Expeditions International.

We are talking about many years of workshops, a lot of material taught. Much insight and inspiration…

More details to come…

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Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 1

March 29th, 2010

Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log: June 14-September 14, 1971 By Ardis Hyde

(Ardis, David and Philip Hyde in Their Avion Camper on a GMC 3/4 ton Utility Body Pickup)

Part One: Northern California to British Columbia

Mt. Lassen from Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California by Philip Hyde.

(See photograph full screen: Click Here.)

June 14:  Left home at 8:15 am. Sunny with scattered puffy clouds. North to Susanville, through Adin to Alturas. Brief lunch stop along roadside. David piled out with his “new” twin lens reflex camera (out of commission) and tripod Philip gave him. David’s purpose was to “take pictures of flowers.” Marvelous to behold David’s detailed imitations of his father. He woke up knowing this was the day we were leaving for Alaska. “My head is shaking because I’m so excited.” The land showed beautiful lush green evidence of the wet season we’ve had. The pluvial lakes were all extra high as well as many no-name lakes in low places. Farm country, range cattle and open space. First open range, bluffs of lava flows, then into lodgepole pine forest. Spent the night at Lava Butte, Oregon in the planted pine forest for possible pics in the morning. The Three Sisters, Bachelor Butte, Mt. Brokeoff all snow-covered.

June 15:  Woke up about 6 am and drove up toward the top of Lava Butte, but the gate was closed until 9:30 am. Started out on foot, David and Philip with their cameras and tripods over their shoulders. A park ranger stopped and gave us a ride to the top. On foot again we circled the crater, David and Philip taking pictures of good views of the peaks including Mt. Shasta and Mt. Theilsen. Into Bend, Oregon to Jerry’s Trailer Supply to see about repairing the Camper’s Monomatic Toilet that had been leaking. Philip bought the faulty valve and repaired the toilet himself. I grocery shopped in the meantime. North to Madras where we turned into the Warm Springs Reservation to go swimming at Ka-Nee-Ta again. David enthusiastic and worked hard practicing swimming. Leaving the reservation we were treated to masses of wild flowers in all directions: Mules Ears or Wyethia especially abundant, lupine and buckwheat grass lush everywhere. Snow-topped Mt. Jefferson was glorious. North to Dalles Bridge. Wheat fields turning gold. David woke up from a nap in his bunk over the cab, just as we crossed the Columbia River, looking upstream at Celilo Dam (Dalles Dam) that submerged the once mighty Celilo Falls. After dinner we drove on to Yakima State Park, Washington, on the banks of the Yakima River.

June 16:  Before leaving Yakima State Park, David had a swing and play on the equipment nearby. Beautiful clear morning going over Snoqualmie Pass. Cold, lots of old snow, some fog on top. Into Seattle traffic lineup across Lake Washington floating bridge. Into worse congestion trying to reach parking lot at Seattle Center.  Finally found our way around traffic by going way around Queen Anne Hill to get to the other side of the city. We rode downtown on the Monorail. Shopped at the REI Coop, then returned to Seattle Center. We walked through the Fire Engine Museum. David chose a fire engine to ride on in the nearby concession. Just made it to Mukeliteo in time to get on the ferry to Columbia Beach on Whidbey Island. We drove the length of Whidbey Island in late sunlight to Deception Bay State Park (Deception Pass State Park). At Deception Bay State Park we ate a quick dinner at Rosario Beach while watching a couple put on all their diving equipment. We walked down the beach and around the headland as we had on a previous visit. David enjoyed the tide pools and rock scrambling.

June 17:  Caught the 8 am ferry from Anacortes. Another perfect sunny day with the water glassy and smooth. Ferry stopped at Lopez Island and Orcas Island, then on to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. At Sidney, Vancouver Island, no trouble with customs. They only wanted to know about stone fruits and didn’t want to look into anything else. In Victoria we parked downtown and walked to the harbor, tourist information and the Provincial Museum. Also parked on Government Street and looked around in the shops. Parking lots and streets were nearly empty. Canadians very pleasant and the lack of automobile traffic is refreshing. The Provincial Museum exhibited Indian Canoes, Totem Poles, Lodges and many other artifacts. We bought David a small hand-carved dugout canoe.

June 18:  North up Vancouver Island on Canada Route 1 in intermittent rain. Drove into Goldstream Park to admire the lush, undisturbed rain forest. Around Comax, development has reduced the charm and the natural setting. Pulled into Miracle Beach Campground. Picked out a campsite on Maple Lane. They were all like private rooms with leafy walls and ceiling. Rain stopped, so we cooked hotdogs over alder wood fire. We walked out to the beach of large pebbles and many driftwood logs. Coming back we wound around a network of trails through the woods. The wild roses were the largest we have ever seen, as big as Philip’s hand. Found a flame-colored honeysuckle, foam flower and other delicate white blossoms in the deep shade. Mosquitoes are bad here.

June 19: At Black Creek we stopped to walk along driftwood on the beach and rocks of the breakwater out to an old ship hull beached in the sand. David was singing and beachcombing along the way. Soon his pockets were bulging with crab skeletons, shells and driftwood.  When we returned to the Camper, he arranged them in a display in his “studio.” David sleeps in the bed above the cab and rides up there sometimes while we are driving. He calls it his “studio.” He is also very busy building a float plane with Nuts and Bolts and a ferry and a fire boat out of Lego. Lunch at Elk Falls in Strathcona Provincial Park. Philip walked to the overlook. He said there was only a trickle of water because it had been diverted for the hydro-electric works. Up to Middle Lake and across the crest of the mountains. Everywhere logging and fire scars but many small lakes covered with blooming water lilies. Some light rain, but a stiff south wind raised the clouds until we could see the snow patched mountain peaks. The Strait of Georgia narrows and the opposite shore was close, with the dark red vertical faces of the mountains, and forests on their layered shelves, all easily visible. Made another stop for the view down into Crown and Zellerback’s Duncan Bay Mill and Pulp Plant, a vast layout of mill, plant, sawdust barges, log booms and machinery with lots of activity and smoke emissions. No road sign for Morton Lake Park, missed it completely and the town too. Signs and even towns not visible where they were shown on the map, we’ve found is typical of British Columbia. Ended up camping in a gravel pit on the left side of the road. At least David had a big pile of white sand to play in.

June 20:  The Canadian ferry at Kelsey Bay depends on tides for its arrival and departure times…

(CONTINUED IN THE BLOG POST, “Denali National Park, Alaska Travel Log 2.”

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Posted in Philip/Ardis Trip Logs

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Memories Of Finally Working With Dad

March 8th, 2010

When I Was Young, I Traveled With Dad, But Never Worked With Him Until Much Later…

This blog post is partly based on an e-mail I sent to the Philip Hyde updates list in May 2009. (Read more about the Hyde’s 1971 trip to Alaska and see the photograph below full size: Click Here.)

Lake Near Susitna River, Alaska Range, Alaska, 1971, by Philip Hyde. David was with his father when he made this photograph. Ardis, David and Philip Hyde spent June, July and August in Alaska. The Hydes celebrated David's sixth birthday in their Avion Camper.

Someday I would love to start a foundation for the archives of photographers. Many have died and their name and work just fades away.

Only the photography of the few who are the most recognized continues to be seen by the public. Even many of those who are well-known have their works locked away in some climate controlled vault, never to be seen again. There should be an organization that continues to circulate exhibitions and promotes the work of photographers who had an impact.

I will eternally regret that I didn’t get more interested in my dad’s photography earlier. The main obstacle was that he never thought his work was worth extra promotional effort, or that it would be profitable. Isn’t that silly. I talked to him about it several times but he never thought his work could earn more than a living for he and my mother. Hard to imagine now, he actually said it was not worth my time. I never had anything as worthwhile going in my life, even when I made a lot of money.

Because he spent his whole life working hard to develop his own voice as separate from his father, Leland Hyde, who was a painter, Dad thought I would want to do the same…and I did. However, while I was growing up, somewhere along the trail I learned to love the natural world and the western landscape as much as he did. For years I went in a completely different direction, but I carried a love of the mountains and the desert latent inside me. Eventually one day in 1992, when I was living in Los Angeles, during the Rodney King Riots, I just threw everything in my Mercedes and headed out of town. I did not stop driving until I made it to New Mexico. In the pinon smoke and pueblo dust of New Mexico, I reconnected with the land.

Around that time I started writing again. I wrote often and much. I wrote in my journal. I wrote about my youth. As I developed as a writer I realized that photography and writing are complementary. Dad and I could work together. I wrote a short book that I wanted to have Dad’s photographs illustrate. I do not know why I never tried to publish that little book. I even picked out photographs and Dad made me 4X5 contact proofs. Maybe it was not time yet. I still have it.

He and I did have the chance to spend more time together again in the last four years of his life. I am grateful that we did finally work together starting in 2002. I interviewed him for a book about his life and work. We made nearly 40 tapes. The interviewing gave him a reason to get up in the morning after he had lost his eyesight and my mother, the two loves of his life. He was very happy I was going to write a book about him. He was glad he did not have to do it. He loved the sections I read to him. We had a great time talking about his life as he answered my questions on tape.

His short-term memory had become quite poor, though his long-term memory stayed solid for several more years. After that though, even the long-term memories started to get twisted up with each other and mixed up in time. One day he confused bike riding in his youth at Point Reyes with a bike ride he and my mother and I took at Point Reyes. After that I phased out the interviewing because the facts were no longer adding up. Everything was getting muddled. I wish I had kept interviewing right to the last day of his life, even when he did tell conflicting stories. It would have kept more wind in his sails.

For a long time I have been struggling with his life’s story and it’s incredibly productive story arc, but tragic ending. Yet as I am looking deeper now, I realize it was not a tragic ending except only on the surface. His was a story of triumph over adversity throughout and especially at the end. His spirit is one that anyone could be proud to emulate. He had his bad days, but most of the time he stayed cheerful even in the darkest times. He did have his days he did not want to get out of bed, but we all do. The point is that he did keep getting up. For a heartfelt tribute to Dad see the blog post, “Celebrating Wilderness By William Neill.”

In 2001, I remember thinking after he lost his eyesight, “Well it can’t get any worse.” Then we lost my mom in March 2002. I thought it could not possibly get any worse because he still had great memories of his incredible life traveling in and defending the wilderness, but by the end he could not even find his way around his own house that he designed, built and lived in for 50 years.

I still miss him more than anything, but I like to imagine that in some way he is perhaps still with me, watching as I am inspired again by his words and images. One of the most worthwhile endeavors in my life has been going through his photographs. It is a joyful, uplifting experience that no amount of challenges, setbacks and expense can blight. Making the transition of the work to digital is not easy but I feel it is important. Of course, I am his son. Yet I imagine that almost anyone in my position would feel as strongly as I do about the work getting out to the world. For more on how Dad helped to expand Canyonlands National Park and a tribute to his life, work and contribution to future generations see the blog post, “Earth Day Celebration Of Ardis And Philip Hyde And Canyonlands.”

I greatly appreciate those who have contacted me through the website or blog and added their comments to the discussions, shared an anecdote about a trip they had with Dad, or related a story that happened on a workshop. I have done some of my best interviewing through e-mails written back and forth over months. Sometimes I hear the wind rustle the leaves and I can almost hear Dad’s laughter in his studio. Or I stop for a moment, breathe deeply and observe the warm sunshine flooding through the tall windows he put in by hand. In those moments I remember his whole face twinkling with enthusiasm as he tracked down the next “picher.” I look at photographs of our trips together and I think how lucky I was to have the childhood I did.

What are your favorite nature or childhood memories?

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Posted in David's Perspective

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Big Oil and Coal Attack Clean Air Act

February 14th, 2010

GREENPEACE

Based On A Piece In The Monthly Newsletter

URGENT: Stop big polluters’ attacks on the Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act is under attack by big polluters from the coal and oil industries who are trying to avoid having to reduce emissions.

Ketchican Pulp Mill, Ketchican, Southeast Alaska, 1971, by Philip Hyde. Ketchican Pulp Mill had been in violation of air pollution and other environmental laws since it opened in 1948. Louisiana-Pacific, parent company, and Ketchican Pulp Company, fought environmental regulation for many years to stay open, citing its supplying of close to 500 permanent jobs as an important reason to stay in business. But when the mill began to lose money in the 1990's, it was promptly closed. Ketchican Pulp Company had been Alaska's largest manufacturing company and the largest private employer in Southeast Alaska. Amid heated controversy, a new veneer plant opened on the site in 2000 with 20 employees. The new owner, Gateway Forest Products, harvested, peeled and sliced into green veneer old growth trees from the Tongass National Forest. The heavily taxpayer-subsidized operation lost money from inception and threatened fish, wildlife and water supplies for almost three years before also going defunct.

Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski recently declared her plan to exempt big polluters from the Clean Air Act. She introduced a resolution to roll back the EPA’s “endangerment finding” regarding greenhouse gas emissions – a finding required to continue to reduce global warming pollution through the Clean Air Act. Murkowski’s resolution was written by two well-connected industry lobbyists whose clients include major coal-burning utilities Duke Energy and the Southern Company. The Washington Post reports that both lobbyists, who were high-level officials at EPA under George W. Bush, even participated in a closed-door meeting last September to explain details of Murkowski’s plan to the staffers of some centrist Democrats.

The Clean Air Act has a proven track record for nearly 40 years of saving lives by reducing dangerous pollution. The EPA reported in 2007 that since 1980, the Clean Air Act has helped reduce lead pollution by 92 percent; ozone pollution by 25 percent; carbon monoxide pollution by 79 percent; and sulfur dioxide by 71 percent. These pollutants can damage the nervous system, aggravate chronic heart and lung disease and asthma, and cause breathing problems.

Not surprisingly, major polluters happen to be filling Senator Murkowski’s campaign coffers. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Murkowski is currently the top recipient of financial support from the electric utility industry for the 2009-2010 election cycle. Coal-fired power plants are some of the worst offenders of the Clean Air Act.

Our senators will choose either to stand up for the health of their constituents and the effectiveness of our environmental laws or to allow polluters to poison our air unchallenged. Please take a moment to contact your senators this week and urge them to oppose Sen. Murkowski’s plans to undermine the Clean Air Act.

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Posted in Environmental Issues

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58 Years In The Wilderness Intro 2

January 18th, 2010

Drake's Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, 1972, by Philip Hyde. From the Reprint of "Island In Time: Point Reyes Peninsula." (Out of Print)

(See the photograph full screen: Click Here.)

(CONTINUED FROM BLOG POST, “58 Years In The Wilderness Intro 1“)

Why did the pair spend one third of their lives pursuing this unusual brand of adventure?

As the 1950s became the 1960s, groups like the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, the Izaak Walton League, the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation brought public attention to protecting and enjoying nature. Howard Zahniser of the Wilderness Society authored the Wilderness Act legally defining wilderness. In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring came out in protest of chemical spraying and exposed corporate environmental negligence. The same year, Sierra Club Books released In Wildness Is The Preservation of the World with color photographs by Eliot Porter with quotes from Henry David Thoreau and Island in time: The Point Reyes Peninsula by Harold Gilliam with photographs by Philip Hyde. These were the first two widely distributed books with large color fine art landscape photographs sharing the beauty of nature. While Eliot Porter’s book was all color, Philip Hyde mixed beautiful vintage black and white photographs with large color plates. Dad was recognized as a master of both mediums, though as color caught on, Porter’s book sold more copies. A handful of photographers, through the Sierra Club and its leader David Brower, brought wilderness right to the United States Congress and Senate and into living rooms across the country. The Sierra Club had reinvented the large picture book as the Exhibit Format Series. These high-quality coffee table volumes represented, as never before, the wild places the Sierra Club wanted to protect.

Photographs first helped preserve wilderness in 1864, moving President Abraham Lincoln to establish Yosemite as the world’s first scenic land preserve. Yet in the 1950s and 1960s the use of the camera to defend wilderness reached its zenith. More preserves, wildernesses, National Parks and Monuments formed out of campaigns by environmental groups than ever as America’s leaders and people saw natural landscapes through a “new” medium. During the heyday of the Sierra Club publishing program, Club membership grew exponentially. The first book in the series, This Is The American Earth featured primarily the work of Ansel Adams though other well-known western photographers such as Eliot Porter, Philip Hyde, Edward Weston, Pirkle Jones, Minor White and Cedric Wright had one or two photographs. Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter and Philip Hyde became the primary illustrators of the series. Dad’s photographs in particular, appeared in eight out of the sixteen books published in the sequence. Several volumes in the series became bestsellers and this combined with Washington DC lobbying, brought the Sierra Club into national prominence.

After marrying in June 1947, Dad and Mom joined the Sierra Club later that year while Dad started photography school. The Club had just over 900 members, but within the next two decades the ranks swelled to over one million. Other conservation organizations like the Wilderness Society also grew exponentially and many new organizations formed.

Photography itself had undergone a transformation as well. Soft focus pictorialism dominated the first third of the 1900s. Few photographers successfully bucked the trend toward printing on canvas and other art papers, soft focus and special effects that made photographs resemble paintings, until Alfred Stieglitz published a magazine called Camera Work in which he began to encourage what he called “straight photography.” Photographers in the Western United States increasingly made photographs of landscapes without people. Only a few pioneers had captured landscapes previously, they were not common. In 1932 photographers Willard Van Dyke, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, Henry Swift, Sonya Noskowiak, John Paul Edwards and Ansel Adams formed Group f.64 in San Francisco. Named after f.64, the smallest lens setting enabling the most detail in a photograph, the group composed a manifesto limiting “members and invitational names to those workers who are striving to define photography as an art form by simple and direct presentation through purely photographic methods… Pure photography is defined as possessing no qualities of technique, composition or idea, derivative of any other art form.”

In the mid 1940s, Group f.64 member Ansel Adams founded a fine art Photography Department, the first ever of its kind, at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Arts Institute. When Ansel Adams first started the department, students of painting, sculpture and other disciplines erupted into a school-wide protest against photography being part of a fine art school. In those days, photography was not considered an art form, let alone a fine art. Yet Ansel Adams persisted with encouragement and support from San Francisco art patron Albert Bender and other California art movers, as well as fellow photographers such as Paul Strand in the Midwest, whose work appeared in Camera Work, and from Alfred Stieglitz himself. Group f.64 members Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham helped teach at the California School of Fine Arts. Besides Philip Hyde, the program turned out such notable photographers as Pirkle Jones, Ruth-Marion Baruch, Charles Wong, Bill Heick, Cameron Macaulay, Benjamen Chinn, Don Whyte, Rose Mandel, Bob Hollingsworth, Stan Zrnich, Pat Harris Noyes, David Johnson, Ira Latour, Gerald Ratto, John Upton, Walter Stoy,  and others.

With three years of photography school and a certificate of completion, Dad built on what became known as the west coast tradition and went on to influence a generation of nature photographers with his simple, understated forms and subtle desert and mountain landscapes.

“Dear Phil,” Minor White, lead instructor at CSFA, wrote in a letter to Dad in 1950, “Your pictures are as clean as Ansel’s, with a slant of your own seeing. You are starting your career as few of my students have done. In a way I envy your present mastery of the medium…”

By 1971, Ansel Adams wrote that Philip Hyde was “one of the very best photographers of the natural scene in America.” Ansel Adams said he liked Dad’s photograph, “The Minarets from Tarn Above Lake Ediza,” better than his own photograph of the Minarets in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. In 1999, American Photo Magazine named Dad’s “Cathedral in the Desert, Glen Canyon” one of the top 100 photographs of the 20th Century. Dad’s work appeared in more than 75 books, 130 newspapers, 100 exhibitions and over 60 magazines including Audubon, Wilderness, Life, National Geographic, Aperture, Newsweek, Time and Reader’s Digest. He has received many awards including one for lifetime achievement from the North American Nature Photography Association in 1996 and the Albert Bender Award in 1956. The principal artist in over a dozen books, he also wrote magazine articles and an autobiographical essay to accompany his photographs and the writings he selected of John Muir’s in The Range of Light (1992). Dad wrote the text for Drylands: The Deserts of North America (1987), which won three literary awards. Beginning in the 1970s he taught photographic workshops for more than 30 years for organizations such as the Museum of Northern Arizona, John Sexton Workshops, Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops in Yosemite and many other schools of photography.

Dad and Mom stand as examples of how to tread lightly on the earth and find satisfaction in a simple self-sufficient lifestyle. Early in Dad’s career he made a decision to live in the mountains of Northeastern California far away from the photography marketplace. By living in such a remote place, he also gave up the opportunity to be more involved in the Sierra Club and other organizations. With fewer book signings, gallery openings and connections he sacrificed greater financial success to live close to nature.

Mom worked by his side from the beginning. While he attended the California School of Fine Art she worked as the receptionist at the school. Later she became known as an excellent kindergarten teacher and was renowned in the mountain valleys of Plumas County for her knowledge of birds, plants, organic gardening and natural cuisine long before it became popular. Dad thought he would go on working and making photographs his entire life, but in the summer of 1999 he began to lose his eyesight, and within a year he was completely blind.

(See the photograph full screen: Click Here.)

Virginia Creeper, Northern Sierra Nevada, California, 1977, by Philip Hyde. Made more magazine covers than any other Philip Hyde photograph. Example of Straight Photography and colorful enough without amping up the saturation.

Yet Dad proved there is more to vision than eyes and more to seeing than vision. He was one of the first to visualize a civilization in harmony with all life rather than exploiting the Earth as a commodity. In his photography training, as in any good art training, he learned to see deeply. Photography is the art of seeing patterns, forms, relationships that the untrained eye would not see. One day in 1987 he slowed his gait as he passed through our yard at home. He stared at the Virginia Creeper Vines against the weathered gray cedar siding of the house he built. Besides autumn reds, yellows and oranges contrasting with unturned green leaves, some of the leaves reflected blue from the sky. Most eyes do not notice the blue because we automatically edit it to green, the expected color for leaves without the reflected sheen. He ran inside and gathered his wooden Reis tripod and 4X5 Baby Deardorf view camera and set up on our front lawn for one of his most widely-published and exhibited photographs.

By late 2001, his 58-year photography career ended suddenly as his sight fully faded to black and he could no longer make photographs or even print them in his darkroom. Mom acted as his guide, business manager and constant companion. She tried to do the work of two people, keeping up with the photography business and finances as well as maintaining the grounds, house and kitchen. Then the second devastation arrived, Mom died suddenly in March 2002.When she passed on, I moved back to the mountain home where I was born, from my place across the country in upstate New York. We cried, reminisced and cried some more. Sometimes we screamed into the lonely woods, at the sky, at the stars, but the night absorbed it all. In time we began to talk on tape about the many wilderness miles we walked together. Dad described his adventures with Mom seeking the “Good Life” while helping to protect such places as Dinosaur National Monument, The Grand Canyon, The California Redwoods, and many other seashores and wilderness areas of the American West.

Until his death in 2006, I read him the environmental news almost daily. He relied on dreams for glimpses of the natural world he spent a lifetime defending. We sought to make sense of the loss of my mother; the loss of Dad’s eyesight and the state of environmental decline and violence the world is in today. Dad sometimes wondered why he worked so hard. Unfortunately environmental battles are never won, they are merely postponed. The dam site is still there, the mineral resources are still in the ground, the trees are still uncut, the road plans may some day yet destroy the pristine meadow. The beaches are always ripe for new hotels and condominiums. Nonetheless Dad saw clearly two possible visions for the future. In one we continue to poison our home until we destroy ourselves. In the other we learn to live in harmony with life and sustain ourselves on this planet perpetually. In the chapters that follow, I retrace the wanderings of Ardis and Philip and sometimes me tagging along, throughout the wilds on an odyssey through remote terrain from Alaska to Switzerland to Mexico to Southern Utah, my dad’s favorite state besides his home in the mountains of Northern California. All with the purpose of offering a glimpse of how one family lived and did what they could to make a difference and inspire others to do the same, to bring about the future with the most possibilities.

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Posted in Excerpts of New Book

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