MY HEART IS THERE
VM. 004
“My heart is there. My respite. My escape. My connection to the earth and to other people was given to me by growing up with access to public land. I grew up in a little ski town in western Colorado called Mount Crested Butte. It's located in Gunnison County, which is something like 90% public lands. Everything about that place is centered around this access to the wilderness.
The place has changed over the years. Locals pre-Covid were already being priced out, but Covid blew all that up. I left because my housing was being sold to the highest bidder essentially, and it's heartbreaking. Our public lands are for everyone. They belong in public hands. We need to all be able to go there, to enter nature, to allow it to teach us, to connect us.
They don't belong to any one person. They belong to everyone. It is clear to me that these politicians could use some time out there to get clear on what life and existence is all about. The rich have already tried gathering up and closing off my little area in that place, and we've resisted and protected. It is not about money. It is about existence and connection, and we have to continue to fight for that.”
