June 1999 Atlantic Monthly: fascinating article Eden: A Gated Community. Describes the Chilean development/preservation project of Douglas Tomkins, a California businessman who made millions from founding and selling North Face and Espirit. In the past few years he has bought an enormous chunk of territory bisecting Chile, from sea to the Andes. He is an advocated of Arne Naess' Deep Ecology, who hopes to keep all this territory away from Chilean business development and exploitation forever.

In the process of pursuing his (left-wing) Deep Ecology dream, he has managed to create the perfect right-wing "retreat" fantasy homestead. In a fjord deep in the mountains along a rugged coast, accessible from the rest of Chile only by boat or air, this multi- millionaire lives on a non-electrified, no phone, no internet, no nuttin rural homestead with his greenhouses, goats, and chickens. He keeps his own plane there for getting in and out.

To me, it is interesting how right-wing and left-wing fantasies all join at the extremes. In Chinese they say concisely "wu ji bi fan", meaning opposed things come to resemble their own opposites.

And by the way, it is to exactly this lonely grim Pacific coast that the desperate settlers in Rhinehart's post-nuke classic "Long Voyage Back" finally find their refuge, the last place left to live in the ravaged world...

Below is a quote from the Atlantic article:

[Tompkins] saw the wilderness disappearing. In public he insisted that his goals were limited to creating Parque Pumalin - the nicest national park in Chile - but in private his thoughts were grim and determinedly apocalyptic. He was convinced that a global collapse was already well underway - a catastrophic unraveling that was so much a part of our time that people had trouble recognizing it. His own employees wanted to turn their kids into computer operators. Tompkins was fighting here at the end of the world for nothing less than the last perfect nights... he understood Parque Pumalin in a desperate, post-apocalyptic way, as a place that might demonstrate to future generations what the earth had lost, along with, perhaps, holding the seeds for what it might be again."

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), May 23, 1999

Answers

How far is that from the nearest 7-11? :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 23, 1999.

I know just how Tompkins felt about the lights. I've been watching trees fall, hills leveled, gullies filled, and everywhere condos, luxury resorts, trendy cafes, strip malls, houses as big as condos, more roads, zillions of lights, boats the size of small ocean going vessels, along with more crime, roadsides decorated with trash, loss of native plants and wildlife, and clogged highways taking over our beautiful lake area in the Ozarks. It's enough to make a grown woman weep.

So even if there isn't a global collapse, my little part of the world has turned into an over populate nightmare; a haven for those wanting to live in the country with all the amenities of the big city. I hate it, and will protect my small 20+ acres as long as I can.

Our town was once the prettiest little town you've ever seen. But now it's a hideous conglomeration of "can you top this" businesses, remodeling disasters, billboards the size of boxcars and a courthouse/ jail/ bureaucratic office complex sprawling over one-third of the square like an ugly, spreading disease. The traffic is a nightmare in any direction you travel, and since the town has grown up around our sprawling school complex, during the school year, traffic barely creeps though the town every morning and afternoon. Add that to thousands of tourists flocking here, and you have summer traffic that inspires creative road rage. I retreat to my garden and avoid all of it as much as possible.

Hooray for Tompkins! I'm glad he's doing something worthwhile with his money, rather than chasing the usual hedonistic, useless life style in which most of the rich and famous indulge.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), May 23, 1999.

Chile has some unique geographical advantages for survival in a post nuclear war scenario. Back during the Carter presidency, it was becoming apparent that the improving accuracy of Soviet missiles placed the existing land based US missiles at risk. One proposal to counter this threat was the "dense pack" option: create an entirely new type of missile silo field alignment. The silos would be oriented north to south, in a narrow band, closely placed together. While this would seem to go against intutiton, computer model studies suggested any incoming nuclear explosions would cause extensive damage against the rest of the first strike missiles. Targeting would be difficult at best, and require the nearly simultaneous arrival of all first strike warheads. This would be complicated by the realization that any Soviet first strike would be originated from multiple sources, and require an incredible order of coordination. In effect, it would force the USSR to orient it's strike in a very precise pattern and for all of the incoming warheads to arrive at the exact same time. What this has in common with Chile? If you look at a globe, and not just a map, you will realize the shape of Chile resembles a giant version of this dense pack option. Also, the 3 dimensionality of a globe will bring home the realization that Chile's location is exactly opposite of China. Chile, like most of South America, is a low priority on any likely nuclear war scenario, unlike the US. During the pre-test ban era of nuclear explosions, the atmosphere was routinely sampled and tested for fallout. One key discovery was that there is relatively little transport of fallout from the Northern to Southern semispheres. If there were to be an all out nuclear exchange, it's quite pausible that most of the survivors will be residents of the southern hemisphere. However, Chile is not a paradise for lovers of civil liberties, and Joel M. Skousen in his "Strategic Relocation" book downgrades countries for just this reason.

-- Sure M. Worried (worried@internet.com), May 23, 1999.

Over population will not be a problem in 2000. Y2K will wipe out millions in the big cities. Freeway travel will be enjoyable again! Because ove a great over abundance of empty homes for sale, the real estate market will crash and you will be able to buy a home for $10,000. Because of that, millions will walk away from their overpriced home mortgages and leave the Banks holding the bag. It is about time the Banks get stiffed!

-- smitty (smitty@sandiego.com), May 23, 1999.

Oh my, Gilda, I agree with you completely. I'm a Missouri boy; grew up in Columbia -- my father is professor emeritus of plant pathology at the University of Missouri. What a waste of one of the most beautiful places on earth, the Ozarks. One summer vacation we spent one of the most wonderful weeks of my life at a little house tucked back in a secluded spot, along a babbling clear creek. The house and property was bought up by some country music tycoons; there's no way the hoi polloi like us will afford land in that part of the country for a long time. I feel so very fortunately to be living in a part of the country where rural land is still affordable but where I still have access to a city large enough to provide me with a high-tech job. But I'd sure rather get out of debt completely and spend my time homesteading full-time than crank computer code.

This struck me funny, though:

<< In the process of pursuing his (left-wing) Deep Ecology dream, . . . He keeps his own plane there for getting in and out. >>

I'm afraid that the Deep Ecology folks rarely if ever practice what they preach. 'Course, they'd pretty much have to commit suicide to do that, given the way some of them talk.

Gilda, you and I could probably have a really nice time discussing organic gardening and the evils of agribusiness; we'd just have to stay away from religion, eh?

-- David Palm (djpalm64@yahoo.com), May 23, 1999.

David!!!!! I'm in shock. I was reading your post, and I never bother to see who writes it before I reach the bottom.. I couldn't believe this was the same person who talked to me like I was a mangy, stray dog. No offense intended, no grudges held, not trolling for a fight, that's just how it felt in here. But now that you're folks, we should probably try and get along.

In fact, just before I got on the computer, I'd been trying to find a wildflower in my Missouri Wildflowers book published by the Missouri Conservation Commission. I was also regretting selling my Flora of Missouri by Dr. Julian Steyermark. I'm sure you've heard that name often. I live at the Lake of the Ozarks; luckily not at Branson, which is far worse than here.

My former husband transferred from Rolla School of Mines to MU. But I had friends and relatives in Springfield, so I went to SMSU. I get up to Jeff and Columbia occasionally for Sierra Club meetings though.

Actually, I have no problem with Tompkins using a plane. When a person does a great deal of genuine good, as in his case, then I overlook certain privileges, in order that he may use his time more efficiently for a greater good.

David, I won't argue with you again about religion. Most people just naturally accept the religion of their childhood. I didn't, and won't, and I'm not inclined to believe much of anything on faith alone. For instance, that y2k will be fixed on time. I have too many questions about everything.

But the one issue, corporations and agribusiness, which just makes me rabid, we agree on, so no problem there.

Anyway, do you still live near Columbia? Aren't you glad you're not in DC.?

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), May 23, 1999.

Hey Gilda,

I'm really a pretty nice guy (just ask me ;-D). I am rather a pit bull when it comes to defending my dearest beliefs, so I do come on pretty strong. I have my own perception of what happened but clearly I crossed the line. Please accept my apologies for offending you.

<< David, I won't argue with you again about religion. Most people just naturally accept the religion of their childhood. I didn't, and won't... >>

Well, I don't either. I'm a convert to Catholicism, five years ago, by conviction. They always say the converts make the most loyal Catholics; must be true.

<< Actually, I have no problem with Tompkins using a plane. When a person does a great deal of genuine good, as in his case, then I overlook certain privileges, in order that he may use his time more efficiently for a greater good. >>

I really don't have a problem with Tompkin's plane either; I was just amused at the juxtaposition of Deep Ecology and internal combustion engines. Actually I wish more of the serious ecology folks would put their money where their mouth is and do what he's doing; if they care so much about the land then BUY IT THEMSELVES (sorry to shout) and quit with the socialist, heavy-handed goonverment stuff.

<< But the one issue, corporations and agribusiness, which just makes me rabid, we agree on, so no problem there. >>

Well, I won't tell you that my dad is pretty much an Establishment guy when it comes to agriculture, or that my brother (Ph.D. in agronomy) worked for Monstanto and Pioneer Seed and is now at Cargill (whoops, I did tell you ;-D). It's really funny because I'm the most conservative politically in my family (my brother even sorta pretends he's a liberal) but I'm also the one with all the crazy ideas and doing all the counter-cultural (Catholicism, homesteading, home births for our children, home schooling, etc.).

I've been reading a lot of Gene Logsdon lately? Have you read The Contrary Farmer?

-- David Palm (djpalm64@yahoo.com), May 23, 1999.

Oh, you asked where I live. No, I don't live near Columbia. I wish I could; I love it there. No software engineering jobs. But Columbia is turning into the "big city"; it's not nearly as nice as when I grew up there. But my wife grew up in Chicago; I went there for graduate school and lived there for 11 years -- now that's the BIG CITY! I'm glad I'm not in Chicago.

Now we live on a little 5 acre place in the beautiful hills of southwestern Wisconsin, about 30 miles south of La Crosse. The terrain is a lot like the Ozarks, so it feels like home.

-- David Palm (djpalm64@yahoo.com), May 23, 1999.

No, I haven't read the Contrary Farmer, but it's on my list to get. I think you may be the person who posted the Logsdon books on the book list for post y2k. I wrote them all down. I'm a contrary farmer, but probably not in the way the book meant. Heehee

Yes converts can be rather over-zealous. I'm a converted smoker, and I really have to watch myself, or I get the urge to preach.

David if you get a chance, read In Search of the Simple Life by David E. Shi. It follows the search for the simple life from the early days in New England until about the l980's. It chronicles the movements, but there's also chapters on certain people who chose the simple life. Ralph Borsodi and his family fled NY, but his move to simplicity included using machinery, to eliminate drudgery and reduce the cost of labor. But, they did not use machinery to pump water or run their refrigerator, and he wove the cloth for all their clothes on a loom.

Yeah, I think you're a pretty nice guy. We just got off on the wrong foot. Religion and politics will do it every time. My mother's family was a very interesting bunch. They were all divided along the following lines: Democrats/Republicans, Very religious/Very nonreligious, some were eloquent and creative "cussers" and the others wouldn't have said "shit" if they were choking on it, some drank, others were teetotalers, the men were all macho, and the women were all headstrong. War was sure to break out at every family gathering, and nobody ever missed one. I loved them all and the whole interesting rigamarole of shouting matches. Best of all nobody ever held a grudge.

I ended up being a nondrinking, Democrat, (recently converted to Libertarian) very nonreligious and headstrong, who swears creatively.

I'm glad you like you're new home. I would never be happy living in a big city again, especially in these troubling days.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), May 24, 1999.

Gilda- read the Contrary Farmer and also his latest Gardening one- both are great.

-- anita (hillsidefarm@drbs.com), May 24, 1999.

According to the article, Tompkins is running into problems with his Deep-Eek Eeden. There were a bunch of pre-existing local "settlers" and homesteaders on "his" land (a big chunk of Chile after all), and he has hired a bunch of them, and deeded land to some others. He has a bunch of NWO-like PC rules for everybody: no thieven, drinkin, whorin, gunnin, etc. But the (very skilled) Atlantic writer brings out the "subtle rebellion" among even the workers on Tompkin's core home plantation. Local people (incl. his own workers) diss him behind his back, smoke pot, swipe stuff, and pour oil in the streams. Well, I don't mean to be too harsh on Tompkins, I wish him well. But there are a lot of contradictions in DEE EEE, and you might as well just acknowledge that this world is permanently screwed. -BH "Hell is other people"

-Jean-Paul Sartre

-- Blue Himalayan (bh@k2.y), May 24, 1999.

Blue that's very interesting. BTW, I always enjoy your posts. It's a shame the locals are pouring oil in the streams, theving, etc., but maybe they think he is too patronizing, or that maybe he plays favorites--who knows?

Shoot, you have me so intrigued by this article, I'm going to have to look it up and read it. I used to subscribe to Atlantic Monthly, but no longer, too many subscriptions.

And I've felt like "hell is other people" too, expecially when two of my neighbors were so greedy they had their land logged and it looks like a war zone.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), May 24, 1999.