Bridges and Borders:
Work
by Ron Mader

As we wrap up the last issue of El Planeta Platica, I can't help but help but reflect on how much work goes into this website and journal. What started as a hobby that took a few hours a month became a commercial enterprise that consumes hours on a daily basis. What began as a simple set of working notes from border conferences and journal entries from Mexico and South and Central America has grown into an 8,000 page archive, a mosaic of lively travel tales, serious academic prose and even a few online books.

When someone asks me what I do for a living, I sometimes mention the website. But the most concise answer is that I freelance. I am an independent environmental journalist (see the bibliography). Freelancing, for the uninitiated, means working from 5am to 9pm instead of 9am to 5pm. At least it seems like that. But the truth is that I get to be the master of my own time - a challenge that I value highly.

And if I work long days, I also get to escape from my computer for weeks at a time. Or at the very least, I can always take a few hours out to see a movie or a futbol match. Sure, there was a frightful time a few years ago when I was offered a traditional job at a university that paid well (with health insurance!) or do what I wanted to do. We all come to the proverbial "fork in the road" from time to time. My choice - I was not going to wait for retirement to begin this life.

What can I say? I trusted my own soul and judgement. I expanded the website and actually made this part of my business. I was spending enough time on updates and article solicitation and online conversations. It was via the net that I began to discuss in depth how conservation and tourism can work.

I cannot imagine my understanding of ecotourism, if it hadn't been for people such as Deborah McLaren, Elizabeth Malek-Zadeh, Scott Walker, Jose Sanchez, David Barkin, Margie Scanlon, Garry Kuliberth, Jim Gollin, Marcus Endicott, Derek Parent, Alexis Aguilar, Bob Healy, John Shores, Hugo Guillen, Jerry Mallett, Febo Suarez, Ronda Green and at least a dozen others - that I first met via the 'Net. (And with great pleasure, I've had the opportunity to meet half of these people in the real world since then).

We have to believe in the power that we can make the world a better place. With so many things to do, it's hard to believe we permit so much "unemployment" in the world. The question we need to ask ourselves is not what is our job, but what is our work? Work ought to be the intersection of personal and communal happiness. Why shouldn't what one does be pleasing and make the world a little brighter?

Job status, unfortunately, revolves around being in the right city with the right salary with the right position - or should I say "job title." I have nothing against institutional affiliation, if these people are doing the work they say claim to be doing. But too often the reverse is true. So I'm beginning to think that, to borrow a phrase from Edward Abbey, "the real work" will depend on talented individuals. We have a limited time to work toward local conservation and protection of fragile environments. What can we do?

Urbanization is not on the decline, and cities increasingly consume greater amounts of energy and spew greater amounts of contaminants. Improvements are, at best, negligible. More people are dying of cancer, and yet we refuse to link "development" with the growing number of diseases.

I am not trying to stand on a soap-box, and frankly, I get tired of being cynical. I feel we have been given a gigantic jigsaw puzzle and half the pieces are missing. We can find solutions and we can make improvements, but something is missing.

As Planeta Platica has evolved, so has my thinking about environmental journalism. We lack information to make critical decisions. We engage ourselves in networks that do not encourage discussion across disciplines or geographical lines. We lay out the bleak facts of species extinction or global warming, but we neglect to point out what we should and could be doing differently. We need alternatives and we need information.

The internet can be a great equalizer, but we have to make sure that discussions cross the line between those on the web and those not yet wired. One easy solution - if you're reading something useful on the web, print it out and take it to a library or resource center, a coffee shop bulletin board or university lounge. Send copies to friends in the Peace Corps or other volunteer groups, working in Latin America. Expand your connection in the virtual and real worlds.

I want readers to find new materials online as well as a new way of looking at the world. 'Expect to be surprised' should be the motto of this website. This issue of Planeta Platica looks at stories and storytelling. Writers were encouraged to play around with style. Some tell us what goes in behind the scenes in their work. Others take us along on their journeys.

As a reader of this journal, you are taking part in this adventure as well. My thanks for your encouragement, your attention and most of all, your interest.

Vaya con Dios
Ron Mader

Editor's Comments

Viva Mexico: In September, John Muir Publications released my guidebook Mexico: Adventures in Nature.

Upcoming Trips: Early in 1999, I head to Honduras to begin work on revising the Honduras: Adventures in Nature guidebook with Jim Gollin.

1998 Copyright Ron Mader. Non-commercial distribution is welcome and encouraged if source is given. Bridges and Borders is a regular feature from the Planeta.com website (http://www.planeta.com).

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