In 1973, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepared to open a new dam project, flooding miles of the Stanislaus River Canyon, a beautiful, pristine river valley flowing from the western Sierra Nevada mountains into California's Central Valley. In 1979, Mark Dubois chained himself to a boulder behind the New Melones Dam and threw away the key. "If you guys are going to flood 9 million years of evolution, why not take one more creature with you," he said. Mark's action brought nationwide attention to the threats to our rivers and built a growing movement to protect them, helping to bring a halt to major dam building in the U.S. This is a story of a person who dared to fall in love with life's miracle, this sacred Earth, and reminds us of what it means to ignite our own passion and step into our life's purpose.
