Was It Worth It?, Doug Peacock

Long-time wilderness eco-warrior Doug is an old-school environmentalist, hanging with friends Edward Abbey, Doug Tompkins, and that lauded crew. His advocacy for grizzlies has been going on for over 50 years. He is the combat vet Abbey met in 1968 and upon whom he later based the fictional character of GW Hayduke. Doug periodically visits Abbey’s unmarked grave somewhere deep in the deserts of Arizona to reflect, honor, and center himself where not a human sign or sound, just a faint desert breeze stirring brittlebush. He takes on his adventures… to Siberia, to tracking the last North Mexico grizzly in the Sierras, to Cabeza Prieta in AZ, Yellowstone.. all while keeping readers in check on our view of seeing ourselves separate from nature is the path that has delivered us to today’s peril. We are currently in the middle of the 6th great extinction largely driven by climate change and entirely caused by human activity. Loving life is more than just staying alive. It must reach for a deeper generosity than the austere gratitude of mere survival. After Abbey died, he got the wake-up many of us do – we aren’t going to be around forever so we’d better take our walks and trips while we still can. He jams it home that humans think they are in control of the world we live in… in charge… and mother nature is making us pay for that assumption.