PREMISES

CLIMATE THREATS

Climate breakdown is impacting all species on Earth by causing unprecedented disruptions in our planet’s natural systems. Global heating has led to extreme and accelerating changes in fundamental atmospheric conditions, causing unprecedented shifts in regional weather and new ecological dynamics that diverge from the historical scientific record.

The United Nations summarizes the near-future effects of climate change this way: 1) hotter temperatures, 2) more severe storms, 3) increased droughts, 4) warming and rising oceans, 5) loss of species, 6) food shortages, 7) more health risks, 8) poverty and displacement.  -- The precariously fragile wildland environments of Northern California’s Lost Coast, spanning both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, are especially vulnerable.

GUARDIANS

In the Anthropocene age, wildlands have been diminished to the extent that they are no longer able to sustain themselves or self-heal. Even though these environments persist as mere fragments of their native ranges, wildlands remain keystones for protecting animal species from the planet’s perilous changes.

It is imperative to use every means necessary to safeguard wildland species and ecosystems – through human intervention and management. Federal governments must activate new regiments of embedded rangers/sentinels/guardians – dedicated to studying, guiding, managing, and even defending these uniquely crucial places.

NARRATIVE

Wholesale improvements to environmental conditions require a shift in political will, which will only be realized through the re-framing of common narratives used to relate climate breakdown. Inhabitants, travelers, and officials with the means to witness the state of wildlands must record what they see and develop communication skills to disseminate their experiences and points of view effectively.

Human societies developed through storytelling. One person, one generation at a time, our stories grew to build sophisticated cultures. The most widespread storytelling method in the 21st Century is posting text, voice, photographs, and video to internet various platforms, potentially reaching an audience of billions.

AREA OF STUDY

The workshop will focus on the Lost Coast of Northern California. The area includes largely undeveloped portions of Humboldt County and Mendocino County, the Lost Coast Trail, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and the King Range National Conservation Area, a 60,000-acre territory established by the U.S. Congress as the nation’s first National Conservation Area in 1970.  The Lost Coast lies roughly between Rockport, CA, and Ferndale, CA., along approximately 35 miles of California’s Pacific coast.