“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, organized citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
Mead’s quote has been some comfort during this past week that was so disappointing for San Diego environmentalists hoping to improve the City of San Diego’s Vernal Pool Habitat Conservation Plan. And it’s been a brutal year overall watching environmental and other progressive laws and agencies systematically dismantled by the Trump administration.
Fighting for vernal pools and the other special subtle nature of San Diego may seem like a fools errand. It’s not. One wealthy woman who cared saved Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve forever. One small group of Del Mar residents saved Torrey Pines Extension and another goup saved nearby Crest Canyon. One vernal pool scientist and her attorney saved an incredible vernal pool site in Tierra Santa. A small group saved the Carmel Mountain and Del Mar Mesa preserves and all their vernal pools. A small group saved Coyote Canyon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park from a freeway and stagnant flooding behind a proposed dam. One woman stopped the dam proposed to flood the sublime Pamo Valley near Ramona. One woman stopped a huge landfill in Campo. And one man has fought off the huge Fanita Ranch sprawl subdivision in Santee for over twenty years. Imagine what more could change for the better if everyone did one thing to fight to save nature.