To hold silence and to be silenced are two very different experiences. And so another theme emerges, that of light and shadow. When we share our voice, who benefits? When we withhold, who benefits? And what are the consequences and costs of both? Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes by Terry Tempest Williams More Quotes From Terry Tempest Williams Home is where we have a history. Terry Tempest Williams home I live just outside of Salt Lake City in a place called Emigration Canyon. It's on the Mormon trail. So I feel deeply connected, not only because of my Mormon roots, which are five or six generations, but because of where we live. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not mindful of the spiritual sovereignty that was sought by my people in coming to Utah. Terry Tempest Williams utah spiritual lakes As children, we had access to all the open space imaginable. We would set up camps in rural Utah where the Tempest Company was at work laying pipe. We spent time around the West in Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, and Colorado. Wild beautiful places. Now, many of these natural places have disappeared under the press of development. Terry Tempest Williams space beautiful children It is important to remember all true change begins at the margins and moves toward the center. This does not make the climate change movement marginal, it makes it muscular, organic, with a true movement toward the center. Terry Tempest Williams climate important moving My activism is a result of my love. So whether it's trying to preserve the wilderness in Southern Utah or writing about an erotics of place, it is that same impulse - to try to make sense of the world, to try to preserve something that is beautiful, to ask the tough questions, the push the boundaries of what is acceptable. Terry Tempest Williams southern-utah writing beautiful I know the struggle from the inside out and I would never be so bold as to call myself a writer. I think that is what other people call you. But I consider myself a member of a community in Salt Lake City, in Utah, in the American West, in this country. And writing is what I do. That is the tool out of which I can express my love. Terry Tempest Williams struggle writing country In Utah alone, ten million acres are open for business. Their policy is not about the public or the public's best interest. It is about the oil and gas corporations' best interests. Terry Tempest Williams acres oil utah I can tell that in Refuge the question that was burning in me was, how do we find refuge in change? Everything around me that was familiar had been turned inside out with my mother's diagnosis of ovarian cancer and with the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge being flooded. Terry Tempest Williams cancer mother rivers I remember as a child, my grandmother read to me Silent Spring. It was incomprehensible to me that there could be a world without birdsong. Terry Tempest Williams grandmother spring children I think direct political action, civil disobedience, in particular, is something to be taken very seriously. Terry Tempest Williams political taken thinking I would say I am at peace with the mystery of my mother's journals. Of course, I will always wonder, but isn't that the creative tension of living with uncertainty? By leaving me her empty journals, my mother has made herself very present. Terry Tempest Williams leaving creative mother How do we create beauty in a broken world? How do we create a view of sustainability in an economy that is crashing? How do we reconfigure our lives, how do we pick up the pieces and create a meaningful life? So, yes, we have a different form of leadership but the questions remain the same. Terry Tempest Williams broken views meaningful I think it could be argued that I am not heard, in the broadest sense. That is not my concern. My concern, a question really, is, do I have the courage to speak? If I speak I believe someone will respond. It then becomes my responsibility to listen to that person. And in listening, together we create a space where people can be heard. It's the conversation that I care most deeply about; this is the space I want to honor, respect, and protect. This is my faith in the open space of democracy. Terry Tempest Williams responsibility believe thinking Well, we are Americans. I've always believed that you work with where you are - I am a Mormon woman who was raised on the edge of the Great Salt Lake in the American West in the United States of America. But, by the same token, much of my life has been spent resisting traditional forms of democracy, resisting traditional forms of orthodoxy, be it the United States government or the Mormon Church. Terry Tempest Williams american-west government lakes Style is like voice, it grows organically from the truth of one's own life experience. Not in terms of chapters, per se, but in terms of stories. It is the story itself that creates an inherent structure. Terry Tempest Williams style voice stories Good writing must stay open to the questions and not fall prey to the pull of a polemic, otherwise, words simply become predictable, sentimental, and stale. Terry Tempest Williams sentimental writing fall John Cobb is saying that perhaps we are beginning to see that now as our greed goes completely out of control and everything is seen through money, through corporate power, etc., etc. We know it well. He asked the question, What will be the holocaust that takes us to the next era? - which he describes as "Earthism." Terry Tempest Williams holocaust eras greed There are times we have to put our body on the line for what we believe, for the injustices we see even within our own families. Terry Tempest Williams lines body believe At the heart of Mormonism is a high regard for community. That is its strength. I have great respect for that. Terry Tempest Williams mormonism community heart In the early days of the Mormon Church, stewardship toward the land was a priority. It was a matter of survival in the desert. Terry Tempest Williams priorities survival land
