Weekly Post: "The Higher You Get, The Higher You Get" by Robert Glenn Ketchum

The Higher You Get, The Higher You Get

by Robert Glenn Ketchum

Growing up my parents had a home near Sun Valley, Idaho. It was there that I learned to ski. Over many years I befriended members of the Decker Flats Climbing and Frisbee Club, with whom I had both life, and art-forming outdoor experiences. I had my camera, and these are my adventures. Enjoy!!  
~Robert Glenn Ketchum

Monday, October 5, 2020

The Higher You Get, The Higher You Get - Sun Valley and the DFC&FC, #231  DFCFC #231:  

Of all the birthday presents that I received over the years from Gordon Williams, my most loved and used, are two very clever camp chairs that he gave to Vicki Golden, and I, so we would not have to sit on the ground when van camping. My tricked-out van was a Dodge Tradesman, and it was not all that big, so for the two of us to live in it for months at a time, everything had to have a place. I designed stashes around the wheel wells for the freeze-dried food storage that we took backpacking. I had a print drawer for my big prints, in a shallow box with a lid on it beneath the platform that supported our mattress. Opposite the double-wide side doors, was our pantry, clothes closet, and a cooler storage for cameras, and particularly, film. The two front seats were Captain’s Chairs, and mine nearly abutted the clothes closet wall, but there was about a 5” clearance. Knowing the van, Gordon designed these two camp chairs to fit in that space when not being used. Folded down, the seat locks flush to the “back,” creating a very thin profile. In use, you pull the “seat” out of the “back,” reverse it so the slant “feet” face the ground, and then slide it back through the braces of the “back", to form the sitting chair. I have had these camp chairs for over 50yrs. now, and they have graced the ground, and the roof rack on top of the van, at camps in almost every state in this country. I took this picture this morning, and they still look this good, and are now getting used at my beach house. Thank you Gordon, for being a GREAT friend, a mentor, and for giving gifts to me, that still keep on giving. May you Rest In Peace!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2020, @RobertGKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

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NRDC, Pebble Mine: Open Letter to Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman

EXPERT BLOG › JOEL REYNOLDS

Pebble Mine: Open Letter to Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman

May 18, 2020
Joel Reynolds

Bristol Bay coalition urges Morgan Stanley to cut ties with widely-condemned Pebble Mine, citing unavoidable risks to the region, inconsistency with Morgan Stanley’s commitment to corporate environmental and social responsibility.

"Nushagak River, Bristol Bay Watershed"

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2020 

James Gorman
Chairman and CEO
Morgan Stanley
1585 Broadway Avenue
New York, NY
USA 10036


Re: Northern Dynasty Minerals and the Pebble Mine
Dear Mr. Gorman:

Over the past two months, on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council and leaders from the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, we have reached out to you here and here for essentially two reasons:

First, we are concerned that Morgan Stanley continues to be associated publicly as a major shareholder in Northern Dynasty Minerals, the sole owner of one of the most widely condemned projects anywhere today.  The Pebble Mine is a project (1) that threatens the greatest wild sockeye salmon fishery on Earth, (2) that the people of Bristol Bay, by overwhelming numbers for over a decade, have opposed, (3) that four major global mining companies have abandoned, (4) that the World Conservation Congress has condemned by virtually unanimous vote, (5) that Tiffany’s and scores of other jewelry companies have blacklisted, (6) that EPA Administrators from the Presidencies of Nixon, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have called “the wrong mine in absolutely the wrong place” – and more. While your colleagues have emphasized in reply that Morgan Stanley “does not have a strategic or proprietary investment in the company,” your public profile as a major institutional investor in the company continues to convey a different, however unintended, impression – one of participation in a project that is environmentally destructive, socially irresponsible, and relentlessly opposed by the people of the region. Under the Trump Administration, in disregard of all of this, the project is nearing a permit decision, with Morgan Stanley high on its list of investors.

Second, as is evident on your website, there is no doubt that Morgan Stanley has a commitment to sustainability and sensitivity to the environmental and social concerns that have motivated the diverse, sustained opposition to the Pebble Mine. Indeed, your unambiguous rejection of the kinds of risks that Northern Dynasty and its pursuit of its reckless project pose in a very direct and immediate way to the communities of Bristol Bay is an important consideration in reaching out to you. Pebble’s risks are not an abstract concept nor are they going to go away in the absence of specific, concrete, and public action by leaders like Morgan Stanley – to whom investors look for investment guidance. As you have recognized, this is a matter of sustainable long-term investment, not just fundamental values.

Objectively, the Pebble Mine is a bad social, environmental, and financial investment. Given this, we ask what it is that you and your colleagues at Morgan Stanley hope to hear from Northern Dynasty Minerals, the Army Corps of Engineers, or anyone else that, in the face of this unreasonable risk and broad-based condemnation, could justify proceeding with such a project in such a place? While we have no reason to doubt the assurances of your colleagues that you are “mindful of the impacts,” you will “continue to monitor the project and company,” or that you “remain sensitive to the environmental and social issues” that we’ve raised, we believe that the circumstances demand more than words.

To that end, as Northern Dynasty continues its single-minded pursuit of permits and investors for this uniquely destructive project, we urge you to consider what specific actions Morgan Stanley can take to publicly dissociate itself, its resources, and its services from the Pebble Mine and from the company that owns it.

Very truly yours,

Joel Reynolds

Western Director
Senior Attorney
Natural Resources Defense Council
Take action now to stop the Pebble Mine.

Weekly Post, "Late Fall High in the Sawtooths" by Robert Glenn Ketchum

Late Fall High in the Sawtooths

by Robert Glenn Ketchum

My partner, Vicki Golden, and I, have come to love backpacking in late fall. Although we risk getting snowed upon, most of the bugs, and virtually all of the people are gone. This is our last camping trip together, and the last time I ever camped in the Sawtooths. This is a short blog to say goodbye to both.  
~Robert Glenn Ketchum

Friday, March 13, 2020

High in the Sawtooths, #27:
Sawtooths #27:  In the last post, I said the Twin Lakes, late fall camp was our final trip, which originally was meant as a reference to the season, but as fate would have it, it was a final trip in MANY other ways. After returning to my home/studio in Los Angeles, the project I had proposed to the National Park Foundation to define the historical relationship between photographers and the National Park System, has been fully funded by Transamerica, and it is a “go,” in a big way. I have many contemporary photographers to visit and interview in person, and from whom I will also select work for the proposed exhibit and book, among them Brett Weston, William Garnett, Eliot Porter, Paul Caponigro, Roger Minick, and William Clift. Other acquisitions will be accomplished working with galleries, and searching through established collections, such as the Oakland Museum, the Amon Carter Museum, and the Library of Congress. To manage all of this, I will not only spend a good deal of time on the road, but ultimately, I will move to Washington, DC, and for two years, I will work out of the offices of the National Park Foundation. Belle Star, my black lab, will join me for some of the road trips, but once I move to DC, she will stay with my parents, at our family home in LA. Vicki (above) wants none of it, however. She fully recognizes how remarkable an opportunity the “American Photographers and the National Parks” project is, for me, and does not begrudge me that, be she has NO intention of living in DC, and sitting around while I go to work every day. When I finally transition to the East, Vicki returns to Sun Valley, Idaho, where she continues to live for several years, although she never backpacks again. Belle lives out her life at my parent’s home, chasing balls, and swimming in the pool. I see her on my many visits, and am physically with her at the end, when after 9yrs., cancer claims her. I successfully complete the national park project, circulate a stunning nationwide exhibit, and publish a major book with Viking Press, which in turn begets me the attention of the Lila Acheson Wallace Funds, who offer me a commission to photograph the Hudson River Valley. To pursue that, I move to a home along the mid-Hudson for two years, before returning to the West. I have never hiked in the Sawtooth wilderness since. Carpe’ Diem!

photograph(s) © copyright, ROBERT GLENN KETCHUM, 2020, @RbtGlennKetchum @LittleBearProd #LittleBearProd

Follow Robert Glenn Ketchum's Photographic Activism Online:

LINKEDIN:  linkedin.com/in/RbtGlennKetchum

FACEBOOK:  facebook.com/RobertGlennKetchum

FACEBOOK:  facebook.com/NoPebbleMine.photos

TWITTER:  twitter.com/RbtGlennKetchum

PINTEREST: pinterest.com/LittleBearProd/

SOCIAL MEDIA by #LittleBearProd: @LittleBearProd

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