Tag: Lassen Volcanic National Park

There is so much to say about Lassen Volcanic National Park. But I think, to me, the colors end up at the top of the list. The pictures above and below are my best effort to convey the shades of green, brown, gray, and white.

Mount Lassen last erupted between 1914 and 1921 with the largest eruption in 1915. It is the only volcano besides Mt. St. Helen to erupt in the lower 48 in the 20th century. It sits at the end of the Cascade range and still has a functioning magma chamber beneath it.

Roll up all the grandeur and my thoughts turn to privilege. And so much more than the great personal privilege I have in being able to experience our national parks. As a nation, we are privileged to have numerous and varied national, state, and local parks. We were graced with vast resources and we had the vision to preserve a sampling as public goods. Inevitably, that brings me to consider our nation’s past commitment to preserve public goods, and the foresight to protect them while they were still largely extant. We have chosen to walk away from our communitarian founders and instead chosen to pursue private goods and personal gain. Our focus is on today, not on tomorrow.

Although Neil Young had something else in mind, I think his lyric speaks to our need for more public goods and fewer private claims on our majestic country.

Love is a rose, but you’d better not pick it
Only grows when its on the vine
Handful of thorns and you know you’ve missed it
Lose your love when you say the word mine