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by Kate Havelin '83
 | "We're out in the middle of nowhere and I like it," says Edie Bragg Harmon '66. She received a Distinguished Citizen Citation from Macalester in 2001 for her environmental activism. |
Edie Harmon loves the desert. She grew up in Massachusetts but it wasn't until she went to Africa with the Peace Corps that she found her home. "I felt like I belonged in a way that I never did anywhere else. The people were so accepting. And I guess the very first time I encountered the desert, it just captured my imagination. The colors are incredibly magical."
As a geography major at Macalester, she studied desert lands and animals and was intrigued by how the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert survived challenging environments. After teaching biology and art in Uganda, Botswana and Sierra Leone, she planned to spend her life in Africa. And then she met her future husband. "I got caught off-guard," she said with a laugh, "and here I am."
| 'People in urban areas do not understand what it means to live in a rural place dependent upon groundwater. If you don't have water, you don't have anything.' |
Edie and Jim Harmon ended up living in the desert in California's Imperial County, close to Mexico. It reminded her of the Kalahari. "There's something about the wide open spaces. You can see the geologic features; they aren't hidden by trees and vegetation. We're out in the middle of nowhere and I like it." Built on a 10-acre lot, the Harmons' house abuts a federal desert-mountain-wilderness area. "Basically, we have the best front yard the American taxpayers pay for," she said. Harmon knows the name of only one of her six neighbors. The nearest medical facility is a hundred miles away. The Harmons built their own solar oven and for many years raised their own organically grown, pesticide-free food. There are no phone lines, and therefore, no Internet access. Jim designed their house, which is built half-underground as insulation from the cold nights and scorching days. Temperatures soar to 125 degrees, but Harmon says the greatest threat to desert dwellers concerns water. "Either we had to move or we had to fight to keep the groundwater resources."
She and Jim have spent almost 30 years trying to protect the desert. She has been a longtime volunteer for community groups, the Sierra Club and the Desert Protective Council. She has reviewed environmental documents and written official commentary on proposals regarding planning, groundwater, landfills, sewage sludge, Bureau of Land Management land exchanges and mining operations. "People in urban areas do not understand what it means to live in a rural place dependent upon groundwater," Harmon declares. "If you don't have water, you don't have anything."
For her environmental activism, Harmon has received numerous Sierra Club awards and a Distinguished Citizen Citation from Macalester in 2001. "The desert," she says, "changes from deep purples and maroons to browns, just wonderful transitions, even during the daylight. And when it rains, and the desert comes to life with wonderful wildflowers and plants, it's incredibly beautiful." |
