I sit in the cab of my pickup truck on top of a hill in North-Eastern Delaware County. I am surrounded by the many hills that make up this region. I see forests and working farms. I see run-down house trailers and double-wides. At the same time I see vacation homes and houses of those who have ran off deep into the country. The Schoharie Reservoir sits in one direction, and the Catskill Mountains in the other direction. It is a rather amazing place around here.

I know what group I am in, and I know what my place is here. It is closer to that of those who live in the vacation homes to get away from the big city. I am a liberal loner in the big red rural community. I've met the Democratic County Chair of all the counties I can see from here —Delaware, Schoharie, and Greene—and they typically have a much different feel then the communities they represent. They are wealthier, more elite, and more liberal. Their values are in some ways different then the red people that largely make up their district, yet sometimes very similar.

I climb out of my truck and hop up on the tailgate with my camera. Everything I see around me tells me a lot about rural America. The camera lens can not come close to capturing all the space around here. There's a lot of environment out there. It takes a lot of abuse to damage an environment that big. Most things you can do in your back-forty out here are not going to impact things in the bigger picture. Paint a house pink or burn a tractor tire and you might upset your neighbors but nobody in Catskill.

Big spaces have a profound effect on our psyche. It seems limitless. I am painfully aware of how small the area I am looking at. It is only a quick hour and half drive in my pickup to the big city of Albany or maybe two hours to Binghamton. You never really get away, and this are can effect or be affected by any other part of the state or our nation. The psyche and the camera lies. We have to care about mercury from power plants out here as fishing isn't safe for regular consumption.

Classism largely prevents me from ever knowing what these people out here think about pollution on fishing. I live in the country and in many cases make less money then local people, yet somehow am different. Our elitist polls do suggest that there is some concern, and we must do everything in our powers to ensure that people can fish and hunt the way that they've always enjoyed under the sky of the Catskills. Yet, the dangers of this toxic chemical are often hidden by the beauty these people live under. When you see forests and farms for miles and don't see dirty smoke stacks you start to forget the evils just beyond your view shed.

Most people out here have a basic respect for the environment as they live in it every day. Farmers and loggers alike make their living from sustainable use of their land. Farmers aren't going to overgraze their land to point of erosion or over-fertilize it to the point where nothing grows. You can see various techniques of planting just by looking around. It is the amazing the devotion people put into their farm, just to see it work over the long run.

Much of the farmland around here has gone to the sometimes more profitable and cheaper maintenance of forest land. A lot of it is state owned, gained from broke farmers of the great depression, but big parcels are privately owned. Loggers cut down forests in ways that ensure a healthy tree crop will replace them for future use of the forest. You notice how little of this area is logged currently in comparison of how many hardwood stands and other area for pulp and paper that will be used in the future. Ag colleges spend a lot of time talking about these kinds of things as they are essential for a successful farming or logging operation. There is a deep respect for the natural world around here.

At the same time there is a deep resentment of government by many of the same people. Environmental law creates a lot of mandates and has changed the way people live their lives, particularly those who are on the front-line of the environment. Many pesticides along with fuel tanks have to be registered with the EPA. Asbestos removal has to be done by trained professionals and carried away for special burial in far away landfills. Those who work with those things regularly know the inherit contradictions of the law. You can dump asbestos in your back-forty from your house or barn, but it's a serious violation of the law to do same from a milking parlor. #2 fuel oil tanks have to be regulated with the EPA, despite being unlikely that this heavy fuel could contaminate the ground water.

The environment is more pristine in these areas. The people who live here depend on the environment for their livelihoods, even if they are critical of government's efforts to protect it. Some of the choices by government are unfortunate and undermine the rural character of the area, while others take a balanced approach to protecting some of the last few unspoiled acres of our world. I do not live in a truly rural area, and I can not truly experience what the locals experience, but I sit in amazement of the world around me.