Thoughts on
EXIST
“Bigfoot is blurry, that’s the problem. It’s not the photographer’s fault. Bigfoot is blurry, and that’s extra scary to me, because there’s a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside.”
I’ve assisted with enough camera trap research projects enough to know Bigfoot does not exist.
The only way Bigfoot or a cryptid of similar size could exist at all would be if—as the scientists in the story theorize—every aspect of the animal’s biology is tailored by natural selection to avoid detection. Either that, or Bigfoot would have to be a dimension-hopping alien spirit as fringe conspiracy theorists suggest.
I suppose this is my way of saying: No, I absolutely do not believe Bigfoot exists. I am confident in this claim. I’d bet everything I own on it.
That said . . . there are some rather large, isolated forests in North America. As with aliens, as with ghosts, I eagerly await evidence to prove me wrong that Bigfoot does, indeed, exist. I’ll keep wondering in the meantime, because wondering is the best part.
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
A developmental editor once told me Lee’s professor in this story, Corey, came off as unrealistic in his apathy and anger. This was valuable feedback. I toned the character back, but only a little bit, because the truth is that there are people working in conservation and environmental science who are lot like Corey: environmental studies undergrads who do not recycle; government natural resource managers who barely do more than collect paychecks; marine biologists who litter their cigarettes next to storm drains. I wish I had the guts, like Lee did, to demand these people give a shit.
Despite how scary things appear in the world right now, the data shows the world is still progressing in every way. War, famine, violence, crime, poverty, equality are all better, globally, than they were in the past. The only thing that is not progressing globally is biodiversity. In fact, all that other human progress is directly attributable to our exploitation of the natural world in the first place.
We can do better. I can do better. You can do better, too.
Let’s make the choice to eat less or no meat. Let’s spend less money consuming something we do not need, and more money donating to a conservation non-profit.
Every piece of land and every species saved is a victory for humanity. I firmly believe humans and nature have many of these victories to come.
We’ve got this.