Assignment 7 – Cubberly

Matt Cubberly

Environmental Writing

Assignment 7 – Personal Essay

 

Any Place as a Home

 

After reading “The Place, the Region, and the Commons”, from “The Practice of the Wild” by Gary Snyder, it becomes a bit easier to think about and discuss the topics that are covered in the text.  The main issue in this work is the idea of a “home” and how this idea relates to different people and societies.  Overall, Gary Snyder presents his opinion that the majority of the population would not be able to distinctly and adamantly label a certain area as their “home”.  The few who can would still find it difficult to describe their home in detail, including the environment around it.  This could be due to the fact that as a people we are drifting further and further from the environment and nature as a result of normal progression.  As we age as a society, our technology improves and little by little we disconnect from the natural world around us.  Also brought up was the point that now more than ever individual people move from place to place with such relative ease that they may have many “homes” within their lifetime and because of that, these people don’t have a concrete relationship with any one place and its environment.

While I do agree that societies are distancing themselves from the natural world, I believe that to make these general assumptions proves difficult.  Yes, the trees in our neighborhoods are not volunteers and we shape what’s around us until it no longer remotely recognizes the natural state, but in small instances, a portion of the people can still relate to the environment and are still able to call an area “home” with certainty.

I have lived in Illinois my whole life and have moved three times.  Each move took us a town further in one direction, but we remained in Illinois.  In Gary Snyder’s opinion, if I had lived in the same house and town for my entire life, I would most likely have a greater thought of a “home” than I do now after three moves.  However, I can’t see myself doubting an area to be a home based solely on the fact that I haven’t been there as long as others have.

Many people become easily attached to certain things or places such as houses or neighborhoods.  I’m probably the minority when it comes to these feelings as I see these as things to use until you no longer need to or want to use them.  Once this happens, it’s passed to the next person in line to enjoy.  This lack of attachment to inanimate objects does not inhibit my ability to perceive where I live as a “home”, however.  If anything, I gain a greater understanding of where I am – and the environment in which I live – due to being able to give up what I once had, very easily.

Throughout moves in Illinois and the biggest of all, coming here to school in Colorado, I have gained the knowledge that any place can become your “home” if you accept it to be such and if you become aware of the environment that surrounds it – nature included.

Writing Assignment 7

Britt Thornton

In the chapter “The Place, the Region, and the Commons”, Snyder brings up the point that people grow more attuned to their sense of place the longer someone has been on that land. He uses the example of Native Americans and their connection to the environment, made strong by their history on this continent and their relationship with the land; they live here “mentally” as well as physically.

I’m not a Colorado native – I’m more used to the flat, monotonous landscapes of Oklahoma and Texas. It is with those places that I am most familiar, which prompted my immediate escape after high school. I’m Seminole/Creek indian, and my tribe originates in Florida. Some of them were moved to Oklahoma during the relocation of Native Americans, and my family has stayed in that relative area since. However, this history doesn’t give me any spiritual connection to the land. I feel as though I am part of my environment wherever I am, be it my “native” land or a foreign country. I don’t feel a connection because my ancestors lived there, which I feel is another example of generalizing Native Americans as a symbol for the natural world and its preservation. I feel like every individual establishes a personal relationship with the environment, with their own boundaries and roots.

Anywhere on the planet that I go, I am part of the same biosphere No matter my location, I and every other person will have a connection to the environment, because we are a part of it. In a more local sense, I would associate “home” as the region I am most familiar with, which would be Texas. Being raised there gave me a wealth of environmental interactions, which is part of the reason I left (The summer heat is unbearable).

Synder also discusses the idea of the ‘commons’,  land belonging to a whole community. Peasants in Russia spent decades on collectivized farms, but when they were allowed to privatize their farms after the fall of the Soviet Union, many stayed with the collective system that they found more efficient for them. A common pool of resources worked well for these people. However, this concept in the United States would be, I feel, unpopular. Our capitalist culture counts on our dependance to material goods. A commons is self-sufficient, but most urban-dwelling people would rather go to King Sooper and buy vegetables rather than grow their own.

I realized my association with a region is set by long-term exposure. Experiences serve to forge those connections, yet I feel that connections will exist no matter the location, the only variation in strength. I think Snyder’s vision of the commons is unrealistic in our modern society, but the idea behind it could be expanded on or modified.

The Place, the Region, and the Commons

The Place, the Region, and the Commons

Alec Hugo

WRTG 3020-035

In Gary Snyder’s “The Practice of the Wild,” he claims that for most Americans, reflecting on a “home place,” would be an unfamiliar exercise. Whether or not this is a trend for most Americans, I can’t say, but I do know that I can easily identify my personal relationship with my environmental “home” place and region. Determining my relationship with commons, however, took more thought and led to the question of whether commons still exist in the sense Snyder uses.

After reading the first paragraph of “The Place, the Region, and the Commons,” I immediately determined that Tam Valley is my “Home Place.” Tam Valley is the south-most portion of my hometown Mill Valley, California. Claiming my home place is Tam Valley instead of Mill Valley may seem like nit picking, but several geographic factors make Tam Valley distinct from Mill Valley. Mt. Tamalpias acts as a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and most of Mill Valley, but Tam Valley is the one area exposed to maritime elements. This Geographic factor made my relationship with my home place’s environment much different than someone who grew up not even 3 miles away in downtown Mill Valley. Growing up in Tam Valley, I developed a detailed understanding of the environment. When I’m home I constantly, but subconsciously, scan my surroundings for poison oak and when I wake up and see the fog that Mt. Tam has pushed into Tam Valley, I know I won’t need a sweatshirt because the fog will undoubtedly burn off by noon. My developed understanding of Tam Valley’s environmental characteristics probably differs greatly from someone who lives only a few miles away, but that is what makes Tam Valley my “Home Place.”

When I first asked myself what region I would identify myself with, I initially said “the Bay Area,” but after fully reading the chapter I concluded the Bay Area isn’t really defined by environmental or geographical characteristics as it is by proximity to San Francisco or Oakland. My home region would have to be the Marin Headlands, which is the coastal area north of the Golden Gate Bridge characterized by rolling hills, regular fog, and cold beaches.

When defining his idea of the commons, Snyder described land spaces self-governed by a community composed of people who are all mutually dependent on the land for sustenance. This type of relationship with the land may still exist in more underdeveloped parts of the world, but in my experience, “the commons” essentially means public space. As kids, my friends and I would build BMX dirt jumps in the woods behind our elementary school. As a sort of community we would all spend time digging to earn the ability to ride what we had built. Nowadays, most of my time spent in the modern day commons is mountain biking on trails in national forests around Colorado. A lot of the areas within National Forests are referred to as public spaces and I think these are the areas closest to Snyder’s idea commons that exist in modern America despite being governed and supervised in a less communal fashion.

After reading Snyder’s chapter, I’ve realized that my identifiable place and region are more defined by geography and environmental characteristics than I ever thought before. I still haven’t really accepted Boulder or Colorado as a home place ore region, but I value some of the environmental characteristics here as I do back home in Marin. Snyder’s concept of commons is outdated but common space is still existent in America and especially in areas like Boulder or Marin which is one of the factors that draw me to these areas.

Writing Assignment #7 – Andrew Mitchell

It was really interesting to read about Snyder’s definition of Place and how it comes to define individuals from an early age, even as we are still discovering it. As we grow, Place grows in us. It’s a relationship I’ve failed to ever observe actively. I think we all have a certain love for our home town, our neighborhoods and the people we grew up with. More importantly than events that we remember from our childhood, we (or I) remember the fort in the tree in my backyard and the lake in my neighborhood where we’d feed ducks.

I think Snyder brings up a very important concept in the beginning of the chapter. He talks about how it used to be that Native Americans would spend their entire lifetime in and around the same valley or plain with the same people they grew up with. I think I’d go crazy if I had to do that. But then Snyder quotes Thoreau about how one could live in a twenty mile diameter and not discover all of its great details within a lifetime of walking about it (29). And he’s right; I see something new in my backyard every time I sit on my back porch. We say that it’s a small world, but it was a lot smaller for the native peoples before they were driven away by Europeans.

One very important argument that Snyder brings up is the greed of human beings. He says that in addition to the dominance of corporations and the state over the environment it is the greed of each person that also hinders our resources. He calls it the tragedy of the commons (39). The question I’m asking myself is: how do you rid human civilization of one of its most infamous traits? Survival of the fittest is a law of nature and a stepping stone of evolution. But it is certainly the greed, if not coupled with something else, of governments and nations that have exploited the environment for monetary and military gain. Who is to say that the exploitation isn’t justifiable or that we, as humans, aren’t simply taking advantage of what we believe is ours to control? These questions I think are inferior to another one of Snyder’s arguments: “Sometimes it seems unlikely that a society as a whole can make wise choices” (39).

One choice which Snyder believes is imperative to make is the transition to bioregionalism from state-run environmental politics. There’s certainly no doubt in my mind that you cannot let the federal government have ultimate control over the land in a country the size of the United States. Bioregionalism has its own special appeals, especially to communities where there is substantial farming (Midwest) and those areas of the country who host national parks and/or endangered species (plants and animals alike). I think it could bring more stability to many communities who could improve on so many aspects of their sub-environments. But I wonder who would head the committees of these community/county level groups who will oversee the actions that are taken. These politicians, as they would undoubtedly be, would certainly be more concerned with issues pertaining to their own area. But when will their greed take over? Wouldn’t only those who owned the most land or had the biggest income have all the power to say which actions would be taken?

I don’t disagree for a second against what Snyder argues in the second chapter. I can’t help but wonder, however, how much of a difference a change like that would make. In a system today that works constantly from the few at the top of the pyramid all the way down to the mass at the bottom, how will bioregionalism ever be encouraged, or even enacted?

Assignment 7

Amanda Sherry

Wrtg 3020 Assignment 7

From my early childhood to the present time, I have spent a big part of my life interacting with the environment that surrounds me. In my opinion and experience, the environment creates a place for people to form everlasting bonds with the people that they love and care about most. The environment creates a place that creates and sustains relationships, and for me, some of my best memories are from being in natural environments with the people that are most important to me.
While growing up, there are many examples of times that the environment created opportunities for me to bond and create memories with my family. For example, when I was younger, I vividly remember family camping trips in the woods and huddling around the campfire as stories and laughs were shared. On these camping trips, we were away from all technology and all the worries of everyday life. Camping created opportunities for my family and I to simply enjoy life without worrying about anything else. Additionally, my family and I created a tradition of hiking beautiful mountains every Father’s Day, where we celebrated together after we made it to the top. I remember feeling accomplished every time we made it to the top of the mountain, and the fact that we shared this accomplishment together further solidified our relationships. In addition to hiking, my entire family and I gather in a beach-house every two years, where we spend a week together sitting on the beach with the sand in our toes, enjoying every moment that we have the opportunity to spend time together. During these weeks, I am able to catch up with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that I do not get to spend nearly enough time with. These various instances where I was outside in the natural environment with family have sparked great conversations, stories, and memories that I will cherish for my entire life.
After reflecting on my relationship to the environment, I realized I often think more about what the environment does for me rather than what I can and should do for the environment. The environment creates a place for me to socialize and enjoy the simple things in life, but I do not think nearly enough about how it is my duty to protect and preserve the environment. Though I do simple things such as recycle, use the bus system, and utilize less water in the shower, I do not consider all of my decisions to be as environmentally-friendly as they could be. Therefore, I feel my relationship to the environment is often one-sided: I tend to take all of the beautiful landscapes of nature that I have experienced for granted.
In my experience, the environment is a wonderful place that creates a sense of community for friends and loved ones. However, in order to continue having a beautiful environment for generations to come, it is essential for everyone to do their part to preserve what is naturally present. As explained by Gary Snyder, we need to make a “world-scale ‘Natural Contract” with the oceans, the air, the birds in the sky,” (Snyder 39). In other words, by making wise choices, humans need to consider the effects of their actions and need to do their best to preserve the future of the environment. By doing this, we can ensure that generations to come also have the ability to experience nature and all of its beauty.

Chapter 6,7,8 & Review-Fred Holwerda

Chapter 6- Nature is used as an advertising scheme in order to make people feel better about purchasing certain goods. Our attitude toward nature shapes and influences purchasing decisions. If a label or commercial delivers a certain images representing nature a consumer may feel better about buying the product. The problem with this advertising plan is items sold under a “green” label may not be green at all. The labeling scheme may only put out there to stay on the new environmentally friendly society.

Chapter 7- Corbett discusses how animals are perceived by humans. The problem Corbett encounters is that humans often perceive animals completely different than when they are in a natural state. Another idea Corbett looks into is the symbolic relationship between humans and nature. Our culture is also very influenced by nature and symbolic images of nature and Corbett discusses this more in depth.

Chapter 8- Media has a large role on how nature is portrayed to the general population. Corbett argues that the media is not always accurate and should take a less bias stance. Viewers are very influenced by the power that media portrays of the environment.

 

Reflection:

All three chapters have some effect on how humans are influenced by nature whether it is directly from nature or a media source. Today, advertisements put nature on labels in order to make customers feel environmentally conscience. I think is happens at stores and shopping centers more often and is only a sales pitch. Today there are even entire stores dedicated to the “green” scheme. Some companies use animals as symbols for their sales pitch. Often times, the portrayed animal has nothing to do with the company’s ideals. One I can think of is The Hartford logo. What does an elk have anything to do with insurance? I agree with Corbett on this one, some animals are used that does not have anything to do with their respective company.

The idea of media influencing people is very true. The problem is that people do not have their own opinion and leave it to media to give it to them. I believe this is completely pathetic and one should have their own opinion on nature and take anything portrayed by the media with a grain of salt.