Why We Keep Saying It
Joe Symons has been reminding us for decades that San Juan County’s planning rules don’t match the ecological and social realities of island life. His persistence — through legal appeals, presentations, and projects like In Perpetuity and The Big Picture — has helped keep the truth visible when it would have been easier to look away.
But Joe is not the first, and he won’t be the last. For generations, islanders have chosen to step aside from the mainstream current that insists growth is endless and limits don’t apply. They’ve kept faith with earth’s flow, saying what others didn’t want to hear: that carrying capacity matters, that resilience comes from restraint, and that protecting “island character” requires more than hopeful words.
Because “island character” is not a slogan. It is ferries that can actually carry us. It is aquifers that still hold clean water. It is forests that can shelter owls and salmon streams that run silver in the fall. It is a way of living where neighbors wave, kids can walk safely, and night skies still belong to stars. That’s why we chose to live here, right?
From Outliers to Stewards
Change doesn’t arrive all at once. It comes in waves, passed from one generation of outliers to the next. The first raised the alarm, pointing out contradictions between vision statements and zoning maps. The second built tools, surveys, and conversations that carried those warnings into everyday life. And now comes the third wave, when more and more islanders begin to say: we’ve heard this before, and this time, we’re ready to act.
What kind of citizens does our island home need? The ones who notice. Who listen longer than they speak. Who can live with complexity instead of chasing simple answers. Who understand that independence is an illusion, and that our survival depends on interdependence. Citizens who practice humility, reciprocity, and care — not because it’s fashionable, but because it’s the only way a place like this endures.
This moment is not just history repeating itself. Now is the time of the steward.
Living It Now
Island Stewards today is not talking about strain in theory. We are living it in real time. As the islands grow more “trendy” to the mainstream, the consequences show up everywhere: in soils stressed by overuse, in seas carrying more than their share, in human heads and hearts stretched thin, and in creatures who don’t want admiration so much as they need space to hunt, feed, and thrive.
“Everyone believes you because you are correct. No one seems to know what to do about it.”— San Juan County Councilmember as quoted in The Big Picture
The lesson across generations is the same:
Transparency matters. Hidden numbers and opaque processes erode trust.
Carrying capacity matters. Living within limits is not failure — it’s resilience.
Participation matters. A few voices can spark change, but lasting stewardship requires many.
And now it falls to us. To keep the conversation going. To clean up the mess, not with despair but with grit and imagination. To remember that we are lucky — astonishingly lucky — to be here at all. This is our collective redemption story. Make it good. Do it with style.
Take heed of the land. The misty sounds are gentle places, but they hold complex systems we may never fully understand. Maybe you are a bit of the same. So begin where you are: with yourself, a neighbor, a child, a friend. That’s how stewards are made.
Read the Full Story
The Big Picture → — A deep dive into how population “buildout” shapes every other issue we face.