The subversive conservationist

Excerpt

Subversion is the process of attempting to change existing political structures or other forms of authority used to maintain the status quo. Subversive activities are those that work to overturn, or significantly alter, traditional ways of thinking about critical issues. How is it, you ask, that I can use subversive and conservationist in the same title? What does subversive have to do with being a conservationist?

Let me answer those questions by posing another simple question: As you look at the larger conservation community today, who speaks for soil and water resources? This simple question is rarely asked. However, when it is asked, the answer, more times than not, supports the need for subversion.

Listen and see if you hear what I hear when asking this question. I hear the modern equivalent of the Tower of Babel—many agency voices representing a multitude of programs, all based on the implicit assumption that more programs and more money means more conservation. Propagating agency jargon and acronyms and implementing accountability measures surrounding these efforts has become the focus of the many professional program managers who populate these agencies. Their dogma is simple: The more money they spend under various labels and titles, the…