Letter to the editor, Earth First!: The Radical Environmental Journal, June 21, 1993:

Earth First!ers are known as the activists among environmental activists, the ones who don't compromise. While others content themselves with composting and recycling, Earth First! is out there taking direct action. But being part of this society demands endless and constant compromises of my environmental ethics. Every time I use electricity, flush the toilet, or get in the car, I am knowingly contributing to the degradation of the environment.

I want to stop compromising. So I wish to propose an experiment in living authentically "in place," as humans did for 99.99 percent of our history. I want to start a small hunter-gatherer tribe, which will use only the resources within its range. Is American land still able to support a small population of omnivores as large as humans? Have we so domesticated ourselves that, like chickens, we can no longer live in "the wild"? These are legitimate questions.

The ideal experimental group would be made up of between ten and twenty men and women of various backgrounds and ages. Some will be knowledgeable in primitive technology, some in plants and animals, some perhaps in healing. I'd suggest we have a shaman; we seem to need an earth-based spirituality to keep from degenerating into earth-rapers.

The experiment should run for at least two years. That will give us four seasons of trial-and-error learning and then a second chance to do better. We may also need an additional year of prep time to replace our manufactured tools and clothes with made-in-our-place ones.

If you are interested in joining the "tribe," please write to me.

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