Billionaire Wilderness

Climate One

News, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences, Social Sciences

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2020

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

For many of us, the story of the American wilderness begins when Europeans arrived on these shores and began conquering it. The wide open spaces of the American West loom large in our country’s mythology. But what often gets written out is the history and culture of those native societies who were here to begin with - and whose relationship to this land is very different. In some places like Jackson Hole, Wyoming, one-percenters contribute generously to preserve and protect the pristine wilderness they love, while the people who work for them are often struggling, working two or three jobs. “The idea of ...giving your time and philanthropy to protect nature is through this elite sort of white lens that can be based on, you know, this romanticized view of nature,” Farrell says. “And a nature that for example for Yellowstone had to remove certain people to create that Eden.” How are public and private land interests competing in the American West? Can conservation and recreation coalesce in a way that is inclusive of all communities? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Dina Gilio-Whitaker, American Indian Studies Lecturer, California State University San Marcos Justin Farrell, Author, Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West (Princeton University Press, 2020) Diane Regas, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Trust for Public Land Additional interview: Jessica Newton, Founder, Vibe Tribe Adventures This program was recorded via video on July 7, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What happens when wealth meets wilderness?
0:03.0	Climate One conversations feature energy companies and environmentalists,
0:07.0	Republicans and Democrats, the exciting and the scary aspects of the climate challenge.
0:12.0	I'm Greg Dalton.
0:18.0	For many of us, the story of the American wilderness begins when Europeans arrived on these shores and began conquering it.
0:24.5	What often gets written out is the history and culture of those native societies who are here to begin with and whose relationship to this land is very different.
0:32.3	Because when you see the natural world and all the things in it as relations, as relatives, you are then
0:39.8	responsible to them.
0:41.5	Dina Jiliah Whitaker is an American Indian studies expert and the author of, As Long as Grass
0:46.4	Grows, the Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from colonization to Standing Rock.
0:51.9	These days, being at one with nature could mean flying there in a private jet.
0:56.0	In Justin Farrell's book, Billionaire Wilderness,
0:59.0	the Yale professor describes wealthy landowners in expensive cowboy boots,
1:03.0	swaggering through the saloons of Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
1:06.0	and congratulating each other on their environmental stewardship and philanthropy.
1:10.0	And the money, most of it is going to environmental and arts organizations who have,
1:15.6	you know, tens of millions of dollars in the coffers. Meanwhile, the people who, you know,
1:19.6	work for the wealthy who are there to enjoy this idea of nature are struggling, working
1:25.6	two to three jobs. Access to the outdoors is more and more becoming a luxury, not a right.
1:31.2	And for those in low-income communities, it may be out of reach.
1:34.9	A hundred million people in this country, and that's 28 million kids, do not have a park
1:40.6	close to home.
	...

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