Land Trust Alliance Blog: Right Antidote, Right Time

The Land Trust Alliance is a helpful resource in keeping up to date on land trust initiatives throughout the country. Here’s a blog, written by Rob Etgen, executive director of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, on how important the Land Trust Alliance’s new strategic plan is in this climate of environmental discourse that we have today:

Never in my lifetime have I seen America show so little solidarity. Our country is so divided that we seem unable as a community to discern between fake or real news, science or propaganda, truth or lies. The result is a growing defensiveness and protectionism that is eroding our shared values and breaking down our tradition of civil debate.

That’s why I am incredibly excited about the Land Trust Alliance’s new strategic plan. The new Relevance goal to “elevate land conservation as a priority nationwide” is the right antidote at the right time for America. As a country, we need more positive goals to pursue than fears to run from. And in this way, I think land is the answer.

Our land is critically threatened. As E.O. Wilson explains in his book “Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life,” we are in the early stages of the sixth major extinction of life on Earth, our climate is changing at an accelerating rate and we are increasingly detached from the natural world around us. American lands — and our planet — need our help now more than ever!

I appreciate the Land Trust Alliance giving the land trust community new hope for a growing chorus of voices supporting land conservation. From America’s greatest idea in the National Parks to the graceful marriage between private property and public good in conservation easements, land conservation is the ultimate investment in a better future for our children and grandchildren.

Good luck to the Land Trust Alliance and all its 1,000 members. It’s time to lead — and to speak for the land.

Originally published on the LTA blog.