Look, there’s no way to find a silver lining in the recent developments in this land of ours. The dumpster fire burning in DC is affecting the real world, most recently in the firing of thousands of people who keep public lands accessible. As AJ contributor and wildfire expert Amanda Monthei noted on Instagram:

“Trail crews in Montana, especially, have been absolutely decimated. Helena-Lewis and Clark NF lost 15/17 people on their trails crew, which managed 1,300 miles of trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Do you know what happens when trails aren’t managed? They erode, become overgrown, or get so fcked up with windstorm treefall so as to be completely unnavigable. This happens in the course of, like, six months. Gutting trails crews will reduce access to your favorite trails. Hope you like hiking with a Stihl 290 and a couple gallons of gas, because you’re going to need that to access your favorite wilderness areas from now on.”

There is absolutely nothing good in the loss of all these public servants. There is nothing good in what’s happening in DC. If you’re like me, you’re probably feeling anger, sadness, grief, and frustration. All normal. But life goes on—I mean that not as an exhortation, but a simple fact. It just does. And so we have a choice. We can stay in bed or we can get up and make the best of it. Adventurous people do not stay in bed (okay, maybe a little). We dig out the snow that’s collapsing the tent, we get the burrs out of our socks. We find comfort in uncomfortable situations and move forward.

What’s apparent to me, though, is that however we move forward, we must do it collectively. The adventure world has always celebrated the lone wolf, the stoic hardman striving ever upward. That is not what we need. The American ethos of sturdy individualism and technology that confines us in self-imposed bubbles have created the illusion that we are fine on our own. We are not. We are interdependent and always have been. I don’t know what it means to pull together, or to lift each other up, because the answers to such questions are uniquely personal. But I do know we desperately need to build our networks, to create new friendships and to fortify the ones we already have. Maybe that means taking in someone who lost their home in a fire or bringing meals to someone who lost their job or reaching out with a call. IDK. You will find the right actions when you look for them.

This, to me, seems the most critical thing we can do. It’s easy to be obsessed with what’s happening at a national level. And it’s understandable to make lifestyle changes in the name of progress (like driving an EV or whatever). But the most powerful and important thing we can do is help each other, face to face, person to person. Don’t know how to help friends who are struggling? Ask them.

Stephen Casimiro
Editor + Founder