Alumnus publishes first book

By Erin Mason

Alumnus Jeff Gailus, BA'93, has just published his first book. As an avid outdoorsman, all-around nature lover and environmental advocate, the title of his book is apt-The Grizzly Manifesto.

It isn't the first book he started, but The Grizzly Manifesto will be the first to be published. An exploration of the politics of grizzly bear management, The Grizzly Manifesto was written in just four months, which Gailus credits to his seclusion at a friend's backcouintry lodge in the Blaeberry Valley, just north of Golden. "There's nothing like a whole lot of solitude to force you to sit quietly and type. It just flowed like a river."

Gailus' writing career started when he moved to Budapest, Hungary after graduation. There he began writing for local English-language newspapers and eventually for magazines and newspapers in other parts of Europe and North America on topics that included politics, social and environmental issues and travel. In 1995, Gailus took a communications job with the Regional Environmental Centre in Budapest, where he worked with business, government and grassroots organizations on environmental issues.

"My time in Budapest was fundamental for my education as a writer and an advocate," says Gailus. "I met so many people who had grown up under oppressive political regimes, but they had worked hard to protect the environment from the grassroots level. I was never exposed to this kind of activism growing up in Canada. It really opened my eyes to the importance of be aware of what's going on around you and getting involved in the political process when things just aren't right."

When asked why he chose the grizzly bear for his first book, Gailus says, "I've had a fair number of encounters with grizzly bears. They're a symbol of what remains of wild places and of sustainable development - what we need to do to coexist with them." He is inspired to tell their story so they will be preserved for his children and the future.

Alberta's grizzly bear population has been recommended to be listed as a threatened species. Grizzly bear recovery efforts have been underway in other parts of the world for some time. Conservation efforts in Yellowstone National Park since the mid 1980s, for example, have tripled the grizzly population in that area. The U.S. federal government wants to remove them from the endangered list and declare success, but some experts feel it's too early.

Canada's grizzly bear population of about 32,000 lives in Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. In many parts of Alberta and southern BC, populations are small and declining because of increasing human development.

Gailus says Alberta has a recovery plan for grizzly bears, but there is no actual obligation for the government to deliver on that plan. Progress is being made, but it's slow. "Many government officials believe that we need to get maximum short-term economic utility from our natural resources," he says. "But any child who has ever read Dr. Seuss's The Lorax knows that this ideology is not sustainable. We need to balance economic development with conservation of wilderness so that grizzly bears have a place, too."

Gailus used his own experience and years of research to writing his book. "As citizens, we need to be more aware of the politics going on around us and the tradeoffs that are being made on our behalf," he says. "There's a huge risk of being unable to undo the damage we're causing. If we want grizzly bears around for our children and grandchildren, we need to act now."

Gailus feels there's a growing awareness stirring in Alberta, "that we can't keep doing things the way we've been doing them. We're coming to terms with the fact that we have to change. The question is will we change fast enough." Gailus hopes his book will help inspire that change.

Gailus will read from The Grizzly Manifesto on May 20 at Pages in Kensington at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on The Grizzly Manifesto and Jeff Gailus, tune into CBC's The Current on April 29 or visit www.gailus.ca.