Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Environmental Architecture and Following Passion with Fred Phillips | PART ONE
372 Plays2 years ago
Mark Matzeldelaflor, founder of Guardian Grange and former Navy Seal, is dedicated to promoting veteran healing through work in nature. In this podcast, he interviews Fred Phillips, an environmental scientist and landscape architect who has dedicated over 20 years to promoting sustainable practices and community-based conservation around the world. Fred has designed numerous wetland and riparian habitat restoration projects in the United States, Mexico, and Indonesia. His work has been recognized in various publications, including The New Yorker and Landscape Architecture Magazine. Phillips' passion for his work stems from his upbringing on a small farm with ties to agriculture and nature. He was inspired by a professor's alternative approach to landscape architecture that focused on rivers, watersheds, regions, cultures, stewardship of land as well as indigenous wisdom guiding landscape architecture rather than development squares or corporate headquarters designs. This led him to design a thousand-acre project on the Ahakhav Tribal Preserve on the Colorado River Indian Reservation when he was still a student at Purdue University. The project received millions in grants which helped build trails, native plant nurseries, and environmental education programs.
The conversation touches on challenges faced in their respective careers, but also highlights the importance of trusting instincts and being open to new opportunities. Overall, they emphasize finding fulfillment in one's work as a measure of true success. Both Fred & Mark believe that hard work and community building is a form of therapy, and that there is a dire need for clear and coherent communication between the heart and mind.
For more information on how to support Guardian Grange, please visit www.GuardianGrange.org
Guardian Grange Inc is a registered non-profit 501(c)(3), EIN 85-3841605. Contributions are tax deductible. Donations support our efforts to improve humanity and the environment by uplifting veterans to protect natural resources and strengthen communities.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Guardian Grange & Fred Phillips
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, welcome friends and fellow humans to the Guardian Grange podcast.
00:00:05
Speaker
I'm your host, Mark Matzel DeLaFlore, founder of Guardian Grange and former Navy SEAL on a mission to facilitate veteran healing through work that heals our natural earth-based environments while promoting the growth of regenerative living systems and building honest communities rooted in trust, health, and abundance that will, God willing, be inherited by our children and generations to come.
Fred's Journey in Sustainable Development
00:00:31
Speaker
Today, I'm honored to have Fred Phillips join us as a guest. Fred is a very humble man, but he's also a very interesting character who's done a lot of good work.
00:00:45
Speaker
in the environment. He's an environmental scientist, landscape architect, and somewhat of an expert, you could say, at sustainable development and conservation. He's dedicated over 20 years of his career to promoting sustainable practices and community-based conservation around the world. He's got a bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture from Purdue University.
00:01:11
Speaker
And during that time he designed over a thousand acre. I'm going to I'm going to butcher this word. So correct me after the fact Fred, but a hot cause tribal preserve on the Colorado River.
00:01:27
Speaker
Indian reservation, where he served as project director in the 1994 to 1999. And he raised successfully more than 4 million in grants and restored over 1200 acres of degraded Colorado River habitat, established parks and trails within the area, and still works closely with the Colorado River Indian tribes today. In 1999, he founded his own consulting firm, Brad Phillips Consulting,
00:01:55
Speaker
and since he has overseen the planning, design, and implementation of more than 12,000 acres of wetland and riparian habitat and stream restoration projects. His work extends throughout the United States, Mexico, and Indonesia. His advocacy efforts have led to over 8 million in federal funding for restoration on the Colorado River and over 15 million for the planning, restoration, monitoring, and maintenance
00:02:21
Speaker
of numerous watersheds in the Southwest. His work's been recognized and featured in a variety of publications, including the New Yorker, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and Restoration Ecology. He's received numerous awards for his work, including the Waterfront Center Honor Award and his work transforming Yuma's riverfront. He's also lectured at various institutions, such as the University of California, Berkeley, Purdue, and University of Pennsylvania.
00:02:49
Speaker
And aside from all that, Fred's also just a really awesome guy. I consider him a friend. He's avid outdoorsman, painter, musician, filmmaker, photographer, just very well rounded and tapped in individual. He's also boated the entire Colorado river and lives on a small farm.
00:03:10
Speaker
out in Colorado with his two children, Fay and Owen, and his Newfoundland Maggie.
Cultural Insights & Personal Background
00:03:17
Speaker
So it's an honor to speak with you. I know I'm not necessarily the best with intros, but hopefully I did it justice and didn't butcher the tribal preserve name too much. How you doing, Fred? Good. More Mark. Yeah, it's Ahakov. You got pretty close.
00:03:38
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, I saw the word there and I'm like, hmm, I didn't brush up on the pronunciation of that. Yeah, aha means water to the Mojave and kav means like backwater like oxbow. So aha kav is like what they call those old oxbows or meanders.
00:04:01
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, I was like learning about the words and the language because in the indigenous tongue, it's much more precise than the English language, you know, and it has a small amount of words, carries a lot of weight. Yeah, exactly.
00:04:19
Speaker
Well, the first thing I kind of wanted to get into is what really ignited the passion for you and when, like what and when for you to even begin entering this line of work? Um, that's a good question. I mean, I think in, uh, you know, when I got out of high school, I definitely, I've always liked, uh,
00:04:47
Speaker
being in the woods and you know I actually had to weed our garden growing up we had like an acre garden when I was growing up I always had to weed that as punishment and then I also spent a lot of time just working with my dad
00:05:04
Speaker
and mom on our you know we had a small farm kind of similar to where i'm living now so you know i was really raised with a lot of ties to the land and agriculture you know my most of my relatives in indiana were dairy farmers or soybean farmers or you know there was a lot of on my mom's side fishermen and outdoorsmen up in minnesota so i had a pretty good connection to plants and
00:05:30
Speaker
the outdoors and recreation. So I think that's where sort of my interest and all that. And then I chose landscape architecture because I just thought it would be interesting to take what I learned growing up to another level. And I just thought it was a really interesting profession with all the cool design drawings they do and how it's really tied into the earth and plants.
00:05:59
Speaker
I'd have to say a lot of it was probably my upbringing and then when I got to college I definitely gelled with landscape architecture.
Career Inspirations and Influences
00:06:09
Speaker
I didn't gel with college too well. My first year at school was pretty rough just because I got to school and went kind of crazy just with all the freedom and didn't know how to handle it.
00:06:20
Speaker
And, you know, I ended up getting booted out of the landscape architecture program because my grades were bad and I was making bad choices. And then I met this professor, Bernie Dahl, and I was like a sophomore and he was the chair of the landscape architecture program. And he was just really, he was really a alternative kind of guy. You know, my path has definitely been way off of what the normal
00:06:50
Speaker
you know, path for landscape architect is. And so it was Bernie, he was really into rivers and looking at watersheds and looking at regions.
00:07:01
Speaker
you know, looking at the big picture and really looking at the humanity part of it, you know, the different cultures that had been in a place, the different cultures that were there, how you work with communities to, you know, raise awareness and restore watershed. So I really, I think that's where I really kind of locked on in school. I kind of, I was like, okay, you know, I'm either gonna,
00:07:24
Speaker
you know, continue making bad choices and not really getting anywhere in life or really focusing. So I think, you know, making those mistakes and sort of learning from them and then meeting Bernie is where I really got kind of zeroed in on, wow, I want to do this. I want to, you know, work with rivers. I want to take landscape architecture, you know, as a career. So, you know, I'd say that that was probably the point where I finally started to
00:07:54
Speaker
get inspired to do something. And then when I got to my junior year, I met another guy, Benjamin Frederique Samuel, and he was a PhD student at Purdue. I think he had several PhDs, but he was this guy that worked all over the world. And he'd worked with tribes in Alaska and out in Arizona, and he'd been everywhere. And I was giving a presentation on just how I felt
00:08:24
Speaker
the Shawnee and the Potawatomi and the Miami tribes that were in Indiana, because I went to Purdue, so I studied a lot. I actually met some of those tribal folks that were still in Indiana. And, you know, I talked to them about what they thought should be done to the Kankakee River, which was the largest wetland in eastern North America. It was this massive swamp that went from like South Bend all the way past Chicago.
00:08:50
Speaker
And just talking with and learning about their cultures and how they looked at managing land and their outlook on how
00:09:00
Speaker
on their stewardship, I was just giving this talk on how I felt like, you know, that indigenous wisdom was really what should be guiding landscape architecture, not as much as like I was in school, I was learning a lot about how many development squares I could get into 100 acres or how to develop the corporate headquarters for, you know, some large corporations and stuff like that. And I didn't, I never have really gelled with that stuff. So this was,
00:09:30
Speaker
Cool. And I was giving this talk and Benjamin was like, man, I know this tribe in Arizona and they need someone just like you. So, you know, he hooked me up with the chairman of the tribes phone number. And I remember, you know, being a junior in school, being like, wow, this is, this is going to be a game changer.
00:09:51
Speaker
And I called the chairman and he was like, yeah, we do want to build a park and restore the river. We're not sure exactly what we want to do, but if you want to come out here and check it out.
00:10:02
Speaker
You know, we could, you know, I could give you some gas money and give you a little place to work. So I went out and designed this big thousand acre project, the Ahacob actually, when I was a student. So I think right then, like that was sort of the chain of like where I was like, yep, this is what I need to be doing.
00:10:22
Speaker
This inspires me. This really has a connection to my heart and my hands. And then, you know, long story short, I went out there as a student and designed it. And then I brought some other students out, Adams Perillo and Sonia Perillo, and they helped me refine the design, start writing grants. And then, like you said, you know, we ended up getting millions in grants and we built trails and
00:10:49
Speaker
Native plant nurseries, environmental ed programs. We were taking kids on canoeing and rafting trips down the Grand Canyon and other stretches of the Colorado. We were taking, you know, having community events in the park we built. Actually, what was super inspiring to me, I'm friends with the vice chairman of the Kokopah tribe, Rosa Long. And she texted me last weekend because she knew I had COVID and my kids had COVID. It just been a hard week.
00:11:19
Speaker
And she said, I know this is going to make you feel better. And she texted me a video of, it's called The Big Throw, and it's all the tribes on the Lower Colorado River, the Cocoa Paw, Chimaueve, Mojave, Quitsan, Walipai, Yavapai. And it was all these tribes doing their ceremonial dancing and singing in the park that I helped design and build 30 years ago. And it was like,
00:11:48
Speaker
I don't know, it was probably five or 600 people and they were just going off singing and dancing. It was really beautiful and inspiring. So that was a good way to get started and actually be a young practitioner and put this wild idea on a piece of paper and actually build it. I was like, all right,
00:12:11
Speaker
Now where, what's next? Where can I do this next? And, you know, the last 20, 25 years has basically been doing similar to what I did on the crit reservation.
Cultural Impact and Community Connections
00:12:24
Speaker
That's where I really cut my teeth and learned how to get grants and build teams and, you know, just not have a design, but actually put a design in the ground and, you know, gather
00:12:35
Speaker
Contractors and you know, just teams of people that make these big things happen so.
00:12:42
Speaker
It was really, I won't call it lucky because it was a lot of work and it was really challenging and I wasn't making much money, but I loved it. It was just so cool to get to see those things happening. Like when we wrote like a couple of million dollar grant to dredge out the backwaters, we had to excavate like 300,000 yards of dirt. And it's like, you know, how the hell are we going to do that?
00:13:10
Speaker
And we got the money and then Bureau Reclamation said that, you know, if we had the money, they could have their dredge crews. So, you know, 20, 24 years old standing on this gravel road next to this old historic oxbow of the river. And then I'll never forget, you know, there must have been like eight semis that came in, you know, and
00:13:30
Speaker
two of the semis had like d10 bulldozers on them another one had a crane the other ones were all the pieces of the dredge that they had to get in this backwater excavate it it was just the the coolest damn thing to you know have had dreamt that up on paper in the storage room and then written the grants and then getting the permits and then actually
00:13:53
Speaker
watching it happen. Those were the things that really still to this day helped me realize what's possible when you get the right group of people and the right minds and the right hearts together, what you can pull off.
00:14:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's awesome. It's, it's definitely, you know, to me, what I heard is leading with the heart, right? It's like there, the, the, there was a path kind of that, uh, landscape architecture was on and it's very much like corporate maximizing acreage pragmatic.
00:14:26
Speaker
heady and you went with your heart and your gut, your feeling, and walked a road that led you into what has blossomed and become the work that you do. And it just started right there.
00:14:46
Speaker
It's very inspiring to myself because, number one, that's what Guardian Grange has been about, just a heart knowledge, a heart wisdom, and that's where it's going.
00:15:02
Speaker
seeing the economic landscape that pretty much has kind of rules everything and it steers, tends to steer many people away from making what the right decision is, right? It's people kind of go towards what the most optimal decision might may be for a specific thing. So it's really cool that you entered in
00:15:30
Speaker
from true human connection, right? And how you got hooked up because you were speaking from the heart, someone recognized that, connected you to another person who recognized that and said, hey, why don't you come out and start, you know, taking it one step closer towards this vision that was resonating in the hearts of everyone else. And that's what I like to use that term like hearted, you know, because you had your
00:15:58
Speaker
academic and your understanding of things in your, your, your, your idea on solutions, but it was all being led from the heart and that's really what resonated you know because like a
00:16:14
Speaker
research papers or debates or political discussions or this or that, they don't really actually resonate on a true human level. And when someone's speaking and coming from an approach that's real, that's felt. So it's pretty inspiring to learn to know of that backstory that kind of led you in, especially because I was a similar way in my schooling of not
00:16:41
Speaker
I think a lot of people like us are like, we don't really pay attention or do exactly what we're supposed to do to get the best grades, but we're obviously very capable of doing these things. We just kind of like to have a good time while we're doing it. And that's what I feel like, you know, the work, like just doing the little bit of experience with like the rock therapy that we did out in
00:17:07
Speaker
California, that little brief moment of leveraging hard work as a form of therapy camaraderie and community building opportunity as a whole paradigm shift to like the dreaded work life imbalance that most people have.
00:17:29
Speaker
And it's led to this idea of like, hey, we're gonna just put our head down and kind of do something we don't really like for a long time and then hopefully one day retire and then do something we really like.
Leading with Heart: Passion & Purpose
00:17:40
Speaker
I'm much more on the approach that you took, which is I'm gonna do something that I really, my heart's into. And even if the economic feedback is not necessarily,
00:17:54
Speaker
incredibly rewarding at the front it's still all the benefit like you said 30 years later you get a video of 500 human beings dancing in the creation that you helped facilitate you know with with the earth with natural means so that's that's awesome you know so yeah yeah it's really cool
00:18:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think a lot of it too is just, you know, I really like working, talking to young people and students because I think there's a shift happening now where people want to be more engaged and inspired and moved by what they're doing. And, you know, I always just say, you know, it takes some courage to walk down a non-traditional path. But I think once you start taking those steps,
00:18:52
Speaker
on that path, you know, that your heart and your mind, you know, there's a Hopi elder named Vernon Masayespa, who I respect immensely. And I'll never forget when I was interviewing him once, he said that we as human beings, we need to learn to talk between our mind and our heart.
00:19:16
Speaker
You know, like we need to, those two things need to be communicating and when they communicate and we speak it radiates out. And, and, um, I think, you know, just, you've got to have the ability to, to see.
00:19:33
Speaker
an opportunity, you know, and you meet somebody in life, you know, like that Frederick guy or my professor, you know, like you, you see those opportunities, you, you just be like, ah, yeah, some phone number tribe in Arizona, whatever, you know, it's like, no, you take that and, you know, kick the door down on it. Yeah, taking those steps. And so many people
00:19:59
Speaker
So many people do do it. A lot of people don't, but I think it's just a matter of if you're, you know, headed in a direction that you really like and you're inspired by it and all of a sudden something like that pops up. You know, I think there is truth and if something is too good to be true, it probably is. But on the other end of that too, I also think that
00:20:25
Speaker
that sometimes it is too good to be true and you just have to take the steps to make it happen.
00:20:33
Speaker
Yeah, also what you said in there is putting the speaking from a coherent balance basically from the heart in the head. That's very powerful and it's very recognizable because I know like when someone is speaking in that way, or even if I'm thinking of an idea in that way, I
00:20:55
Speaker
personally get a feedback where I feel it in my heart. You know, it's like, I feel a good positive feeling coming from my heart when someone is speaking in that manner and it's truthful. And, uh, that's a feedback that we're not really trained to even acknowledge that it exists, but it's like everyone knows, right? Anyone who's ever fallen in love or like,
00:21:21
Speaker
seen some epic scenery in in nature that when you're when you've been in it and engulfed in it and you have these feelings that that pop up like these are
00:21:34
Speaker
feedback that is to me, that's how I know I'm going the right direction is like, if I'm, if my conversations and my thoughts about what I'm doing, when I'm really sitting there and get going deeper, being introspective or formulating a plan, if my heart is affirming what my head is doing and what my hands are doing, then that's what I, that's what I need. That's the communication that really creates a positive
00:22:06
Speaker
confirmation to know beyond all theoretical, all political, all whatever kind of debate that could come up is like I know that that's the path to walk and it sounds like that's what you instinctively were doing too and that's what I hope more people tune into, right, because
00:22:26
Speaker
kind of before this chat we were talking about like the money kind of makes people go a different way a lot of times from what they once knew right as uh at some money or power yeah yeah money or power and it's like they someone gets into a position and then maybe they have an opportunity to help someone out or a group of people out and then
00:22:49
Speaker
an ask is made or attempted to be made and then they just kind of go non-existent for a time or maybe for the rest of their life and yeah I've seen it in various forms through you know my life and
00:23:05
Speaker
certain elements of the military and definitely seen it on the outside and more professional relationships among other people and among myself where the words are kind of claiming to be, let's say, that's like, hey, yeah, we're going to make our environment better. We're going to help out veterans with these
00:23:32
Speaker
uh different kind of emotional or mental health kind of issues that happen but when it comes down to like all right well let's cool let's let's do this let's work on this project or let's let's move in this direction it's like uh well there's not really any money there so i'm gonna let's go make some money first or let's do something else and i've had people try to pull me away from the work that i've been grinding because i'm in a space of like where you were when you started like it's still that very much a grind for me
00:24:01
Speaker
Um, but I know I'm going the right way. So I'm just going to keep on, keep on, keep on crawling forward. Um, however, however I can, and you know, the beautiful relationships that develop like this one right here would have never even happened or came into existence had I not just been grinding. Right. And that's what.
00:24:25
Speaker
Veterans have especially you know, I can only really speak from like the navy seal or the special operations side, but I know that we definitely have a certain grit to When the when the mind is aligned
00:24:40
Speaker
and focused on an objective to just do whatever it takes to get to it. So that is what I'm looking to marry up, you know, as far as the some of the environmental issues, some of the food system issues, holistic health issues as a as a way to solve
00:25:09
Speaker
these unseemingly unsolvable things that lead to like, you know, the overwhelming amount of veteran suicides that happen and things of that nature, right? Where it's like, oh, well, hopefully we're just gonna, you know, let it, you know, the system is like, we're just gonna let it solve itself and maybe throw some pharmaceuticals at it, but never addressing the problem.
00:25:31
Speaker
of purpose and passion, which is everything that that it's the path that you walked right as purpose and passion first and then everything else fell into place right and you kind of created a niche space that would have never been presented had you not been living in your in your heart and to to a large degree so I appreciate really appreciate that story because I think more of those
00:26:00
Speaker
should be told because you have you know everyone's measure of success is perhaps different but also perhaps also I would argue it's skewed to be highly focused on the financial aspect versus like hey how fulfilled are you in your life and from what I know of you like you are very fulfilled in your life so to me that is like the highest
00:26:26
Speaker
form of success and the work that you've done you know to get the feedback again to pull back to like you just had that video come through in a time that was an expression of gratitude for not just work that's not just work that you did work that you're the community that you helped create and bring together through the cruise that you pulled together on the tribal lands and with contractors and all that stuff like that whole
00:26:53
Speaker
that whole amalgamation of human potential energy activated created that situation. And that's how some real positive transformational stuff goes. And I think that's awesome. Yeah, that's wealth.
00:27:14
Speaker
Yeah exactly. That's true wealth. Yeah and the and the and the it's wealth that gets passed on not through not through like a contract but just from the fact of like the environment is very wealthy healthy at that point and everyone you know from your kids to anyone else in the community even if whether they uh are aware of why it is so or not they're benefiting from it and that is
00:27:38
Speaker
you know, it's also regenerative, which is a word that's, you know, becoming more popularized in these spaces that we're in. But it's also a very, very accurate way of describing life because life just seeks to regenerate. And, you know, it's like the rebirth going from a period of destruction to a period of new
Environmental Work: Fulfillment & Societal Impact
00:28:04
Speaker
growth. And
00:28:06
Speaker
that I see a lot of a lot of hope and a lot of positive beyond just hope just just real work that's that's being done and can continue to be done and can be advanced upon that is cause for
00:28:25
Speaker
you know, hopefully peace in some people's hearts to know that this kind of work is going on because I know the news and the kind of the media cycles definitely focus on a very negative aspect and it's easy for people to fall into a groove of like what's the point and that
00:28:42
Speaker
that is not helpful to anything, right? If the motivation is gone and the discipline's not there to at least work towards good habits or cultivating good habits, then, you know, everyone just kind of, or a lot of people just kind of give up because they've been defeated in their own mind and their own heart. And this, I think, gives fuel starting at the heart, which is the most fundamental
00:29:13
Speaker
Aspect of human life, you know, if the heart's not beating you're in alive. So yeah, I like I like I Like hearing this I hope everyone else Appreciates it. I'm excited to continue talking. I know we don't have a lot of time today, but I feel like that was a good
00:29:32
Speaker
It's been a good segue into further discussions and I'll kind of just give you the floor to maybe talk about where you'd like to go next in conversation and we can pick it up at another time because I want to make sure you're ready to go for your next meeting here. I mean, I could go in any direction mark as far as like,
00:30:03
Speaker
you know, the nuts and bolts of how I got to where I'm at and what I'm doing or, you know, even the inspirational side of it, you know, the different things that have happened to me over my career that have been total God shots that have kept me going, you know, because the, you know, a lot of times I think people are like, they think it was some sort of gravy train I hopped on but
00:30:30
Speaker
you know, like anything, it wasn't, there was a lot of challenges, you know, physical, emotional, cultural, you know, there was a lot of challenges that had to be overcome to get where I'm at. But I think that's going to be in anything you do wherever you're at. You know, I think, like you were saying, it's, it's a lot of, um,
00:30:54
Speaker
You know, it takes some grit and it takes work. You know, this stuff isn't just going to fall on your plate. And, you know, for some people, um, you know, they, they want to be, you know, part of the team and just have a specific job they do or stay in a certain lane. You know, some people more like you and I.
00:31:15
Speaker
or more entrepreneurs and big thinkers, you know, we're not only thinking about the work, but we're thinking about scaling it and how we can get more people to do it and how we can make a robust living doing it.
Business Challenges & Adaptability
00:31:28
Speaker
So, you know, there's just all different sorts of ways you can go with it. Yeah. You know, and I think every time it's gotten really hard for me at 52, I think I've finally
00:31:42
Speaker
After being through some pretty big doozies in life, you know, I almost lost my business. You know, when I left the tribe after five years, I kind of, I got really sad. And that's when I started my own business. And it was tough to get rebooted and going again, because when I was at the tribe, I had created this
00:32:06
Speaker
Such a kind of a tribal department and we had a lot of success and you know I just knew it was my time to move on, but just rebooting and starting my own, my own practice, you know.
00:32:20
Speaker
At 52, I think I've finally to a point where I actually really trust a lot of my instincts. When I'm in a good place, I'm taking care of myself, you know, and I get instincts on things I've learned to really trust them. And, you know, it's like sometimes, like, for example, a few years back when my business was struggling a bit, I got this huge job in Texas. This is a big mitigation bank.
00:32:48
Speaker
And I was a bit conflicted by it because. You know, it was a mitigation bank for a gas pipeline, a natural gas pipeline. So obviously. You know, the pipeline having huge environmental impact, but then.
00:33:02
Speaker
I had the opportunity to help restore 1,200 acres into something beautiful that, you know, to offset that balance. You know, I was a bit conflicted by it, but I landed on doing it and doing it right. And then, you know, we got the whole thing designed. We got it figured out. We had it, you know, we had this thing wired where we were going to come in about a million under budget.
00:33:26
Speaker
you know, engage the local community, you know, had a lot of good business going out to small businesses. And then we just got dropped like a bad habit by the mitigation bank that had hired us. And it really sucked because it was like, you know, big chunk of my work at the time. But after being initially a little sad about it, I was just like, you know, every time something has ended or dropped,
00:33:55
Speaker
or not worked out, something else has filled it. And that something else is usually something that I believe in more, is more inspiring, or is gonna teach me. So I think one of the things that I have some comfort in at the middle age of 52 is like,
00:34:18
Speaker
I know stuff's gonna work out if I keep working hard at something and I'm truthful about it. And with myself, you know, that it's just, it's gonna work out. And I think, and like you were saying with the news today, and there's just so much, God damn it, you know, we just, we fight so much. I mean, I was raised in an army family, you know, my parents are Republicans and I still love them.
00:34:49
Speaker
but you know that aside I don't really care who but if someone's right or left or you know conservative or you know what have you it's like we just got to skip past this how polarized we are as a society and just do good things together you know when I did this big project in Yuma for 20 years I still worked down there and when we started it
00:35:16
Speaker
The conservative farmers were like, you know, these guys are going to bring in endangered species. They're going to change our farming practices. They're going to threaten our water rights and all that. And we, you know, went around and we had, I had breakfast with a lot of farmers one on one. I spoke in front of, you know, entire farming groups, 600 people with the city of Yuma and the tribe. And we just assured them, you know, that we weren't going to do that.
00:35:44
Speaker
Some of the farmers were like, well, we're out. We want our land out of this. And we're like, OK, you can take your land out. And other people left there, including the tribe, the city, private landowners, some government land. And then we started restoring this area from this just hellhole. It was like a mess, lab, illegal activity. It was just all kinds of bad stuff went out on the riverfront in Yuma.
00:36:12
Speaker
But over the course of a couple of years, we started cleaning it up and people started to be able to hike down there again. And then the wildlife started coming back and people, some of these naresayers saw this happening. And before we knew it, they were on board with what we were doing. And before long, some of the naresayers who were the farmers who taught me just incredible knowledge about how to work land, they really helped my practice.
00:36:41
Speaker
you know, they started working for us. They were some of the subcontractors we had. So, you know, just to get to see that shift happen, you know, it's been like, this work is good for everybody, you know? And I think that's why we need more of it.
Nature's Role in Healing & Growth
00:37:00
Speaker
Because I think there's a lot of truth in the wisdom of, you know, heal the land, heal the people.
00:37:09
Speaker
I know there's truth in that for me, big time. And I've seen it with people that I've worked with and clients I've worked with. And, you know, I think it's just like you get all bound up at home. I don't know with whatever's going on in your personal life or your past life or whatever.
00:37:31
Speaker
Sometimes it's just hard to get out and go for a hike or do some gardening or, you know, do work like this, but man, every time I do, I feel so much better.
00:37:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's amazing the power that exists in nature. Again, it's instinctually known, it's felt, it's obvious to those of us who are in it, but when you're kind of disconnected and in your own little world, it's very easy to
00:38:02
Speaker
not to forget that it exists, you know, cause it's like, you know, I got a 10 month old daughter and it's very obvious that she is very aware of the magic of a reality and nature, you know? So we're all, we're all tapped in. And then we just, there's, you know, something happens along the way or a series of events and, you know, people tend to get separated. And I am a firm believer that that is one of, you know, that,
00:38:32
Speaker
That environment is what leads to a lot of what are seen as mental and emotional conditions, but those are actually like symptoms of this deeper just disconnection that has happened, whether that's from our environment, from each other.
00:38:49
Speaker
from just the higher power that promotes all of life to exist and to flourish like that. When you're connected, when you're working it, when your hands are in the dirt and you're doing these things that are keeping you tapped in or tapping you in, it becomes undeniably obvious and that's a powerful healing force. So yeah, I'd love to,
00:39:17
Speaker
and when we get back on again to jump into the nuts and bolts and the inspiration and definitely the challenges because that is where a lot of people find themselves is in the challenges and it can be very difficult to see like when you're in the valley, when you're in the darkness, when you're moving through the
00:39:39
Speaker
the shadows of the valley of death or however people want to put words to it can be very difficult to see that there is light if you keep going right it's like you're moving through a dark tunnel and it's kind of like it's always darkest just before it turns light again so that type of
Conclusion & Future Discussions
00:39:56
Speaker
Discussion, I think, would be very, very helpful to anyone who listens to this. So I'd love to talk. And then also the Yuma River Restoration kind of naysayers, awareness that led to a conversion to be advocates or to be participants, because it's a challenge that we're going to continue to face when we're on the leading edge of doing things differently.
00:40:26
Speaker
But it's a good reflection to be aware of the fact that if you initiate good work with whoever is available to help participate and facilitate that, that once that impact of that good work starts being felt, other people will come on board, right? It's like riding the bell curve. Not everyone's going to come in.
00:40:49
Speaker
at the at the tip of that uh the tail end of that belker for the tail beginning so we kind of just initiate um initiate what we know is right and uh keep moving forwards yeah i'd love to discuss that next time we get on and uh i think this is a pretty cool intro i'm actually gonna gonna probably use this as a format going forward you know because i think little bite-sized chunks and
00:41:19
Speaker
Getting into the heart center of why people are doing what they're doing or you know what helped them through times of struggle, I think is a very important. It's an important series of discussions to have and to make available to others because it it encourages people to.
00:41:39
Speaker
seek out the same and perhaps hopefully, you know, share their story because everyone has a story to tell and I love listening. So thank you for being on with me. It's always an honor to chat. I always love our conversations and really appreciate you as a, as a good man and a father and just a force of, of goodness in this world. So thank you for being here and showing up today.
00:42:07
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you, Mark. I feel the same about you and yeah, maybe next time we can just, maybe we could talk about just, yeah, the hardest things that I had to get through. And then maybe some of the, the most inspirational things that kept me going.
00:42:25
Speaker
Yeah, I'm 100% down. I love that. So I know you got your people coming over for your next meeting. So I want to be respectful of your time. And yeah, once again, thank you for jumping on. And let's connect when you get some time and work on when worked out for another one. Appreciate it. Awesome, Mark. Well, much love, and we'll talk to you soon.
00:42:50
Speaker
Thanks for listening to find out how you can support guardian Grange head on over to www.guardiangrange.org and stay tuned for the next podcast with Fred Phillips coming soon.