Feeling the Importance of Public Trust

This summer I spent a few days in Yosemite National Park. This beautiful land was really important to John Muir. It was impossible to not think about Muir and what he wanted for future generations while I spent time with the truly amazing giant Sequoias and wondered about how tiny I am in comparison to Half-Dome and all the humungous granite cliffs at Yosemite. I will never forget the view at “Tunnel View,” which is so beautiful it almost doesn’t seem real.

Once I was able to get past how enormous everything in Yosemite is, I started to think even more about Muir and the idea of Public Trust. Before my trip to Yosemite, I understood the concept of Public Trust, but in Yosemite, I FELT what Public Trust is.

This happened when family and I hiked up a trail which led to a big, beautiful pool of water, where many families were playing, swimming, and hanging out. This pool was fed by a waterfall, and the water was so clean that I could see big fish underneath where I was swimming, at the bottom of the pool, which was 20 feet deep in places. The water was really cold, and all around there were boulders, wildlife, trees, and some of the boulders and granite slabs jutted out into the water. We spent the entire day at this pool, no cell phones, no noise, no video games- nothing but people enjoying Nature. It was awesome!

There was one slab of granite, across from where my family and I set up our day camp, which was the best spot of all in a place where all spots were pretty amazing. There was a large family enjoying the spot, and it occurred to me that they had the best spot not because they were older than me, were of a particular race, not because they were a large group, not because they were politically important, and not because they had paid someone to have the spot. They had the best spot simply because they had arrived before everyone else. If my family had arrived earlier, we could have had that spot, too. Then it hit me – in this park, EVERYONE IS EQUAL. Every stone, every tree, every drop of water belonged as much to me as the person swimming around next to me. Where else in the world besides our national parks can I feel that kind of equality?

Is the experience of equality a part of what John Muir was seeking for others when he fought to get Yosemite set aside for forever? I don’t know for sure, but I think I found a clue in a sign I saw posted in the park. It had a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, who was a great friend to Muir. It said “Wild beasts and birds are by right not the property merely of the people who are alive today, but the property of unknown generations, whose belongings we have no right to squander.” Yosemite belongs to no one, and at the same time, it belongs to everyone. It’s almost like the religious mystery, where God is everywhere but can’t be seen.

When I felt how awesome Public Trust is during this afternoon by a crystal-clear pool, everything unfair in society went away. I know now that I have to keep speaking up and fighting to get the atmosphere placed in Public Trust, so that every being on our planetary home can recover from the climate crisis and thrive.