The most validated inspiration for supporting the conservation of a wild place comes from spending time in that wild place, and understanding the impact that wild place has on your well-being. This is perhaps a more important benefit of a wild place to society than any eco/political measure that can be tracked on a spreadsheet.
In the absence of “being there”, perhaps there must be a sense of trust that wild places have immeasurable impact, based on the stories told by others who have spent time in them.
Such stories can take the form of video, photography and prose, but sometimes, they are simpler – yet deeper – than those forms of media.
The power of another form of art – like a painting – to convey what what a wild place feels like transcends that which can be accomplished by digital or textual media, because it invites to you to slow down and spend time with the art.
Big Sky Journal featured Monte Dolack this month in Artist of the West: Defending Wild Places. Monte was the artist behind Backpacking Light’s commissioned art piece, Light in the Wild, which was featured in the BSJ article.
To learn more about Light in the Wild and how and why it reflects such an important message, please visit the Light in the Wild page at BackpackingLight.com.