Preserving nature’s beauty for own memories and for others In the darkness of a desert night, I stood with my feet in the sands of time while a sky filled with a boundless field of stars glittered overhead. The contrast was stunning. I was surrounded by time. Geological time that had created the sands at my feet, and astronomical time that is difficult for the mind to comprehend. In Kumeyaay culture this is Earth and Sky, a place between the land, which is the source of life, and the celestial realm of ancestral spirits. I had gone to the desert east of San Diego to seek something that urban dwellers can’t see. The bright lights of cities dim the view of the heavens, but in this place away from urban glow, I could see the incredible beauty of the universe. I was also surrounded by a completely natural world, and from this vantage point the hand of man was nowhere to be seen. How increasingly rare that opportunity is becoming. For the first few minutes, my focus was on the process of se...