Realistic Expectations

After reading the article by William Cronon,'The Trouble With Wilderness', I couldn't keep away from the idea of closing off nature to man. I can understand that to preserve the glory and the sanctity that makes nature so provacative, we have to stay out of that which is labeled as "wilderness" so we don't destroy it. I feel like that would give nature the 'red button effect'. You tell someone over and over of the grave consequences of pushing the red button, but because telling us we can't, it makes us want to push it that much more. By adding the aspect of forbiddeness to wilderness are we just not making nature that much more appealing?Is it not in a part of our DNA as humans to want we can't have? By putting a "Keep Out" sign on nature we are creating a secret backdoor that although only certain people are allowed to enter, the exclusitvity of it makes us want it that much more. We then are hosting a whole plethora of other issues by not allowing humanity access. Nature and the utility of its resources is then to become the new black market for trees, land, coal and other goods. Although its hard to imagine someone chopping down a tree and selling it somewhere to someone in the public going unseen, we could also think that of the same thing about the black market for human organs. Who would have thought you could remove someone's kidney, sell it, put it in someone else and go virtually unnoticed.
I have a much larger appreciation for living among nature. By exposing us to the natural world and living with it every day of our lives, I would hope we can have a better understanding for life and that nature is life. If we block it off as a forbidden part of our nation it will almost appear to be non-existant. It will seem like a nice idea that existed long ago that our grandparents tell us about or a make believe story that we read about in books; having the idea constantly in the back of our heads that maybe this wilderness we hear about and never see is just a fallacy. The real struggle here in preserving nature is not seperating us from it, but the same struggle in the quest to happiness; appreciating what we have when we have it. Because we see it every day on our walk to school, drive to work, "between the cracks of the sidewalk", it begins to lose its appeal. Some driving force needs to kick us in the ass and show us what we have while we still have it. Unfortunately this can't be pictures in a textbook or in National Geographic, it has to hit so much closer to home for us. Whats truly unfortunate is that we can't see it in the plant we have on our balcony that dies because we forgot to water it one too many times. We too blinded by the dissappointment of "why did this happen to me?" than to think and realize "how could i have done this?"Who would want to admit and take full responsibility for the destruction and the decline of a planet with a surface area of 500,000,000 square kilometers?
We cannot deny the concept of backgrounding, in that we have a dependence on nature whether we like it or not. We cannot live without the air we breathe or without ground with which to step, or water or food (to in our case otherwise manipulate).We must put more emphasis on our need for nature, rather than our need for domination.
The perpective on nature is that its resiliency is infinite and that nothing we will do will keep it from coming back."We can be ethical only to something we can see, feed, understand, love and otherwise have faith in." (Leopold, 144)
If we do not love among nature and take that extra step back to really see and perhaps even marvel at its wonder, we cannot possibly feel the great importance behind saving it, and otherwise making the effort.
I feel like the answer hear is not keeping humans from nature but to respect it while we are in 'the wilderness'. We need to make sure we don't cause any further damage to our environment by using the knowledge we now have of the effects of our actions. We can't continue to make the same mistakes knowing the outcome isn't postivie for anyone. In addition to that, we need to use the technology and resources we now have to correct the mistakes we have already made as much as we can. In this video, it discusses what can be accomplished when the problem is recognized, addressed and corrected with the right mindset, financial resources, tools and technology.
http//www.youtube.com/user/BPplc?v=JL6ooGCMlSs&feature=pyv&ad=6746199733&kw=ocean#p/u/15/_TN8_TN1sPU
This is a man who can really appreciate the value of nature as he has lived among it for so long. Because he incorporates his life within nature, he is responsible for how he and others use it and within it. http//www.youtube.com/user/BPplc?v=JL6ooGCMlSs&feature=pyv&ad=6746199733&kw=ocean#p/u/14/Zeq6fht34mQ
http//www.youtube.com/user/BPplc?v=JL6ooGCMlSs&feature=pyv&ad=6746199733&kw=ocean#p/u/17/9QkxNOQNvlQ
http//www.youtube.com/user/BPplc?v=JL6ooGCMlSs&feature=pyv&ad=6746199733&kw=ocean#p/u/12/AI11XY-e8bo
These are all very short and completely worth watching as it shows that even though a huge corporation like BP royally messed up, they are showing that they can make it right by doing everything in their power to clean it up for humans, animals and the environment. BP is really leading the way for other companies to hopefully jump on the bandwagon.
Leopold stated in the article, 'Land Ethic', "An ethical obligation on the part of the private owner is the only visible remedy"(leopold,144). This is exactly what BP is trying to accomplish. They are making what they did right by not only claiming responsibilty for their actions, but by going a step further and correcting them.
We can only hope that once BP has fixed this catastrophic mess that they will take the proper precautions to not let it happen again. Unfortunately, BP hasn't taken enough precautions to prevent this as many environmentalists believe that BP still has errors in their drilling that make them vulnerable to another oil spill. So this leaves us questioning once again as a society; do we commend BP for making a large effort and putting a lot of their own finances to clean up what they had done, or do we slap them on the wrist for not making a big enough effort? I personally believe in babysteps. While it is BP's responsibility to fix their mistakes, we need to set a positive example for other corporations in saying we do appreciate your efforts. Thank You....but here's what else needs to be done and take every precaution in preventing this from happening again. Fortunately, we may not have to choose sides. The Obama Administration is trying to move forward with their ban on 'offshore drilling'. Although this may cross boundries with the concept of lassiez-faire, it needs to happen as the risks these oil companies take effects the entire globe and everyone's future. We can only hope that this is the first of a multiple step program in finding alternate energy sources because the reality of it is we need energy from somewhere. If we close the door to 'off shore drilling' we need to open a window to a new (hopefully renewable) energy source. Although as BP makes these seemingly small babysteps, we cannot underestimate the importance of these actions; we must remember that you have to learn to walk before you can run.