In the late nineties, before I became interested in native plants, I worked hard for days to eradicate a patch of thimble berry plants near my kitchen window.  It didn't work.  They grew back bigger and healthier than ever.  I am glad of that, and years later I came to appreciate them.  The would come alive in summer, electrified by dozens of bees.  The patch of thimble berry was about eight feet tall, fifteen feet wide, and forty feet long.  What had been an eyesore and a problem became a treasure because of my attitude change and increased knowledge of ecosystems. 

I did not set out to be an environmentalist.  15 years ago, if you would have told me that my future involved volunteering hundreds of hours for the benefit of the environment and helping lost dogs and cats, I would have said you were crazy.  I am much different now than I was 15 years ago, not because I changed in a way someone mandated, but because I became aware of the value of things I once found worthless.  As a kid, I only thought of the forest as a place to be alone.  I did not care for the environment, and I did not hesitate to flatten any plant that was in my way.  It was just growing there, so why shouldn't I trample it?  If someone would have told me, "You have to change your ways for the benefit of trees and ferns and dogs," I would have resisted.  The change came naturally, over time, as I learned things.

For ELP to be healthy, many people need to change their behaviors.  Obviously, they are not going to change because I want them to.  If I think it is vital for the planet that people change their ways, no one is going to listen to me.  Instead, people ought to change because it is in their own best interests, which it most certainly is.  By entering into a symbiotic relationship with your planet, you can become something greater than you were.  I am the forest and the forest is me.  Where I used to see some trees and a bunch of worthless plants, I now see a vibrant and beautiful ecosystem.  I have integrated myself into that ecosystem in many ways, and I am smarter, stronger, and healthier because of my relationship with the forest.  I am smarter in the sense that I understand how it all works.  I understand most of the individual pieces of the ecosystem, and I see how they interact.  I am stronger in the sense that I know where I belong and what I stand for.  When trying to fit into other ideologies, such as capitalism or religion, I was constantly frustrated by the incongruities and hypocrisy.  Capitalism is designed to fail.  Religion is deeply in conflict with itself.  Democracy, well, that is just a complete myth. Long before those ideologies came along, ecology flourished.  Ecology made us, and we hurt ourselves if we try to destroy it. 

I am not asking people to enter into a symbiotic relationship with their environment because it benefits me or because it benefits the environment, although both are true.  People should take a different approach to nature for their own health and well-being, for their own enjoyment and entertainment.  A world with trees and wilderness is just richer, more alive, than a world of highways and strip malls.  Rows of similar houses with lawns and hedges are just boring and pointless.  Wilderness is where we belong, where we can be alive.