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Published on Visualizing Ecology (http://www2.evergreen.edu/visecofall)

R.J. Jensen

R.J. JensenOctober 29, 06Visualizing Ecology     Uncommon Ground    The chapters we read from the book Uncommon Ground had some really thought provoking and intriguing ideas.  I think the reason these chapters were so intriguing is because of the way that they bring their points across and the way that all the authors back everything up with quotes from John Muir’s “divine manuscript” and quotes from other important environmental advocators such as Henry David Thoreau then their are also quotes from Lewis and Clark.  They also take quotes from people like Pollan.  I feel that this really gets his message to the world and explains what it is he's trying to get across which is that humans are in and among nature where ever they are.  In the densest city its possible to see grass cracking through the cement.      “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature” by William Cronon has a few things that he says that are interesting and he makes some really intriguing points in his essay.   The point  he makes about  North America never really not being inhabited is a really thought provoking line that he says.  He talks about how the Native Americans lived every where on this continent.  Cronon says “The myth of the wilderness as “virgin,” uninhabited land had always been especially cruel when seen from the perspective of the the Indians who had once called that land home.”(pg. 79)  This just shows me that he sympathizes with the Indians and he knows their struggle of moving on to these tinny cramped reservations.  It also makes me think that the entire country was once inhabited from coast to coast with a people that was entirely harmonious with nature they used every resource and nothing went to waste, nothing from the animals they killed was thrown away.  I also find it very interesting that they moved all the natives to reservations to be able to call it an “uninhabited wilderness” when everyone knew full well that their were a people living here before anyone else, then the wilderness was no longer savage but it was considered a safe place.  The way he talks about humans being in nature is the down fall for the wild.  He says it best when he says “The place where we are is the place where nature is not.”(pg.81)  The general idea of that statement is true but their is still a select few who still are harmonious with nature it would make more sense to me to say that our society is not a place where nature tends to exist all that much.  Their is the occasional society that can coexist with nature better then others but most of main stream society today is all about taking as much as you can for your self.  Which is why I believe Cascadia should succeed from the union.      The chapter ““Are You an Environmentalist or do you Work for a Living” Work and Nature” by Richard White wasn’t as dense and didn't have as many facts being thrown at you but he still maid some good points.  He makes some good points about how the environmentalists of today have no work ethic because they don’t want to contribute to the society that's brining and end to nature.  Where as the environmentalists that put every thing that stands in place today knew what it ment to work to save the land.  As Thomas Edison said “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  Its interesting to me that White says “Environmentalists like myself are most aware of nature when we backpack, climb, and ski.  Then we are acutely aware of our bodies.  The labor of our bodies tells us the texture of snow and rock and dirt.  We feel the grade of the incline.  We know and care about weather.  We are acutely conscious of our surroundings'; we need to read the landscape to find water and shelter.”(pg.179)  I would consider my self someone who likes to stop and look at the little things in life and I do every one of those things all the time I am constantly aware of the weather if im outside or not.  I don’t believe that you need to be out in nature to actually experience nature although you are more aware of what's going on in nature when you are actual in it.  I find it very interesting that he considers the machine the snake in the garden of Eden and it has tempted humanity out of the garden or nature if you will.  “The Idea that pure nature nature, separate from our work, might no longer exist can prompt near hysteria. bill McKibben fashioned a best-seller, The End of Nature, from that possibility.  For McKibben global warming provided the final blow. “We have changed the atmosphere and thus we are changing the weather.  By changing the weather, we make every spot on earth man-made and artificial.”  “We have deprived nature of its independence, and that is fatal to its meaning. Nature’s independence is its meaning; without it there is nothing but us.””(pg.182-183)  To me this shows how much of an effect such a small change can have.  Just by altering the atmosphere we have changed the global temperature which wouldn't be expected to be as big of a problem as it is.    The chapter “Whose Nature? The Contested Moral Terrain of Ancient Forests” by James D. Proctor maid some of the best points because he showed arguments from both sides.  He goes through and gives speeches from the people advocating the wilderness of the spotted owl which is expected but then I got further and read this one by Susan Morgan who was their on behalf of WOOD (Workers of Oregon Development).  WOOD is a group of families that make their living off the lumber industry.  She was urging Fish and Wildlife not to put it on threatened species list so her family can have more money.      I thought that it was a good collection of essays they were really interesting to me and really got my brain thinking.  I really enjoyed not reading from the same author for the entire reading and having different points of view.  This was my favorite reading because it got me to think the most and it posed interesting and thought provoking questions for me. 


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