Ken Ilgunas
Autor de Walden on Wheels: On The Open Road from Debt to Freedom
Sobre El Autor
Créditos de la imagen: Ken Ilgunas
Obras de Ken Ilgunas
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Conocimiento común
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Trespassing Across America: One Man's Epic,… por Ken Ilgunas
> There was something about being up in Deadhorse that made the idea of the 1,700-mile pipeline particularly upsetting. Here we were at ground zero of American oil development. We saw the industrial squalor, the depraved lifestyles, the sad, empty eyes of the workers. We felt the emptiness within ourselves. This place was an Ayn Rand wasteland, the epitome of our country’s wrongheaded conception of “progress.” The thought of creating more such places, more such jobs, and more such planet-warming greenhouse gases defied, in our eyes, all the tenets of good sense and reason.… (más)
I thought this book was interesting, and I agreed with much of what the author said. But I felt the book was somewhat lacking. At the end, the author talks about how somebody should start Right to Roam clubs... HOW ABOUT YOU, Mr. AUTHOR GUY?!?! Don't sit back and complain that nobody is getting involved!
One of the threads of the book was that people don't really get a feel for how our planet is being damaged and destroyed by industrialization when using curated trails like the AT, etc. It's mentioned that being able to roam through industrial areas (and factory farms, etc.) would help to open the eyes of our populace. However, the liability and risk associated with that is enormous. I don't see how that would ever fly in this country. The author talks about liability with respect to individual property owners, and then mentions we would have to exclude industrial land, quarries, etc. OK, well, you can't have it both ways!
I feel like one of the reasons I decided to stay in Illinois rather than move back to the northeast was all of the public trails, parks, and forest preserves that are available here. Yesterday I went for a 10 mile run, most of which was in county forest preserve land, and a few miles of which were on a very well maintained rails to trails trail. Now that I've seen what it's like to live in a place that values public space, I would never want to go back to rural NY where there is nowhere to walk except for dangerous roads.
I want to point out that all that county land I enjoy on a near daily basis isn't accounted for in the author's tally of public spaces, which I think was shortsighted. If we truly want to change things on a grassroots level, sometimes starting at counties or municipalities is smarter than starting at the state level. When I go home and visit my parents, I'm impressed at the Empire State Trail that now connects the state. The building of that trail had to deal with a TON of private property, and let me tell you that rural New Yorkers aren't exactly the most inviting people. I was disappointed that initiatives like that weren't discussed in the book. (I'm sure the Empire State Trail was underway when the book was being written, so it's not like the book is so old that it couldn't discuss a lot of newer trail systems.)… (más)
One of the threads of the book was that people don't really get a feel for how our planet is being damaged and destroyed by industrialization when using curated trails like the AT, etc. It's mentioned that being able to roam through industrial areas (and factory farms, etc.) would help to open the eyes of our populace. However, the liability and risk associated with that is enormous. I don't see how that would ever fly in this country. The author talks about liability with respect to individual property owners, and then mentions we would have to exclude industrial land, quarries, etc. OK, well, you can't have it both ways!
I feel like one of the reasons I decided to stay in Illinois rather than move back to the northeast was all of the public trails, parks, and forest preserves that are available here. Yesterday I went for a 10 mile run, most of which was in county forest preserve land, and a few miles of which were on a very well maintained rails to trails trail. Now that I've seen what it's like to live in a place that values public space, I would never want to go back to rural NY where there is nowhere to walk except for dangerous roads.
I want to point out that all that county land I enjoy on a near daily basis isn't accounted for in the author's tally of public spaces, which I think was shortsighted. If we truly want to change things on a grassroots level, sometimes starting at counties or municipalities is smarter than starting at the state level. When I go home and visit my parents, I'm impressed at the Empire State Trail that now connects the state. The building of that trail had to deal with a TON of private property, and let me tell you that rural New Yorkers aren't exactly the most inviting people. I was disappointed that initiatives like that weren't discussed in the book. (I'm sure the Empire State Trail was underway when the book was being written, so it's not like the book is so old that it couldn't discuss a lot of newer trail systems.)… (más)
I'd just read "Last American Man" in search of an updated Walden and was disappointed that Eustace didn't live up to Thoreau, I should have read this book instead Ken Ilgunas is the closest a modern day American could at approaching the ideal.
I loved the book for the adventure and the philosophy, I only wish I'd been as wise as Ken when I was his age. I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in adventure, travel or nature or someone trying to get out from underneath a mountain of debt.
I loved the book for the adventure and the philosophy, I only wish I'd been as wise as Ken when I was his age. I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in adventure, travel or nature or someone trying to get out from underneath a mountain of debt.
Following the Keystone XL
He went for a walk and ended up 1900 miles from where he began a stronger, more hopeful person for the experience. It’s quite an astounding adventure, especially when you consider what a chore it is to get off the sofa for a snack.
If Ken Ilgunas had done nothing more than recount the rigors of his trek, he would have a tale to tell worthy of a reader’s time. But Ilgunas hiked with a purpose in mind: seeing that portion of North America before the Keystone XL wrought whatever damage and change it might. So, in addition to everything entailed in taking a half-year’s hike, Ilgunas educates readers on a variety of subjects, among the geological history of the region, the complexities of satisfying America’s energy needs, the environmental damage caused by tar sands excavation, the difficulty of sustained farming on the Plains (an issue that may be new to many), and a variety of other subjects.
Some of these will make you pause and think, none more than Ilgunas’ discussion of private property rights. Property rights are something we take for granted here without a thought to how they restrict our passage and bar people from experiencing the full wonder of nature in America. Yes, we have national parks, particularly in the East and West. But none in the Plains states. Everything there is held privately; thus Ilgunas’ need to trespass daily to traverse the Plains north to south. Not much of a loss, you might think, if you have never lived on or visited the Great Plains for any extended time. If you have, though, you know, as Ilgunas learned, they are anything but flat and featureless, but they are open, wide, wide open in a way Easterners and Westerners might find either boring or uncomfortable, or both.
As to the Keystone XL, the word most often heard by Ilgunas and by just about anybody with even a nodding acquaintance with the pipeline, is jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. This in the face of a reality that Keystone will produce only around thirty-five permanent jobs once completed. True, a few thousand people will be put to work for a short time building it, but after that, nada. Of course, states derive property tax and other revenue from the pipelines and landowners receive payments, as well. The question, however, is at what price to the environment and the potential for contamination of the great Ogallala Aquifer (already endangered by depletion), a very real concern given the proliferation of pipeline breaks and spills.
So, thanks, Ken Ilgunas, for a combination stirring adventure and an eye opener to the people of and the threat to the Great Plains.… (más)
He went for a walk and ended up 1900 miles from where he began a stronger, more hopeful person for the experience. It’s quite an astounding adventure, especially when you consider what a chore it is to get off the sofa for a snack.
If Ken Ilgunas had done nothing more than recount the rigors of his trek, he would have a tale to tell worthy of a reader’s time. But Ilgunas hiked with a purpose in mind: seeing that portion of North America before the Keystone XL wrought whatever damage and change it might. So, in addition to everything entailed in taking a half-year’s hike, Ilgunas educates readers on a variety of subjects, among the geological history of the region, the complexities of satisfying America’s energy needs, the environmental damage caused by tar sands excavation, the difficulty of sustained farming on the Plains (an issue that may be new to many), and a variety of other subjects.
Some of these will make you pause and think, none more than Ilgunas’ discussion of private property rights. Property rights are something we take for granted here without a thought to how they restrict our passage and bar people from experiencing the full wonder of nature in America. Yes, we have national parks, particularly in the East and West. But none in the Plains states. Everything there is held privately; thus Ilgunas’ need to trespass daily to traverse the Plains north to south. Not much of a loss, you might think, if you have never lived on or visited the Great Plains for any extended time. If you have, though, you know, as Ilgunas learned, they are anything but flat and featureless, but they are open, wide, wide open in a way Easterners and Westerners might find either boring or uncomfortable, or both.
As to the Keystone XL, the word most often heard by Ilgunas and by just about anybody with even a nodding acquaintance with the pipeline, is jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. This in the face of a reality that Keystone will produce only around thirty-five permanent jobs once completed. True, a few thousand people will be put to work for a short time building it, but after that, nada. Of course, states derive property tax and other revenue from the pipelines and landowners receive payments, as well. The question, however, is at what price to the environment and the potential for contamination of the great Ogallala Aquifer (already endangered by depletion), a very real concern given the proliferation of pipeline breaks and spills.
So, thanks, Ken Ilgunas, for a combination stirring adventure and an eye opener to the people of and the threat to the Great Plains.… (más)
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