What Is Desegregating Wilderness

In The Way to Rainy Mountain author writes about his grandmother, “When she was born, the Kiowas were living the last great moment of their history. For more than a hundred years they had controlled the open range from the Smoky Hill River to the Red, from the headwaters of the Canadian to the fork of the Arkansas and Cimarron. In alliance with the Comanches, they had ruled the whole of the southern Plains.”( The Way to Rainy Mountain) This shows that even after many years of her death, the land defines the people ruled on them. The wide range of lands was given her and her family the identity of its ruler. Similarly the connection fells during the visit of Zion National Park author writes, “ There are moments that define a existence. For two hours I exit with only Brady and Tyler….we share a experience” This argues that land gives people the feel of their existence. Both the national park and wide range of land gives the authors to feel as it's the land that make them feel be present in the earth. Identity makes a person complete and individuality. Either way land gives people its identity by spending time on that land and feel close

Although Leopold’s love of great expanses of wilderness is readily apparent, his book does not cry out in defense of particular tracts of land about to go under the axe or plow, but rather deals with the minutiae, the details, of often unnoticed plants and animals, all the little things that, in our ignorance, we have left out of our managed acreages but which must be present to add up to balanced ecosystems and a sense of quality and wholeness in the landscape.

As humans, or better put, as animals, we need the wilderness to remind us that we are small even insignificant. These large empty spaces, no matter where they are, forces us to realize that we are part of something bigger. When we create a world made purely of technology, we lose part of our animal selves and we are not happy. In “Wilderness Letter” Wallace Stegner outlines the idea of wilderness and how we need that idea in order to be happy. While making a point about becoming stuck forever in our own world, Stegner writes, “Without any remaining wilderness we are committed wholly, without chance for even momentary reflection or rest, to a headlong drive into our technological termite-life” (111). The wilderness allows us to be outside

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land, A Photographic Journey is an editorial that argues in favor of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and how it must be protected from the dangers of human industrialization and oil exploration that would surely destroy the land. The author of the passage dwelves into great detail about the vast, untouched beauty of the Arctic Refuge and how its majesty is among the greatest things he has witnessed. Banerjee, however, fails to support his argument using substantial facts that might otherwise sway skeptics. For instance, Banerjee states: “I was saddened to think of the tragedy that might occur if this great wilderness was consumed by a web of roads and pipelines, drilling rigs and industrial facilities”. The author here uses an ethos and pathos standpoint, coming from the perspective of personal experience and opinion of how distraught he should feel if the land were

In Wallace Stegner’s “Wilderness Letter,” he is arguing that the countries wilderness and forests need to be saved. For a person to become whole, Stegner argues that the mere idea of the wild and the forests are to thank. The wilderness needs to be saved for the sake of the idea. He insinuates that anyone in America can just think of Old faithful, Mt. Rainier, or any other spectacular landform, even if they have not visited there, and brought to a calm. These thoughts he argues are what makes us as people whole.

By using Pathos, Carter makes a strong emotional argument for the preservation of the wildlife refuge. Carter first uses fear of loss to motivate his audience. Carter even says, “I was saddened to think of the tragedy that might occur if this great wilderness was consumed by a web of roads and pipelines… ” (Carter 4). Carter uses imagery and speaks of the tragedy of a world where the wildlife refuge was lost. However, Carter also makes an emotional argument for the promise of gain. Throughout the article Carter refers to the refuge in many ways such as a “special birthplace” (Carter 3), “America’s Serengeti” (Carter 3), and “America’s last truly great wilderness” (Carter 1). Jimmy Carter explains, “It would be a grand triumph for America if we can preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge… To leave this extraordinary land alone would be the greatest gift we can pass on to future generations.” Carter clearly aims to instill a sense that much will be gained emotionally by keeping the refuge

Through removal and technology, humans have started to become isolated from the wilderness and the nature around them. This view distinctly contrasts with Thoreau’s perspective. “Though he [Thoreau] never put humans on the same moral level as animals or trees, for example, he does see them all linked as the expression of Spirit, which may only be described in terms of natural laws and unified fluid processes. The self is both humbled and empowered in its cosmic perspective,” states Ann Woodlief. The technologies that distract and consume us, and separate us from the natural world are apparent. Many people and children ins cities have seen little to no natural-grown things such as grass and trees. Even these things are often domesticated and tamed. Many people who have never been to a National Park or gone hiking through the wilderness do not understand its unruly, unforgiving, wild nature. These aspects, thought terrifying to many, are much of why the wilderness is so beautiful and striking to the human heart. “Thoreau builds a critique of American culture upon his conviction that ‘the mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things, so that all our thoughts shall be tinged with triviality,’” pronounces Rick Furtak, quoting Thoreau’s Life

One day, John Muir said, “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity...”-John Muir.(Brainyuote) As John Muir stated, we must experience true wilderness and nature. Yosemite showcases a variety of natural wonders such as waterfalls, Giant Sequoia trees, and rock formations.

“Wilderness appealed to those bored or disgusted with man and his works” (Roderick Nash). Chris McCandless, a modern transcendentalist, sent out on an adventure to find his true self in the wilderness of the North American continent. In the two years he was away, he met many individuals he called his friends and explored the extent of the American West. However, Chris was found dead in an abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail in the deep wilderness of Alaska in early September 1992. Chris believed he could live his life without the disruption of others. Henry David Thoreau believed that individuals can strive for themselves without government interruption. Chris McCandless, in Jon Krakauer’s documentary Into the Wild, believes that living off the land and life to its fullest without help from others compares to Henry David Thoreau’s beliefs in his writing “Civil Disobedience.”

Wilderness in its true state is lush, sleek, and channels water. It is because of its true natural state that is has the ability to generate billions of dollars into America’s recreational economy. One provident example, is the San Gabriel Wilderness in California. Now of course protecting this land has natural benefits,

“It is a vision, a dream, if you prefer, like Martin Luther King’s, and it means clustering on a planetary scale.” (Nash) In Historian Roderick Nash’s essay entitled “Island Civilization: A vision for Human Occupancy of Earth in the Fourth Millennium,” Nash not only proposes the ideology of Island Civilization but also challenges readers to be informed of the rights of nature. Gaining insight on the options of preservation and nature from masterminds like John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and Wallace Stegner. Nash devises a plan of action for Earth during the fourth millennium. Realizing the illustrate of our worlds “wilderness” Nash educates on the ways in which the natural world will evolve one thousand years from now.

Roderick Frazier Nash’s book, Wilderness and the American Mind, compiled contemporary debates about wilderness by outlining the changing positions concerning wilderness throughout history. In chapter 11, “Aldo Leopold: Prophet,” Nash discuses Aldo Leopold’s house metaphor. Here, Leopold refers to six vacant lots and what it would mean to build houses on all six lots. He describes how the first few houses might make sense; however once you build upon all six lots you no longer remember the meaning of the homes. He argues that they somehow the sixth house would become “stupidity.” Conversely, I disagree with this theory. I feel each house, so to speak, is built differently and suits different needs and wants. Just as in the wilderness,

I agree with his concern of people always looking to help those not local to them, and they do tend to not realize the help they can do locally as well. This concern easily applies to public health, where many seek to go overseas when they fail to realize how much help is needed locally or nationally. I also agree with how historically, people have changed their views on nature and the wilderness as this was often discussed in art history. However, I find that his view on the wilderness connotations are quite subjective. He viewed “wilderness” through human eyes as it is a culture we created and that we seek to conserve nature for selfish reasons to satisfy our romantic ideals: whether it be recreational sites, religious icons, spiritual healing, masculinity ideals, a place of paradise and escape, primitive ideals or for the

Wilderness is not this wild place intended to destroy humanity, but it is a place of dreams. As the Puritans made it to the “new world,” they were afraid of what laid outside their settlement walls. The forests that surrounded them were filled with the unknown. They perceived this unknown as dangerous or wild, calling it a wilderness. The Oxford dictionary defines wilderness as a neglected or abandoned area. It seems that the modern word has evolved since the original form in the fifteenth century when the puritans first settled the new world. Personally, I believe that the word wilderness is misleading to the true form of nature. Wilderness, to me, is the place that people should go to reconnect with themselves and take their moments to

Wilderness is a natural environment, which has not been altered by human civilization. This land exists by its own and does not have people living it. In such a land, an individual can, therefore, involve in any action that he or she is willing to involve in. One can, for example, take illegal drugs in the wilderness, but since there is not a police force in the region, he or she would not be subject to any consequences. In the wilderness, an individual is therefore completely free, without any form of restriction. Within the society where there are other individuals, however, freedom is much different from the freedom that an individual can experience in the wilderness. In such areas, laws and social restrictions bind an individual. This aspect makes him or her not to be entirely free. In the civilized society, therefore, a person is never entirely free, he or she is restricted by boundaries like laws and the need to maintain restriction, and thus he or she conforms to those laws. Both wilderness and freedom thus have a relationship, an individual in the wilderness is considered free because, in the wilderness, the individual is not bound to operate or act according to the standards or expectations of others. Social boundaries and laws do not bind an individual in the wilderness (Mincy,