Wilderness, place and nature - Essay Example

?Wilderness Place and Nature Introduction       Wilderness is a word that is very difficult to define, especially since there is no universally accepted meaning of the term. Initially it is applied to nature as something that is out of the reach of human beings. It has been extended to include wildlife. Sometimes the term is also used to define places that are deserted with lack of cultivation. The most modern perception of the word ‘wilderness’ lies in the depiction of areas, which confuse people. It represents mystery. The word can be said to have a dual meaning. On one hand it is inhospitable and threatening and on the other it represents beauty that is capable of providing solace to human eye. (Nash, 10-12, 44-45) The universe is a composition of nature and soul. Nature remains unchanged by mankind. It represents space, the air we breathe, rivers and even the leaves of trees. Every item that is a part of nature leaves a “kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence” (Emerson, 1). It reflects the wisdom and the simplicity of childhood. There is a considerable link between wilderness and nature. The biodiversity of nature is well maintained by the remoteness of wilderness, which directly benefits the former. Absence of artificial barriers in the areas of wilderness helps in the preservation of nature. A place on the other hand refers to any space of the universe that may have definite or indefinite boundaries. There are similarities in the concepts of wilderness, places and nature along with slight differences in the conceptualization of the three. Wilderness, places and nature interact amongst themselves to render a meaning to human lives.        The idea of the term wilderness has been a tenet that is fundamental to the environmental movements that last for decades. It has rather been a passion. The last place on the earth where the artificial civilization of human beings has not yet infected the space with all diseases of the species is termed as wilderness. Wilderness can be termed as an island in the sea of polluted industrialization achieved by the urbane modernity and this term rules out the chances of pollution. Wilderness is that place on the earth where human beings can escape being tired of the artificial happiness that has been created by them in the name of modernization. In the hope of saving the planet from this spread of modernization and hence industrial pollution, there is the need of rethinking wilderness. According to Thoreau, the preservation of the earth and nature lies only in wilderness. Wilderness has been described profoundly as a creation of human beings and not something that is far from the reach of humanity. He expresses his desire to retreat into the wilderness as he comments “Let me live where I will, on this side is the city, on that the wilderness, and ever I am leaving the city more and more, and withdrawing into the wilderness ” (Thoreau 2). Though wilderness seems natural, it hides the unnaturalness behind the mask, which is more captivating “because it seems so natural” from outside. Imaginations and reflections often trick human beings into perceiving the same as “nature when in fact we see the reflection of our own unexamined longings and desires” (Cronon 1). The preservation of wilderness is for the betterment of human beings and needs to be ensured for the ultimate pleasure of them. As the frontier began to fade away, Americans tried to protect the wilderness within specific places termed as National Parks (Cronon, 2). Cronon therefore argues that the wilderness perceived by human beings is not actually a part of nature. For instance, the Indians previously used to live in the wilderness which they called their home but later they were removed from there to give space to tourism activities such that the place could be referred as “uninhabited wilderness” (Cronon, 7). Hence the wilderness in America is very much constructed. It is important for human beings to be a part of nature and accept the same as their home in order to find a solution to the problems related to environment.  Without creating separate places for residence especially building cities and urban regions, Cronnon perhaps suggests to make a place within nature. At this point, conceptualization of ‘place’ would be important.       Place is like a mirror that is capable of holding anything on any scale. From the birth of the child to death, individuals grow in natural communities and are said to live in places. The place or the region is defined as a specific area of the universe. The conceptualization of the concept of place helps in forming the idea of the term ‘region’. Regions are different places in the universal space that is bound together with the same characteristics of climate, may be within the same geographical boundary or may have some other features that are common to the different places that constitutes that particular region. Space, place and region have a strong relational approach that is embodied in the thinking of these three terms. There are multiple ways in which individual can see a place which has no definite and complete portrait. The heart of the place the individual is living is the home. A place is something that has fluidity; it changes with time as well as space. (Snyder, 26-28) Hence places are clearly a part of nature.       Nature indicates the integrity of human impressions comprising of natural objects. This definition distinguishes timber cut by the woodcutter from a natural tree, from which it has been cut off. Landscapes of the outskirts of cities consist of several farms that are owned by some individuals but none of them is the owner of the landscape, which is the component of nature. Human eyes can only integrate every part of this property they cannot not have the ownership over it (landscape). According to Emerson’s opinion expressed in his article “Nature”, few adults have the proper eye of viewing and cherishing nature. Most of them view nature with a superficial sight. Children with their simplicity and clearness of the heart could cherish the beauty of nature. Although the sun is visible to the eye to the adult, it “shines into the eye and the heart of the child”. (Emerson 1) People who have been able to retain the infant spirit even in adulthood and whose inward and the outward senses are well connected, are said to be lovers of nature. Nature is something that is always wearing ‘the colors of spirit’. The color changes with the changes in the shades of human feelings. Nature creates an ambience “that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece” and “always wears the colors of the spirit” (Emerson, 1) According to Thoreau, human beings are expected to be a part of the freedom of nature and wilderness and not that of culture or civilizations that are artificial. He suggests that if man lives more in contact with nature it is likely to produce “ a certain roughness of character” and also a harder and thicker cuticle or line of cover over the sensitiveness of the skin (Thoreau 1). Such loss of delicacy occurs during manual labor as well. This might not be the case if one stays within the four walls of his home or in other words, away from the contact of natural elements. This will induce fragility and susceptibility to external “impressions”. Man’s activities comprising of cutting down trees and changing the landscape therefore make it “tame and cheap” (Thoreau 1). Nature render such a blessing “which no culture, in short, can give” (Thoreau 5). Nature is useful to human beings for their livelihood. However natural selection differs from man’s methodical selection for his own benefit. The action of man is visible and characters or entities on which the actions are taken are conspicuous, but nature acts on the universe and does not care for what is visible. Again in terms of selection there lies a basic difference because “man selects only for his own good; Nature only for that of the being which she tends”. (Darwin, 2) He gives the example of a country affected by climatic changes, which might lead to some species becoming extinct. Any change in some of the inhabitants would certainly influence the conditions of the others irrespective of the climate. However if a country has at least one open frontier enabling the immigration of other forms who might be able to adapt themselves with time to changes in climate and hence if the boundaries did not exist then natural selection would have better scope to contribute towards improvement of the specie (Darwin, 1-2). In the context of natural selection, Pollan makes an innovative comparison between a human being and a bumblebee in a garden where both are the subjects (the object is the garden). This is because a human being determines certain important aspects of a garden (such as which species must live) and the bee’s role in pollinating the plants might seem similar.  However this is not the case, as “the flower has cleverly manipulated the bee into hauling its pollen from blossom to blossom”. (Pollan (a), xiv) This implies that despite different attempts on the part of human beings to control and mould nature in accordance to their needs and satisfaction, every time they have failed in achieving the goal as nature has its plan. Carson observes that “nature is not so easily molded” and it fights back always. For instance, insects, which are a part of nature are “finding ways to circumvent our chemical attacks on them” (Carson, 245) Here insects, a part of the wilderness interacts with nature and helps it carry out the process of natural selection. They defy all man made attempts to prevent nature from taking to natural selection.       According to Cronon, wilderness can be considered as “model for human life in nature, for the romantic ideology of wilderness leaves precisely nowhere for human beings actually to make their living from the land”  (Cronnon 7). Human beings are always in the need of making their living from the ultimate use of the lands of nature either directly or indirectly. Therefore wilderness could only be perceived as the model of life with respect to the ideology of romanticism. Before human beings have learned the use and exploitation of the resources of nature they were believed to be in wilderness. If human beings want to live naturally then they have to abandon everything that is a part of the civilization (virtually) and accept to get back into the life of wilderness. This might be justified by the truth that “land is abstract and in some final sense unpossessable by any individual” (Pollan (b) 13). Thus wilderness is a place of nature, which has been outside the reach of human beings. Again, each place or area has its part of wilderness, including both “the fire in the kitchen” and “the place less traveled” (Snyder, 28). As per the observation of Thoreau, human beings rather than being a member of the society, comprise a part of nature. According to the author it is the freedom of nature and the wildness in it that inspired their writings (Thoreau 1-2). Nature can even be cruel by revealing the wildness in it but Gould interprets some existence of higher laws other than human perceived ethics. For instance when larvae eat caterpillars, or cats play with mice and even a tiger hunts down a deer, one cannot say that everything is ethical by human definition of ethics. But Nature has its own reasons "with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance”’. (Gould, 5) Here Gould talks of the ecological balance, which is maintained through the ‘survival of the fittest’ technique guided by natural law of specie. At times even human beings are guided by animal instincts and ethics symbolize a path of guidance to address ecological equilibrium (Leopold 204-207). In this context it would be appropriate to recall Emerson’s feeling about nature, which seems to present a better thought “when I deemed I [Emerson] was thinking justly or doing right” (Emerson, 2).       Thus the whole world is a place with the landscape, the mountains, rivers and other features being the parts of nature that is not owned by any individual and the part of nature that is outside the reach of the civilization can be termed as wilderness. Thus wilderness is an integral part of nature, which has its co-existence with the places of earth. The basic difference between human beings and nature in terms of behavior is the methodical approach of the former and the universal approach of nature, which is guided by the higher laws. Yet the latter is more systematic and at times even manipulates man to act in a certain way, which he deems to be his will.     References 1. Cronon, William, “The Trouble with Wilderness” or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature, 1995, 18th May, 2011, from http://www.williamcronon.net/writing/Trouble_with_Wilderness_Main.html 2. Darwin, Charles, The origin of species by means of natural selection, Cambridge, 1975 3. Emerson, Ralph, Waldo, Nature, J. Munroe, 1849 4. Gould, Stephen Jay, “Nonmoral Nature”, In, Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes, W.W. Norton & Company, 1994. 5. Leopold, Aldo, “The Land Ethic”, A Sand country Almanac, 1948, May 20, 2011 from: http://home.btconnect.com/tipiglen/landethic.html 6. Nash, Roderick, Wilderness and the American mind, Yale University press, 1982 7. Pollan(a), Michael, The Botany of Desire, New York: Grove Press, 2003 8. Pollan(b), Michael, Second Nature, Auckland City: Delta, 1992 9. Carson, Rachael, “Nature Fights Back”, in Silent Spring, Houghton Mifflin, 1990 10. Snyder, Gary. “The Place, the Region and the Commons” The Practice of the Wild, Counterpoint Press, 2010 11. Thoreau, Henry David, Walking, Mundus Publishing, 1979, May 20, 2011 from: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1022/1022-h/1022-h.htm Read More