We Americans enjoy everything instantly, perfectly and without effort. We touch the thermostat for the perfect temperature. We click a link and Taylor Swift sings us one of her jilted boyfriend songs. We drive up to a window for an instant meal. Too much comfort creates an indolent mind, heart, spirit and ennui.

It's the exact opposite in the wilderness. You must carry your breakfast, lunch and dinner. You must muscle that 45 pound pack. You must punch through 20 inches of fresh powder, and then let your friends punch through it for awhile. You must share and you must talk in order to survive. You must stick together for success of the group. No one will come save you if you should meet with fate--save your friends.

At the same time, the energy of the wilderness soaks into your cells. It speeds through your bloodstream. It carries you to extraordinary feelings both mentally and spiritually.

To many Americans, the wilderness is little more than a retreat from the tension of civilization. To others, it is a testing place--a vanishing frontier where men and women can rediscover their basic values. And to me, the wilderness is a holy source for self-renewal.

But for every man, woman and child, the lesson that the wilderness teaches is simply this: humanity's fate is linked inextricably to the world at large. And, to all other creatures that live upon it. I swear in 2020 and beyond, I am going to do everything to make human beings more responsible to our planet by coaxing, educating, cajoling, instructing, and beseeching all of us to pick up after ourselves, to push for plastic recycling of ALL plastics, glass, metals and more. We must push for alternative energy, for population stabilization, for deleting chemical poisons from our food chain, to maintain clean air and water. We need to care for our planet and future generations.

This is my pledge to Nature and the Natural World in 2020 and beyond. Frosty Wooldridge, mountaineer and world bicycle traveler who care about the future of our species and our children. January 2020, Mt. Holy Cross Mountains, Colorado