Footprints we leave behind

People concerned about how human beings are affecting our environment and climate talk about lessening the footprint we leave on the earth. Intellectually, I have understood this notion, but I don't think I really felt it until two weeks ago on vacation in the red center of Australia, true outback country. We stood in the middle of the desert, with a near 360 degree view and watched the sun go down on two amazing rock formations, Uluru and Kat Tjuta. As we spent the next few days in the area, and then were able to view it one last time as our plane departed, it occurred to me that I had never seen a place where the human footprint has been so light.

And this is not because there have not been people there. Coincidentally, when I returned home I ended up watching a documentary on the red center while running on the treadmill. Aboriginal people have been living in the red center for about 40,000 years as a best guess. And unless you saw the cave paintings they do to teach their children their stories, you would not know they live here, probably because they have learned to live more with the land than against it or off of it.

I was truly drawn to this place. The emptiness intrigued me, and the sheer natural beauty of it awed me. It caused me to reflect on how human cultures shape the land and the values that undergird our decisions to shape it as we do.