''We all want progress,'' said C.S. Lewis, "but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.''
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The Project
Imagine driving through the vast American West, wind blowing in your hair, your eyes gazing at a distant rugged horizon, your mind soothed with amazement and wonder. The enormity, magnificence and openness of the landscape inspires inward reflection and a deep appreciation for the divine. This is a place of pure beauty that has provided us so much, as we have cared for it too little. But that is beginning to change.
The Next, Best West will show in ninety minutes how our relationship to the landscape has evolved over the last one hundred and fifty years, from the original settlers who came in search of a new way of life to the modern American family, hiding amongst the comforts of cookie-cutter homes and endless subdivisions, often disconnected from the natural world around them.
As the expectations of the American Dream continue to mount, the earth's ability to provide the resources needed continues to diminish. As one faction lobbies to continue the status quo and push the limits of the land to provide increasingly scarce resources,others are taking on a new philosophy, essentially a new way to perceive what is considered progress. This "new" philosophy reinterprets our relationship to the landscape, advocating an understanding that embraces a regenerative approach that will help sustain all things that inhabit the land, including us.
Through imagery from the past and present and glimpses of the future, The Next, Best West will examine where the conventional American conception of progress has steered us, and where a new conception of progress presages a better future.
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