Wilderness is a highly idealized concept in today’s society – we simply put it on a pedestal and choose to admire it as we see fit. Separate from our everyday, civilized lives, nature and wilderness are distant and remote concepts. By approaching the natural realm in this sense, we simply detach ourselves from our origin, which leaves us to fantasize about the great outdoors as an escape from the artificial creations of our everyday life. This dualistic notion and the desire to escape our artificial lives has lead to the construction of locations such as national parks, which merely appear to be the natural world, yet in reality are simply just facets of the modernized world we have created.
In “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon …show more content…
As Cronon points out, wilderness previously was described as “deserted, savage, desolate, barren, - in short, a waste” (78). Yet what once caused human beings such fear is now a tourist attraction which falsely encapsulates wilderness. Wilderness is entirely a human creation – it is intended as part of nature, yet, as Cronon reiterates in his writing, there is nothing natural about the concept of wilderness. I believe it simply reflects what modern civilization is fleeing from. If I were to travel to a national park, I would not feel like I was out in the wild. How could I with winding roads scattered throughout and a multitude of tourists flashing their cameras at the bison passing through? Humans must recognize that all nature is nature – there is no place that is more significant or less worthy of our respect, which is a main point in Cronon’s argument. Overall, all natural entities deserve the same respect, regardless of if it is simply someone’s backyard or a vast, tropical forest; our perception of the two is what needs to …show more content…
We as humans look at ourselves as being separate from nature, yet this could not be any more wrong. An extreme point in Cronon’s argument claimed that “if nature dies because we enter it, then the only way to save nature is to kill ourselves” (83). We have categorized humans and nature as opposing forces without room for cohabitation, yet if we were to change this view, we would effectively alter our perception of nature and eventually change our actions towards it. My personal relationship of nature strongly reflects that of Cronon’s – he reiterates the skewed view of nature that we possess and how this is the root of several environmental issues. By changing our perception of wilderness, perhaps we will delocalize from the false reality that national parks create, and centralize on the natural world as a
In “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon …show more content…
As Cronon points out, wilderness previously was described as “deserted, savage, desolate, barren, - in short, a waste” (78). Yet what once caused human beings such fear is now a tourist attraction which falsely encapsulates wilderness. Wilderness is entirely a human creation – it is intended as part of nature, yet, as Cronon reiterates in his writing, there is nothing natural about the concept of wilderness. I believe it simply reflects what modern civilization is fleeing from. If I were to travel to a national park, I would not feel like I was out in the wild. How could I with winding roads scattered throughout and a multitude of tourists flashing their cameras at the bison passing through? Humans must recognize that all nature is nature – there is no place that is more significant or less worthy of our respect, which is a main point in Cronon’s argument. Overall, all natural entities deserve the same respect, regardless of if it is simply someone’s backyard or a vast, tropical forest; our perception of the two is what needs to …show more content…
We as humans look at ourselves as being separate from nature, yet this could not be any more wrong. An extreme point in Cronon’s argument claimed that “if nature dies because we enter it, then the only way to save nature is to kill ourselves” (83). We have categorized humans and nature as opposing forces without room for cohabitation, yet if we were to change this view, we would effectively alter our perception of nature and eventually change our actions towards it. My personal relationship of nature strongly reflects that of Cronon’s – he reiterates the skewed view of nature that we possess and how this is the root of several environmental issues. By changing our perception of wilderness, perhaps we will delocalize from the false reality that national parks create, and centralize on the natural world as a