How has reading about the history of our concept of ‘wilderness’ altered (or not) your sense of what it is and how we should think about it?
I may not have had such an in depth view of wilderness prior to reading William Cronon's essay, but I certainly have similar feelings about what wilderness represents and how humanity perceives the subject. I have written a couple of essays recently on the global climate change, or as some like to say, the "global warming effect." These essays of mine have been in response to humankind's lack of concern and even the amount of ignorance many people have when it comes to the earth and it's health. Cronon brought this idea full circle when he published this essay, and even challenges the audience to rethink our take on the term.
I know my concept of wilderness has not changed, but I have certainly been enlightened to an extent. While I am slightly confused about what Cronon wants readers to take from his writing, I did consider it to be quite fascinating to hear his thoughts about the subject and exactly how much humanity has changed the very essence of the wild.
Humanity is the culprit in this reality of the desolation of our planet. Whether or not we ever think about repercussions of our everyday plans and how each action has a serious reaction, the fact is that it will eventually destroy the ground we walk on.
I did find it interesting as Cronon described wilderness as a place to fear. In history, humans only inhabited very small parts of the earth. They did not know what was outside of their comfort zone. I think this is the real "wilderness" Cronon is writing about. Going outside of that comfort zone meant leaving and maybe not returning. It was undiscovered land, animals, water, mountains and an overall wildness they were about to see. For all they knew, they could have been entering the place of God or of Satan.
With rapid population increase and the Industrial Revolution the wilderness became domesticated very suddenly. The sublime no longer exists, only the idea of it remains. And when people try to explain wilderness, it is almost impossible. You cannot define a concept. What I took away from this reading was that the wilderness society envisions is wrong. There really is no such thing anymore. It was culturally created for future and past generations, to paint a pleasant picture for us to remember and hold dear. The fact is, we can not go back in time to do it all over. What's done is done, unfortunately, and for those who know wilderness to be a growing landscape of reproduction and beauty, they are experiencing false reality. We have already passed the point of no return long, long ago.
You paint a pretty bleak picture here, but it made me think. Your post made me wonder about the similarity between the earlier idea of possibly running into God or Satan in the wilderness to the current cultural myth of wilderness. I guess what I mean is that to earlier people wilderness was viewed as being inherently tied to a belief system that was deeply ingrained in the culture. People stayed away because they did not want to anger God or run into Satan. Now people still often go into what they view as wilderness specifically to find God or something similar.
ReplyDeleteSince there are arguably at least some mythical components to any religious view, your post made me wonder about how perhaps wilderness as we tend to think of it has always been a myth. Maybe wilderness as we view it never really existed because it has always been so closely tied with spiritual views, and since those spiritual views are unique to humans, then any ideal of wilderness has always been a human idea. That doesn't mean we haven't been destructive toward the ideal. But I still hope that even if we can't restore or create that perfect wilderness we can at least minimize or eliminate further negative impact.
I admire your honesty and realistic point of view. You are right, the damage we are doing to the planet has surpassed what many thought was possible in previous generations. Though many may think this is a pessimistic response, it's important for us to understand. If we want to help the planet, we are going to have to do much more than take baby steps. We have to negate the damage made so far and then work double time compensate for the damage that is made in the present and the damage coming in the future. It's a lot to wrap one's head around, but nonetheless, it is our job to take care of the land we live on and preserve it for future generations of humans and other living organisms.
ReplyDeleteI like Rob's point that wilderness has always been a human construct. This does not mean there's no reality to it. What e think of it is 'mediated' by tradition, ideologies (received thought and belief), images, language, television, and so on.
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