For five years, geographer and historian Gray Brechin and photographer Robert Dawson criss crossed the state documenting the profound changes in California’s environment. Their efforts, captured in a book and a traveling exhibit, expose the myth of California as a land of limitless resources and bring to light a landscape profoundly damaged.

The fifth annual California Studies Conference offered a chance to hear and interact with both authors and see the exhibit produced from their work on Friday, Nov. 3.

From lyrical, nineteenth centry images extolling the state’s pristine natural beauty, through haunting scenes of damage inflicted by carelss overuse, to photographs pointing toward environmental renewal, the exhibition charts the ups and downs and ups in California’s environment over the past 150 years.

Combining historical images with the dramatic, artful photographs of nationally recognized photographer Dawson and the written insights of geographer / historian Brechin; the exhibition surrounds the visitor with a powerful and moving examination of environmental change.

“Awakening from the California Dream” is based on five years of research by Brechin and Dawson. The pair crisscrossed California, visiting parts of the state most people never see.

The resulting exhibition encourages Californians to reflect upon the historical events and attitudes that led to the degradation of the state’s environment.

“The past is of no importance to us,” Brechin said as he alluded to the fact that this this is a widely expressed issue among students, and that this misconception is the missing link to some very basic problems with the issue of the environment.

“Those who control the past conrol the future,” he said.

It serves as a poignant footnote to the recent California Sesquicentennial commemoration. And it is a spring board for dialogue on pertinent environmental issues facing California today. At the same time, the exhibition portrays how shifting attitudes can change the course of history and positively affect events here and elsewhere in the state of California.

A 15 minute video documentary exploring both historical and contemporary environmental issues accompanied the traveling exhibition.