One of the joys of back-packing is taking the first step on a new trail. Thinking Outside is a new trail for me, and what makes it even more fun is that I have little or no idea where that trail is going to lead. The idea is to look at and discuss news and events that affect the outdoors and our enjoyment of it. That’s a fairly open-ended topic, and events themselves will have a lot to do with determing where it goes.

Minnesota, where I live, is well-known for its lakes, forests, and all the outdoor activities possible there. The state has a long-standing reputation for clean air and water, and for taking care of the environment. Unfortunately, that reputation is now a liitle over-rated. Lakes that were once pristine now come with warnings about mercury in fish, wake up early in the morning in Minneapolis on a clear day and you can see the air pollution as a brown ring on the horizon, that ring wasn’t there fifteen years ago. The problem isn’t that people don’t care, as great a percentage of people hunt, fish, camp, hike and bike in the outdoors here as anywhere in the country. The problem is politics.

For the last twenty years or so, politics in Minnesota has revealed one ugly reality. Politicians campaigning for office are the first to claim their love and respect for the outdoors, but when time comes to put it to a vote, the interests of corporations and real estate developers always seem to come out on top. The result is lower standards for air and water pollution, more and more swamps and wetlands drained to make room for housing and strip malls. And when the next election comes, the politicians once again proclaim their love of the outdoors, and the voters, for some reason, ignore or forget the politicians’ actual voting records.

People have attempted a way around this. There has been a continuuing effort to amend the state constitution in order to set aside a percentage of the state budget to support the outdoors. Polls show that a solid majority of Minnesotans support the amendment, but so far it has failed repeatedly in the state legislature. This year it died in committee, they wouldn’t even let it get to the floor for a vote.

The only way out of this trap is for voters to start holding legislators responsible for their votes, insist that they stop paying lip service to oudoors recreation and the environment, and actually act to preserve and protect the lakes, forests, wetlands and wilderness areas that are still left. Show them that there are real consequences to voting the wrong way; namely, losing their jobs. Until that happens, I’m afraid that politicians here and in the rest of the country will just keep saying one thing and doing another.