Conquer or Nurture?
Submitted by Brent Patch on Tue, 2017-06-20 00:00
The Big Burn is one of many great examples of our atitude toward Nature. What a hassle to cross a swollen river in the Spring or after a rainfall. Solution: Build a bridge - until the 100 year storm washes out the bridge. Solution: Build a bigger bridge! Wether the Benewah Creek site, Burke Canyon, Bunker Hill, Portneuf River, or The Big Burn, we continue to learn more about our relationship with our environment. From Vardis Fisher's "Mountain Man" published in 1965 relating back to the historical viewpoint of early 1800's mountain men, "The whole Western country would soon be overrun by criminals, religious blowhards, tincup greenhorns, and every kind of simpleton on earth; and there would be no buffalo left, no beaver, no clean spot left where a man could stretch out and smell sweet earth-nothing but foul water and foul air, sewers, junk heaps, noise, and people." I am not sure that we are quite there yet, but we seem to be trending. Do we conquer Nature or do we nurture it?
Comments
Nature Vs. Nurture?
Great comment, Brent. Is it fair to say that the nature of humans, historically, has been to tame the wild? Being a Social Science teacher (History/Current Issues/Economics), the one thing that I have learned and continue to learn as I examine the human experience, is the idea of unintended consequences. I believe that there are many people who desire to "turn back the clock" with their environmental actions and their personal positioning within their ecosystem. Having said that, history has shown us what happens to civilizations that don't understand the concept of sustainability and responsibility....they conquer themselves from the inside out....or do damage that cannot be immediately corrected if ever at all. They were their own undoing many times (not always). It is a scarey premise. On another note, after watching the Idaho Public spotlight assignment of viewing, "Health of Our Lakes", I was interested in the CDA Tribe and their use of water potatos. The cultural impact is quite alarming when ecosystems are compromised by outside forces. Unfortunately, there is never a shortage of these type of situations in history. How do we correct this? What is the best way to address these nurture issues that threaten to change the nature and make-up of an ecosystem? I do not have a Science background, so forgive my naïveté.
another quote
Brent, the quote that you give reminded me of another: "The wilderness once offered men a plausible way of life. Now, it functions as a psychiatric refuge. Soon, there will be no place to go. Then, the madness becomes universal. And the universe goes mad." -Edward Abbey, from The Monkey Wrench Gang
Interesting quote...
That quote gives a lot of food for thought...there must be a "place to go." There must always be wilderness, at least for the sake of "psychiatric refuge." So many sci-fi examples popped into my head as I read this quote...