Revised Region Paper

In most introductory settings, by being either polite or just truly inquisitive, people usually ask the question “where are you from?” In order to make a long story short I usually answer this question with the response that I am from Maine. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in many other landscapes, experienced many other cultures that have also shaped who I am today but being able to say I am from Maine, has a much deeper meaning than a simple answer could ever give.

Both houses that I occupied in Maine had a vast landscape of forest just inches from my backdoor. In the first house, the endless woodlands stretched for miles and accompanied a snaking creek embedded a mile from the tree line. Being so young, I don’t have the memory of knowing if this place was either a private sector of land from one of my neighbors or a common land owned by a sector of government-either way I probably would have spent just as much time in there. By the time we moved to a new house a few miles down the road, I wasn’t too detached from the fact of going somewhere new. In the woods, there was always a new fallen tree with new forms of life growing out of it, or a family of rabbits hadn’t passed us yesterday, new fixations were always just around the corner. The new was never something that frightened me as a kid-partly from the fact of my grandmother teaching us of the local mushroom (she was a fungi biologist) and how different subgroups grew the farther you ventured into the forests-making it easier to know how far you were from the drier, open fields by our house.

Over the years that I followed that same creek through the woods, there was always something different to discover. This new unearthing of simple natural devices creates a sense of wonder and connection within the environment. Everything is always changing but if you slow down a notice the finite details, you notice that everything has their unique reason of place. The new beetle on the log arrived to create a nest because of the slight change in moisture that might have fed an existing bird perching in the tree branches. These everyday patterns of the landscape bring a feeling of peace within place. By discovering this sense of peace at an early age, conjured up a sense of responsibility toward keeping this inner peace with the environment. It has brought me toward my path at University towards environmental studies. If more kids in urban areas are exposed to fast natural landscapes of deep-forested lands or raging rivers, the spark of peace for nature could be evoked in more of humanity. More people will be able to access the use of a creek as a simple guide through the thickness of uncertainty as life becomes more challenging.

-Hannah

BRIAN CARPENTER

Response – “The Place, The Region, & The Commons” by Gary Snyder

In Snyder’s essay, he discusses the notion and significance of “place”, and specifically, “home place”. Described as the “fire pit”, the hearth (historically) is the “heart of the home”. (26) The hearth was the place where all exploration began and, ultimately, ended. From childhood, we learn and memorize the landscape of our homes. The essay discusses how many people can recollect images of “place” from the young ages, specifically, ages 6 to 9 and this is true for me, as well. When I think back to my childhood, the only real images I can produce are of nature. I carry a picture in my mind of the muggy, mosquito infested swamps in Mississippi, fishing with my dad out of a little tin boat when I was only 4 years old. Later in life, I see glimpses of vast expanses of green needles making their way to the summits, combined with the images of huge rock faces and formations, as I peer from the car window in awe. I was ignorant of all the complicated natural processes that went into the creation of something so amazing. Even as a child, I felt a particular appreciation for nature, specifically, for the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains. Throughout my childhood and teenage years I lived in several different states (AZ, MI, OK, CO, GA, VA and CO again, in that order) because my dad is military. However, I spent the majority of my life in the forests of Colorado (from the age of 6), and they are the only place that I call “home”. I have lived in many different areas in this home, and have come to define Boulder as the hearth. Unlike Snyder’s examples of “home”, my definition has changed greatly and been redefined, through the years.

Although my “home” has led me to appreciate nature, I think there is a fundamental flaw in defining “home” because it establishes a boundary (that should not exist) between humans and the natural world. This separation began long ago when; “place” was still limited by the landbase and its geographic boundaries. In the past couple centuries, new technologies have exacerbated this separation and allowed for globalization (of information, communication, trade, travel, etc.) In this way, globalization has caused us to deviate from the historical (fire pit) model of the hearth and home, which Snyder presents. Through advances in transportation and communication, specifically, we are no longer confined by geographic boundaries. However, now we are confined by the different countries’ invisible borderlines, which have caused many to define their home as their country of origin or residence. The notion and definition of “home” has always required such boundaries to separate it from the rest of the natural world.

Three main influences have made it increasingly challenging (nearly impossible) for us to live in the romanticized small communities, all gathered around the fire pit, that Snyder discusses: European influenced imperialism, colonialism, and industrialization. In the human conquest to rule the Earth over all other life forms, these three devices have led us to map out the entire Earth to designate which majority is to be “humanized” and which itty-bitty regions are to be left untouched. Naturally, controversy exists as to how this distinction should be made. Likewise, there is much debate as to how to govern such wilderness areas; the classic method is to designate them as a “commons”, in which everyone is free to consume the resources as they please until they are depleted. Garret Hardin coined the phrase the “tragedy of the commons” to describe how our self-interested human tendencies ultimately lead to the degradation and depletion of these natural areas. To reiterate a quote from the essay, “eventually our complicated industrial capitalist/socialist mixes will bring down much of the living system that supports us”.

It seems as though, as we continue to progress as a species, we become ever more disconnected from our environmental home, exacerbated further by urbanization. As discussed earlier, this is partly caused by our notion and definition of “home”, which requires boundaries to separate us from the rest of the natural world. With an ever increasing population causing ever decreasing amount of resources and wilderness, it seems, we are losing what E. O. Wilson calls a sense of Biophilia. This term describes “the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” Moreover, he argues that humans have deep affiliations with nature, which are rooted in our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears of things in the natural world, philias are “attractions that people have toward certain habitats, activities, and objects in their natural surroundings”. Similar to the flaw in defining “home”, I think the real question that we should ask ourselves is, “are we a part of nature?” All of the life on Earth is comprised of matter and energy and we all descend from the same sun. It is my opinion that human and nature are constantly at odds with each other because we fail to realize that we part of nature (rather than above it). My field of study at CU (environmental science), specifically, has led me to realize this fact and has instilled in me an obligation to be “environmentally friendly” (contrary to the view held by the majority of the world). I agree with Snyder that the only way to solve the environmental crisis is to integrate ecology and economics, so as to place greater value in nature and an increased incentive toward wilderness preservation.

Writing Assignment 10-Fred Holwerda

Fred Holwerda

17OCT2011

WRTG3020-Assignment #10

For the past ten years or so, I have spent my time in nature plowing up fields, hunting animals and using the land for humans based benefit. The men who I worked with respected everything the land had to offer to us and only took what was needed and replaced as much as they could. For a long time, their fathers walked on the same rich black dirt Western Michigan is known for. Without the sustainable practices we would have used the land until it burned out and would have been worthless.

            Western Michigan is my home and it is where I have come to know nature as a provider. Nature can give a great yield of crop one year, and take it all away the next. In order to be a successful Michigan farmer, you must give back some of what you take from the land. Fall and spring are the “in between” for harvest and are the ideal time to give back to the earth. A thick layer of manure will bring nitrogen levels in the soil back to a sustainable level. A blanket of chaff will restore carbon content and solidify loose soil. Without these two basic elements replaced, nature would take everything away in a rain shower. The field would be cracked with ravines where water would channel. Instead, if nitrogen is restored along with a mat of carbon, rain water will be absorbed and seeds will begin to germinate. Generations of farmers learned the hard way that nature will not give back if it not taken care of properly.

The rich black dirt of Western Michigan is a soil unlike most in the world. It is a precise mixture of sand, clay, and organic matter only deposited by large ancient rivers that flowed thousands of years ago. Muck is the name given to this precious element and it is in found in one place: The Grand River Valley. The Grand River Valley sustained the first Dutch settlers of Western Michigander for decades. This earth was similar to the Netherlands in that the land must be constantly cared for and maintained in order to produce a sustaining yield. For many years, the Dutch survived off their muck fields and practiced sustainable agriculture without any notion of being ‘green’. It was just the responsible thing to do.  Without proper practice of sustainability, the Dutch settlers would have burned out the land and moved long before my time living the Grand River Valley. New technology has made proper sustainability in the region significantly easier than the first settlers but the practice remains the same. Without proper sustainability, the future of my home would be ruined.

Western Michigan is also known for its Whitetail Deer and Turkey. Every year, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issues thousands of permits to hunt these animals. I once approached a DNR officer and asked him what the purpose of the tags. His reply stated that the DNR has an estimate of what would keep population levels at a safe number for years to come. Again there is a responsibility to the environment and the willingness to sustain populations for future generations. Without the responsibility to nature, organisms could be hunted to extinction and future generations would be left with maybe a memory and an empty forest.

Sustainability methods are practiced nationally in order to preserve the future of our nation. Worldwide however, slash and burn are often techniques used to make a quick dollar. This method is highly ineffective to sustainability due to the fact the land is completely stripped of resources. Generally, an entire forest can is stripped and only a few seasons can be used for a healthy growth. After those growing seasons are over, the land is rendered useless for decades and an entire ecosystem destroyed. In order for these sections of the world to be productive, slash and burn practices must end. These practices rarely serve as a long term solution to sustainability.

Sustainability seems to be Michigan’s key as far a nature is concerned as well as an international scale. Without responsibility and accountability, nature would be easily abused and stripped of its fine resources leaving future generations to find a new method to return the land back to a usable state. It is imperative that land users do their best to return the land they cultivate whether hunting, farming or developing, to do so in a sustainable manner for future generations to enjoy.

 

My Connection to the Natural World DRAFT 2

John Heikes

After reading “The Place, the Region, and the Commons” in The Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder I began to think about my own connection to the natural world and the region that I call home. I have had the fortunate ability to live in the same general area my entire life. I consider my home to be the region east of the continental divide between the North Platte and South Platte rivers. This is the area I have spent most of my life and rarely leave except to vacation in other areas. I know this land well and have explored many of its outer reaches from the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park to the vast expansive plains of the Pawnee National Grassland. Much of the land I have grown to love exists as part of the regional “commons,” although much of the land is owned and regulated by the United States government.

I do find myself to have a connection to my region similar to the one Snyder describes in his book. I do have knowledge of the local flora and fauna found in the region I call home. Although I have spent much of my time in the city, I have also spent an extensive amount of time in remote areas including four summers living outdoors near Elkhorn Creek and numerous weekends in other remote areas. As a summer camp councilor it was my responsibility to educate children not only about the history of this region I call home but to share with them knowledge of the local flora and fauna found throughout the area. Ponderosa Pine, Colorado Blue Spruce, Rocky Mountain Juniper, Rocky Mountain Columbine, Current Bush, Elk, Deer, Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Blue Jay, and Lark Bunting, are all present in my region. I know the area where the Ponderosas turn to Lodge Pole Pines and I also know the area where Piñon Pines grow the furthest north. I know that Mountain Lions prefer to live in rocky outcroppings and I know that deer tend to spend time in Aspen Tree groves. I find these all to be very important details about the natural world I call home.

Although I am knowledgeable about the names and geography of my natural region there are other aspects of the natural world I find very important. In my experience the natural word is not nearly as interesting and fun unless that experience is shared with others. Much of my time spent outdoors is spent with other people. Without people to share outdoor experiences with it’s almost like nothing happened. Outdoor time alone can inspire peace of mind but some of the best time outdoors is spent with friends and family. Many sights and sounds of nature are amazing but the magic is lost without other people who have experienced it with you.

When addressing the issue of the “commons” in the context of this region, very fortunately much of the public land is under local control as many of the local counties and cities in the area have made the purchase of natural area and open space a priority. There is still a great deal of federally owned land in the region as well though but fortunately the exploitation of this land is very limited and much of the land is managed and used in a way consistent with the vision of local people.

These public lands are an important part of maintaining a connection to nature. The fact of the matter is that many people are unable to afford the purchase of their own areas of nature. Without public lands it would be nearly impossible for many people, especially those who live and work in the city to be able to experience nature. Public lands however must be used responsibly and it’s important that users of public lands have the education to safely enjoy and responsibly use these common resources. I have been fortunate enough to serve in the role of a nature educator at a Colorado scout camp located in the Rocky Mountains. I was pass on my education and experience with nature on to youth, many of whom lived in cities often far away from Colorado. I was able not only to share with them how to comfortably camp and live in my region but also how to respect its natural resources and use them in a way that’s not detrimental to nature itself or other users of these common areas. Few people have a desire to enter a natural environment and completely destroy it, however without proper education many people inadvertently cause or contribute to damage of the commons. Experiencing the commons first hand and being knowledgeable about the commons as well is the best way to conserve and preserve these precious areas we have.

In the Western United State we are fortunate to have a majority of the public lands available in the country. It’s unfortunate that there are not more public natural lands in the rest of the country but there is always opportunity to expand and preserve additional natural lands throughout the country. Municipalities and States have made great efforts to do this, but it’s important that these efforts are increased and given priority. The expansion of public lands is not only important in the United States but throughout the world.

Many ideas come to mind when thinking about my personal connection to nature and my region but the one thing I can say definitively is that I have been blessed to have spent my life in an area full of nature and I have been fortunate enough to have the ability to explore this region. Nature is very important in my life and it is also very important to the lives of many of the people who share the region with me. I have little fear that the nature I have grown up in will change significantly in my lifetime at least at the hands of human activity.

Writing Assignment #10 – Andrew Mitchell

Andrew Mitchell

My home isn’t in some immaculate valley in the Rocky Mountains nestled next to a calm river and accompanied by the wild animals of the mountains. It isn’t on the outskirts of a rural farming town or on a beach in the Pacific where the perfectly clear, sky-blue waters seem to disintegrate any stress or worry one might have. Each of these locations certainly has its numerous appeals due to the elegant and beautiful sub-environments they represent. But none of them are my home. My home—the place that has come to shape so many characteristics about how I view and place myself within Nature, both good and bad—is a quiet neighborhood in Littleton.

I’ve found myself rather privileged to have spent my whole life living only a mile or so from the mountains. Colorado itself is a magnificent place, as I’m sure anyone who has come from other areas of the country will attest. I know this is true because of the booming expansion that I’ve witnessed with my own eyes over the last 20 years. The windows of the back of my old house face south and across the street both to the south and west use to be wide fields that separated neighborhoods. These have since been cleared and leveled for apartment complexes, retirement homes, new neighborhoods and Rite-Aids. People wanted to live here, and I can’t blame them.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” John Muir was one of the first advocates to strongly promote and enact the preservation of many wilderness sites in the United States. I found Muir’s quote more as a definition of the home, according to Snyder’s text. I remember the fort in the tree in my backyard and the lake in my neighborhood where we would sit on the rocks and feed ducks and skip rocks as kids. These were places where I spent my entire summers playing games and discovering all of the little intricacies of my universe.

Within the confines of this neighborhood in the vast suburbs of Denver I admit that in my childhood I certainly did not witness the full breadth of what Nature has to offer. What I think is important though is that we let whatever amount of Nature and the environment we have to teach and be a part of us, and live on in our memories. It shapes each of us more than we know. In the end, the Earth is everyone’s home. Who are we to pick it apart at will?

Growing up during the rise of video games, computers, cell phones and the Internet was a peculiar time for many children. But in the nineties kids weren’t entirely engulfed in media pages and X-Box 360s yet. If my parents saw me inside on a summer day they’d kick me out the door and tell me to go ride my bike, play tag with the neighborhood kids, or explore the small ravine by the lake. As if we even needed our parents to tell us to go outside. It was a different time, I guess. Nowadays, corporations like the NFL are making attempts to help kids get outside and “exercise” in some form or another for 60 minutes a day. When did it become more fun to play Halo on Xbox Live than to get dirty playing football in the mud or climb the tallest tree in the park? Disconnection with Nature has come to impact way more than the environment, the climate and politics.

For the majority of the time that humans have inhabited Earth, the relationship between them and their surroundings has been, for the most part, symbiotic. It was everyone, and everything, together. Only recently has the train of thought shifted to “us versus everything else”. But how do you put to end a troubling trend of the overuse of natural resources? If I feel the nostalgia of my childhood discovering and interacting with the Nature that surrounded me, I believe that older generations would have a greater nostalgia. Wouldn’t they want future generations to have trees to climb and clean oceans to swim when it was their turn? As a child all I seemed to need was that one park in my neighborhood and the lake it overlooked. I couldn’t describe how much entertainment it provided my siblings and I, and everyone in the neighborhood who had the time to appreciate it. It wouldn’t take much to sustain, maintain, and preserve small areas like this.

There are certainly larger issues at hand, concerning the environment alone, that probably concern most more than parks and untouched natural areas in neighborhoods. But when it comes to providing children with a strong understanding of Nature and how to cohabitate with all other living things—rather than giving them a new gaming console and the new Call of Duty—it could make a bigger impact than we think. This would just be one ideal to instill now, while there is still the opportunity for it, and encourage future generations not to forget or abandon the precious beauty in what Nature we still have.

Writing Assignment 10 final draft

After reading Gary Snyder’s “The place, the region, and the commons”, I began to think about a specific location I identify with as home. Growing up in New Jersey, I was not raised with a lot of immediate exposure to nature, but was lucky enough to have parents who are fairly interested in the outdoors. Besides spending most of my free time in the backyard as a young child, my family made frequent trips to visit my grandparents in the Poconos (Pennsylvania) or trips to upstate New York and Vermont to ski/hike. At a very young age, I remember by grandparents home in the forest of the Poconos sparking my first legitimate interest in nature. I vividly remember the long hikes through the woods and onto overlooking cliffs and to this day I believe I could find our favorite spots to stop for lunch.

However, as I got older trips to my grandparents house became less frequent and I began to find my outdoor outlet in different locations. Going into my teen years my natural experience(s) were highlighted by summer hiking trips or winter ski excursions to the northern Catskills. Although these trips took up no more than 1-3 weeks a year, each time I felt more and more ‘at home’ at a respective location and was able to identify with and recognize a larger area of forest/mountain/stream etc.. Although my fondness and comfortability with the east coast natural world continued to grow, it soon came time for me to pick a college.

Throughout high school I had gone a few trips out west (Colorado and Utah) to ski, so when it came time to pick a school it was not long before I took interest in CU Boulder. Upon coming to visit the campus, I was thrilled to discover the easy accessibility of so many natural wonders and activities. From Boulder I could be skiing world-class mountains, hiking Rocky Mountain National Park, climbing Eldorado Canyon etc. all within 2 hours or less. After visiting the school, I felt I had found a place where I could reconnect with nature, and do so over a prolonged period of time (not a couple of weeks a year).

In my 4th year at CU, I do feel as if I’ve developed a very lucky and special connection with nature. Each time I go hiking, skiing, or climbing I feel at home in that natural setting, and look forward to the next time I can return. In my experience, home is not a place I can identify as a single location. I recognize home or a feeling of being at home whenever I encounter a serene or enjoyable natural setting, and feel just as comfortable there as any other natural location I have frequented.

As I grow older I continue to take with me memories of past natural experiences and add on new natural encounters every week (if I’m lucky). However, recently I was able to return to the place which first ignited my connection with nature, my grandparents house in the Poconos. As I went through the same woods I used to hike as a kid, I was disappointed to see that my favorite natural spots had been converted into paved roads and two-story houses to accommodate a growing Pocono community. This trend continued as I have revisited past places (Skiing in Vermont) which are now vastly more inhabited and less natural than they were over a decade ago.

While I have been able to encounter many natural beauties throughout my time in college, it still disturbs me to think that these places could be subject to the same changes I have witnessed in my childhood natural locations. In order to hold onto connections with nature (that I identify with as home), I would like find a career that promotes environmental sustainability and helps reverse anthropocentric trends of natural exploitation. This ideology of environmental sustainability is something that needs to be adopted by the masses if people wish for their children and future generations to enjoy the same feeling of home and peacefulness they once experienced.

 

-Richard Martoglio

Writing Assignment 10, Revision draft, Lauren Wirth

2 PAGE PERSONAL ESSAY about the ENVIRONMENT

synder pg 27-51

Understanding the Commons

Lauren Wirth

When we think about the environment, many levels of analysis comes to the mind. Some people take into account scientific changes in global temperature, seasonal changes, water and food supply, or even glacial melting. Other people may think about environment with a more personal approach, and some may have no concern at all. However I find the most interesting concept revolving around the environment is that it may be the one thing everyone in the world not only shares but also depends on. It is a universal object that supports and influences life in numerous ways. Without oceans, lakes, rivers, and tributaries life will seize to exist. There would be no agriculture, and furthermore no living species. Everything and everyone would eventually die off. It is vital that we do not hoard or waste our natural resources.  We have taken our precious environment for granted for way too long.

Growing up in West Michigan, in a small town called Grand Haven I was exposed to water constantly. While my family was not fortunate enough to live on the lake, we did have a creek going through our 16 acres of trees, paths, and hidden forts. I spent countless hours, days, months, seasons, and years sitting, crossing, splashing, and exploring this creek. In my childhood it was my passageway to exploration and imaginative adventure. My family took care of our land, and so did our neighbors. While we only had 16 acres that we technically owned, everyone in the region shared their property so we could all explore the forests further past our borders. Not only us people allowed to utilize each others’ property but so were our animals. We all had a basic understanding and respect for each others’ property while all having a great appreciation and need to explore nature in our own backyard. Later in life, when my father moved to his new house on the river, the same kind of sharing was emulated. However instead of land that brought everyone together it was the river that led us to the bayous and Lake Michigan. In these majestically places we would boat, water-ski, and fish. Instead of my friends picking me up in a car, I would meet them in my back yard and jump off my dock and onto their boat.

Whether I was skipping stones on the creek or boat hopping from a bayou to a lake, the people in my community and myself all shared one thing in common; a genuine love for our environment. On a global level, this is not so true. With seven different continents and over 300 countries, borders have divided the natural environment into an unnatural divided world. However all these lands and regions were here long before human built fences. The trees, rivers, grasslands, deserts, mountains, lakes, oceans, and rainforests all have their own unique qualities and ecosystems that let them continue. The only boundaries they know are where the run out of the environment which allows them to survive. Human beings have invaded these territories to set up societies. They have put roads and concrete buildings where trees use to thrive. It is understandable that people were put on earth one way or another, depending on your beliefs. And because of this people must survive, but at what cost?

Where you live depicts how you will live. The type of trees and rivers indicate rainfall, which indicate roof shape. Yet there is more to it than just how we shape our homes and buildings, the environment in which we lives builds the spirit of our surroundings. It is the spirit of where we call home, that lives on much longer than our own lives. A bioregionalist would state that we all live in one environment, and that we need to let the politics be about preserving and being consciousness of our natural world.

Finally, it is very hard for anyone individual to find a land or region that has been untouched and without influence of human beings. Almost the entire globe has been explored and then exploited for its precious natural and unique resources. The human race has expedited natures’ gifts and we have put them to a cause vital for our living standards in our modern world. Some people believe this is not only okay but also encouraged because human beings come first in the world before any form of life. They believe we are the highest life form and we must and can do what ever we need in order to survive. Others believe we need to be more considerate and cautious of our natural planet because just as we need our world’s resources, we need our world to be protected in order for human beings to survive. Remembering the creek that I spent so many precious and timeless moments at with my family, friends, and myself; I was able to imagine a world without harm, problems, and challenges. It was just nature and myself. I hope every person had or has some place where they can find their peace at in life. It is up to us to decide where we draw the line and how we draw it to protect our nature, and ultimately our future. If we do not wake up to the beautiful gift of the natural world, we will not have one in the future. Nature shares its’ beautiful gifts with us, it is time that we start to respect and give back to nature.

the Creation 1-7 Lauren Wirth

The Creation by E.O. Wilson chapters 1-7 reflects on different ideas regarding nature. He starts of the book with a initiating how he views the world differently than a Christian pastor. Wilson does tie the two different viewpoints together with one central idea; nature is vital to life. However Wilson’s view, or argument is based on experience and science. He communicates how human beings descended from nature and into civilizations. He describes nature as “part of the original environment and its life forms that remains after the human impact. Nature is all on planet Earth that has no need of us and can stand alone’ (15 Wilson).  Nature is not only vital for us to survive but it is a necessary objective to our spiritual and physical state. Nature does not and would be better off without human beings, in fact we have destroyed natural species, like the wolverine. Finally he brings to point that human nature and living nature is every evolving and progressing.

The Creation stimulates new ideas and insights when thinking about nature. Being raised in a predominately Christian upbringing, science was hardly used to explain human existence. Until I reached high school when we briefly learned about evolution, I had never really heard about. However as I continued to further my education I have realized it is very hard to argue with scientific facts. Yet what I admire about E.O. Wilson’s interpretation of nature and human existence is how he describes the importance of nature. The individual needs the natural world in order to be not only physically healthy but also spiritually well. I personally relate to this concept at every level. Nothing makes me happier than experiencing physically activities outdoors. Being in a healthy and strong physical state is very important to me. Beyond that, I find when I have to spend a whole day indoors I usually end up in a negative mood. When I spend most of my day outside, I am always at peace. One other point Wilson makes that I find very fascinating is how he describes the relationship to nature and human beings. Without the environment and the natural world, humans would seize to exist but without human beings, nature would prosper. Humans take for granted the beautiful and magical world that nature has given us. We have destroyed life at every level; from a plant, to a tree, to an insect, to millions of mammals, humans have invaded natural existence. We continue to reap havoc on nature every day. Until we wake up and realize what the beautiful world has given us, we will not learn to take care of it.

Paper Revision Assignment 10 – 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.

Regarding the environment in which a “home” exists, the surrounding nature can change just as easily as the home itself.  Because Illinois is not the most wilderness-heavy state in the country, I wasn’t offered as much contact with nature as others were who grew up in wilder areas.  But even so, I did take advantage of every opportunity that I was given.  I’ve been to Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield Zoo countless times and I’ve visited the Chicago Botanical Gardens a few times each summer.  Living in a suburb, I had to make do with what I had regarding the natural world.  My parents have let me keep many pets I’ve brought home including lizards, fish, toads, frogs, bugs, mice, a dog, two rabbits, and three ducks.  My parents realized early on that I had a great interest in plants and animals and they encouraged me to bring animals home and grow a variety of plants inside and out in the yard.  They also suggested CU Boulder as a college choice seeing as it has many opportunities for my interests.

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.

Response to Snyder’s Practice of the Wild

Ryan Patton

Response To Snyder’s The Practice of the Wild

            In his book The Practice of the Wild, Gary Snyder investigates the various types of relationships that man develops with the environment- a process that begins when he first ventures out to explore his environment at the malleable age of about six. Snyder also articulates the idea of social constructivism, which deems that our individual relationship with nature is shaped by not only our immediate surroundings, but arises as a result of the strong emotional influences of our youth in relation to a specific “home place” (27). To Snyder, this deep connection to a home-place is something that a child creates for himself in gaining the courage and curiosity to explore his ever-expanding domain and the immediate territory that he associates with this newfound freedom. After stressing the importance of such an association between nature, youth, and the individual, Snyder then alleges that this kind of deeply rooted, intimate connection to nature is something that is alien or “unfamiliar” to most people in our typical busy, active, and impermanent modern lifestyle (27). Although Snyder’s comments seem harsh and almost unwarranted, I can personally associate to such a bustling lifestyle and more importantly, to the kind of removed relationship with nature that Snyder tries to articulate. From my own first-hand experience, I believe that our modern lifestyle and culture has set humanity above and beyond the realm of the natural world- to the extent that mankind (as a species) has become determined to exemplify ourselves from the laws and dynamics that govern the natural world, at the expense of our dear mother earth and all her glory.

My position is a cultural one- because my experience is of cultural background. In my opinion, all of the immense issues regarding the dialogue between man and the environment cannot hope to be solved until there is a general cultural augmentation or attitude shift to a position of respect for the natural world and its truly wondrous processes. As Snyder notes, the lack of respect evident in culture stems from a lack of direct interaction with nature- a condition of modern culture that I believe works in conjunction with a tremendous cycle of consumption, population, consumption, and population, which mankind is trapped in. To fuel continued population, we must consume. As we consume the bounty and resources that our home happily provides, we gain the ability to populate once again, and in higher numbers. This could continue without repercussion if we lived in an infinite environment, an idea that drove colonization and expansion for more that a century. In fact, I personally believe that this mentality is still fuels today’s culture, evident in the excitability of our society to participate in mass consumerism without regard to the natural consequences.

Hailing from a city of more than 3 million and a place that was rather recently ranked among America’s fastest growing cities, the charges that I state above stem from personal observations. Growing up in the city, I was never allowed to be alone with nature. I was never placed in the type of environment that Snyder describes as conducive to an association to a natural “home-place” (27). Instead, my life was always on the move, and I was driven from place to place within the city- I was shuffled from here to there; always in contact with images from nature (idealized in advertisements and morphed into pristine shapes in city parks) but never allowed to interact with an area of the wild that I could call my own. The closest I ever came in my childhood to these types of places were on family vacations, when my family and I would pack into a car or plane and relocate ourselves to an unfamiliar place for weeks at a time. But back in the city, my life would revert to concerns regarding direct and proximate problems- humanistic problems; and in conjunction, to fuel daily life; my family and I would turn to consumerism without a second thought regarding the world outside the immediate bubble of city life.

It was only once I had the freedom of my own car, that I was able to leave the city and explore the natural environment around it. At this age, I finally began to develop a relationship and a respect for a true natural community, minimally impacted by mankind and it’s culture. However, this environment was located so far away from my home that traveling to explore it was almost more of an inconvenience than it was an enriching experience. This mentality was one that I shared with many of my peers- in the war between self-enrichment through natural interaction and productivity within the social construct, productivity always won. Thus, the need for nature became lost to myself and to those that I knew living in the limits of the city, fighting day to day to live economically and conveniently.

In my experience, the effect of having a large natural space or a small personal, unknown area to develop an intimate connection with nature is lost among city-dwellers, more specifically those born and raised strictly in the city. Growing up surrounded by other human beings in place of natural, unexplored and enticing biotic communities instilled more of a drive in me to care about other people than to care for the environment. Snyder’s disconnected effect is evident now, even after moving to a place where I finally have the ability to go out and connect with nature on a daily basis, the want and the need is not as prominent as it could be; because I am surrounded by humanistic problems, have lived with such a disconnection to nature for so long, and am apart of a greater consumerist nation. Being a part of the cultural disconnection with nature that is prevalent in our society, I believe that it is from this underlying dilemma from which all the other environmental problems arise. Although there are exceptions, for the majority of our society- we are apart of a culture that is disconnected in some minor or major way with nature, which produces and justifies the irresponsibility that we are all guilty of (in some corresponding small or large way) when considering our impact on our world. Although we here in Boulder, CO may be more aware of our own green footprint and our relationship to nature, those living in bigger cities- places like Las Vegas, NV (a city developed in a place that is hostile to homo-sapiens as a species) and even more heavily populated places in the east, live within a context that has alienated each individual one-by-one from nature, and led them to believe that nature exists as a commodity, subservient to their lifestyle and as nothing more.