The Call of the Nature - Essay Example

The Call of Nature An increase in human population and the subsequent human activities such assettlement has resulted to depletion of the natural environment. The exhaustion of the natural environment through human activities has negatively affected other forms of life on planet earth. This has been as a result of man tempering with the natural habitat that has sustainably sustained other forms of life on planet earth. Owing to this menace, the need to conserve the natural environment has drawn the attention of a number of advocates and environmental movements. If such an alarming natural resources depletion continues, other forms of life on planet earth, which are equally important, will definitely be on their way to extinction. Preserving the natural environment, which sustainably aids the flourishing of other forms of life on planet earth, is something worth consideration. Gary Snyder’s central theme in his poetry work is on natural environment conservation. One such piece of Gary Snyder’s poetry work is "The Call of the Wild" poetry work. Gary Snyder’s poetry work has played a significant role in advocating for nature conservation. Gary Snyder is one of the Beat Generation Poets. To address nature conservation issues, Gary Snyder, bases his work on Native American culture and on Zen Buddhism cultures. His poetry work and especially "The Call of the Wild" openly depicts his negative perceptions on human activities that directly of indirectly cause nature depletion. Of major concern are intentional and destructive human beings activities and factors such as human settlement. Born on 8 May 1930 in San Francisco, Gary Snyder “…was raised in a poor family on a farm just north of Seattle during the Depression. …He worked summers as a U.S. Forest Service lookout from 1952 to 1953, a logging crewman in Oregon in 1954, and a trail crewman in Yosemite National Park in 1955, experiences that would inform his first published books (McGuirk 1).” From his childhood days, Snyder had an interest on nature. His interest to study Indian cultures and especially the Zen Buddhism cultures was as a result of the destruction of the Northwest Pacific Forest by what is referred to as the wanton destruction. According to Snyder, the Native American Indian cultures offer a nature friendly pleasant-sounding relationship. During his school days in Portland and while in Seattle, Snyder, had an interest in Indian Cultures and supplemented his studies by learning about Indian pioneers’ adventures and teachings. In 1951, Snyder, earned a literature and anthropology B.A. from Reed colleges. Afterwards, he joined Indiana University and later joining University of California. “In 1951 Snyder hitchhiked east to attend graduate school at Indiana University but dropped out after one semester, heading west again to enroll in Japanese and Chinese courses at the University of California at Berkeley in order to prepare himself for a trip to Japan to study Zen (McGuirk 1).” In Japan, he studied Zen lay monk under the supervision of his favorite instructor known by the name Oda Sesso Roshi. Snyder has done physical labor as a lumberjack, firewatcher, as well as trial maker. His ease of writing is arguably attributed to his ability to balance between his intellectual capabilities and physical capabilities. Snyder’s poem "The Call of the Wild “addresses the relationship that exists between human beings versus wilderness and nature in the world we live in. "The Call of the Wild" stand out as one the best written work addressing environmental issues. Using poem technique, Snyder is able to satisfactory address the delicate and difficult issues regarding human beings place in the environment that sustains other forms of existences as well. Snyder in his work describes the differences that exist between human beings and other form of life – animals, birds, and trees. The difference is attributed to the modern human way of life. Of consideration, Snyder refers to the Americans who reside in cities. He states, “All these Americans up in special cities in the sky (Snyder).” Initially, Snyder describes them to have, “…took to the air …And never came down (Snyder).” The work stands out because, Snyder, in addressing the issue of what nature comprises of and deviates from the general assumption that human beings have full control over other forms of nature. Here the assumptions is that, what man has created is part of nature as well. The argument is that human beings exploit that naturally exists to create what is termed human. There is no distinction between human and nature. What is termed human is part of nature, as nature refers to the collective material world. “…with its rivers and valleys, obviously includes farms, fields, villages, cities, and the (once comparatively small) dusty world of human affairs (Snyder).” According to Snyder, the ‘wild’ is the innate or the natural way things should exist in the world. Hence, the wilderness according to Snyder is “…a diversity of living and nonliving beings flourishing according to their own sorts of order (Snyder).” This is the call Snyder is advocating for to conserve the natural environment rather than the present situation in which civilization has overtaken everything. This is an implication that the existence of things in the modern world has been imposed externally as a result civilization rather than existing internally – in their innate manner. The wild manner of existence that Snyder refers to in his work is the innate way of existence. To achieve the innate way of existence there has to be political and economic resistance to civilization dominance. In other words, what Snyder deduces here is that the cities that human beings create are natural and that there is no deviation to the laws of nature. However, they are not ‘wild’ as Snyder advocates for in his attempt to address environment conservation issues. Note, the exclusion of other forms of life when cities are built because cities only support human habitat. Once cities are built, the natural environment within their vicinity can longer sustain other forms of life. This is because the innate ecosystem, referred by Snyder has the wild that sustainably supports other forms of life is tampered with and hence tempering with the innate way of existence. Snyder presents to us with another argument that there is a distinction between wild and nature. As earlier defined, nature is the sum total of all the phenomena comprising the world of materials while wild is the innate manner of existence. According to Snyder, the wild is accessible to us into two ways. One of the ways is by experimental terms. For instance, “Go to the pine tree to learn of the pine tree (McGuirk 2).” The second means of accessing the wild is through intersecting the wildness and civilization. Of paramount importance to learn here is that wilderness as discussed by Snyder is a virtue we as human beings we can acquire through learning and practicing. According to Oelschlaeger, the wilderness virtue as discussed by Snyder in his poem "The Call of the Wild" is, “our attraction to value that exists in a natural world outside of human control (164).” Additionally, Oelschlaeger indicates, “To understand this value, we must understand the relationship between technology and the natural world, the ways in which humanity attempts to ‘fix’ and mold nature to suit human purposes (Oelschlaeger 164).” Actually, what maybe literally termed as the control and dominance of otherness – a form of human society dominance over anything else that exist in nature. Of great consideration in understanding, human society dominance over other forms of life is the technology and artifactual aspects. The virtue under consideration is as a result of the value that, “…exists in nature to the extent it avoids the domination of human technological practices (Oelschlaeger 164).” It is quite important to note that human beings can derive satisfaction from the artifactual products they develop from depleting the natural environment however; in no mean can human beings restore or actually replace the “wild” as discussed by Snyder in his poetry work "The Call of the Wild." One aim of technology advancement in the modern world is the development of a new world, conducive for human society existence. However, the favorable conditions the human society desire and dream of in the world result to environment depletion and hence rendering the environment unsustainable to other form of life. A common believe is that human beings have power over other forms of existence in the world. This results to the perception that human beings can freely change the world’s physical structure to suit their desires. The scope of control human beings possess over the natural environment enables them technologically to modify the natural world to suit their dreams and desires. When this happens, the virtue of wilderness as discussed by Snyder in his poetry work "The Call of the Wild" is sacrificed. Oelschlaeger indicates that, “Nature can be controlled; its limitations overcome; humanity can achieve its potential (165).” This is an indication that the ‘wild’ approach, as discussed by Snyder in his poetry is the most appropriate and convenient approach as it maintains nature sustainability to all forms of life - which humanity is part of as well. The new world that the human beings crave to create is only achievable at the expense of depleting the natural environment that sustains other forms of existence in their own innate manner. Through the creation of the new world, everything ceases from being wild as implied by Snyder’s poetry work. The idea of nature control by human beings is just a hallucination, a dream and an illusion. Human beings have no power neither do they have the capability of restoring things in their own innate manner. To address the need to conserve the natural environment, ethical consideration between the natural environment and humanity need to be examined. The creation of the new world as a result of technology advancement has come along with the terminology ‘technological fix’. The assumption of the ‘technological fix’ terminology is that that technology can fix nature. Note the fact that we fix something that we feel has been damaged. It is important to understand that human beings after depleting the natural environment see the importance of restoring it back to its innate nature. However, the fact is no technological advancement can be used to restore the innate nature of the physical world. Once the damage is done, it is irreversible regardless of the any technological approach. The assumption of restoring the natural environment once human activities cause the damage is out of question. Damaged ecological systems remain damaged – the damage is irreversible. Technology advancement in the modern world has made us believe that nothing is impossible. The subsequent assumption is that if human beings damage the natural environment in their daily activities, they can restore or even improve it when the need arises. The environment restoration and the improvement processes raise more questions than answers pertaining our moral ethics and obligations to conserving the natural environment. For instance, the assumption that human beings should use what nature has provided for their benefits and at the expense of other forms of life and improve it if need arises questions our moral ethics of preserving the environment. The new world, as referred to, is only concerned with the replacement of the innate environment with the artifactual environment that chiefly target human beings satisfaction and neglects other forms of existence. The claim that human beings restore the natural environment is incorrect; the result of the restoration is just but human artifacts, not the historical innate nature that had initially sustained the ecosystem. Snyder in his poem "The Call of the Wild" effectively depicts the theme of nature conservation. He uses the word, ‘wild’ symbolically to refer to the innate approach of conserving the environment. This piece of work is unique in the way it addresses the issue of environment conservation. The poetry work, initially starts with how human beings exploits the natural environment for their own benefits and eventually the impacts on other forms of life that natural environment directly support. His call for the need to go ‘Wild’ is clearly illustrate in the poem. Work Cited McGuirk, Kevin. "Gary Snyder." American Poets Since World War II: Fourth Series. Ed. Joseph Mark Conte. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 165.Literature Resource Center. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. Oelschlaeger, Max. Postmodern Environmental Ethics. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1995. Print. Snyder, Gary. Turtle Island. New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1974. Print. Read More