Green!  . . . by ALL MEANS 

John Brower

What you do stands above you and shouts so loudly,
I can't hear what you are saying.       -RALPH WALDO EMERSON

          Turtle Island Preserve

Americans have separated themselves from the natural world. During the past eighty years we have been 'advancing' so fast that we are as infants trying to run. We would be wise to slow down and learn more about primitive (first) values. Today more than ever we need to understand and live by harmony and balance with nature, for truly, man separate from nature is a fantasy. -Eustace Conway   Eustace Conway is a unique naturalist. He celebrates the freedom of individuality in all aspects of life. He is a spokesperson for the Earth, giving voice to the natural environment he loves. . . . Dr. Harvard Ayers, Appalachian State University Anthropology Professor, summed up Eustace's many endeavors by saying, "Eustace is an articulate student of life." Eustace is an A. S. U. graduate honored as "Most Outstanding Anthropology Senior." He holds a degree in English as well as anthropology. But Eustace's favorite classroom is nature; he loves the rain; he loves the cold. He is quick to smile when quoting Steve McQueen:"I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than any city in the world." Eustace is a veteran of an active life following Nike's motto of "Just do it"! Eustace camped alone for a week in the mountains at age twelve, living off the land and loving it! At age seventeen, he moved outside to live in an Indian tipi, which was his only home for 17 winters. For years he wore only homemade buckskin clothes and made and gathered his implements.

At age eighteen he canoed 1,000 miles on the Mississippi River. Then he walked across America on the Appalachian Trail, completing the 2,000 mile journey. He kayaked the entire southern coast of Alaska amongst icebergs and whales. He has backpacked over 5,000 miles of breathtaking wilderness trails in North America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe...from sandy deserts to lush jungles. He has lived with many different Indian tribes celebrating their cultures with them. He has served as federal interpreter at Chaco Canyon National Park in New Mexico and as state naturalist at Crowders Mountain Park in North Carolina. He loves his mountain heritage, the ideals of self-sufficiency and thoughts such as, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." ________________________________________ I have gained great inspiration and direction from the examples of American Indian traditions and feel that even today humans can live in harmony and balance with nature. My way is to share skills and technologies, giving students 'hands-on' involvement with close-to-nature experiences. Through participating in these traditions, one soon comes to realize the role that man plays in the great connected web of life. In studying other cultures, we learn more aboutourselves and our relationship to all things in this world. -Eustace Conway ________________________________________ Eustace ideally works towards peace on earth through a bottom-line program of understanding and respecting the people and environment that governs the quality of our lives. As an educator, he loves to uphold Emerson's quote, "What you do stands above you and shouts so loudly, I can't hear what you are saying."

THE WILDNESS WITHIN US