Bioregional Quiz and McKibben Podcast

The bioregional quiz made apparent a huge lack of knowledge about the environment humans are surrounded by. The human race has become so preoccupied and busy with the material things of life it has become so easy to ignore simple facts such as who lives next door, or what kind of species and plants live in the same bioregion as specific humans. The bioregional quiz probably put many people who thought they knew facts about their surroundings to shame. A point that sticks out in the McKibben podcast is that this generation was born onto a different planet than they now live on.  Aside from that comment, it was stated that this new or altered earth can no longer support economic or population growth. All of this is a result of poor maintenance of wealth and resources. Since the United States is so used to the idea of “bigness”, there is a struggle with becoming local because of the fear of becoming “too small”. McKibben also states that it would be helpful to measure things other than growth to help the United States shy away from the strive for always being so large.  Working on a local scale would provide a stronger sense of community thereby giving a closer connection to the natural world.  Lastly, McKibben touched on the fact that stability, and solidity are needed instead of means that could “wreck” or fall apart. 

Blue Ridge Parkway- Environmental Issue

As I began my research on an environmental issue I wanted to research something that would directly affect me or something close to my hometown. I came across Save the Blue Ridge Parkway. The General Assembly has cut land conservation funds by 85% and cut key programs that protect the beautiful wilderness that surrounds the Blue Ridge Parkway.

If we were to live in Island Civilization this would not be a problem because the government could not interfere with the wilderness making decisions to deplete the forests as well as its inhabitants. According to my source two-thirds of the land surrounding the Blue Ridge Parkway could be destroyed in order to fulfill human wants such as logging. Maybe it really an Island Civilization really is necessary in order to stop these human from ruining what they seem to think they have control over. There is no other way to control what the government does with wildlife other than completely separating the human race from the wildlife like suggested in Island Civilization. There is no justifying the decision to take away this amazing scenery that has been around for 75 years. The parkway brings billions of visitors each year so it makes no sense to destroy it just for the selfish needs of Americans. Not only would it destroy a beautiful landscape but many different animals who call the lands of the parkways their home.

The more research I do of environmental issues such as this one the more I lean towards supporting an Island Civilization and the more I feel the need for one. I just can’t figure out how it would ever work or how it would be made possible because the population would have to be cut by such a great amount.  It is definitely going to take something drastic to make the population realize we need to make some major changes.

Island Civilization

After reading Island Civilization my mind has been opened up to a different view of how we as human beings view our ownership of the wilderness and space around us. Throughout the reading Nash introduces several different scenarios of how the world around us could end up. 

First he introduces the wasteland scenario, which I gathered would be a trashed planet with nothing left as a result of our greediness as humans. We obviously do not know how to share with our neighbors of the wilderness therefore using up every bit of resources we can get our hands on. With the wasteland scenario we would basically be left with nothing.

 Second, the garden scenario was discussed. In this situation the human race would be in control of the wilderness but would use it in a beneficent way to the people, by planting crops in virtually all empty land, not taking the biodiversity of plants and animals into mind. Once again the selfishness of the human population is taking over the wilderness in order to obtain “progress” for themselves.

 The third scenario is the future primitive. I believe that this scenario is basically erasing the so called “progress” that we have made into civilization, and going back to the practices of millions of years ago such as the methods used by the hunters and gatherers. Although this scenario loses the achievements of civilization, this evolution would give every member of the biotic community an opportunity to survive.

 The fourth scenario Nash calls Island Civilization. I have gathered that this scenario means placing limitations and boundaries around the human population instead of around the wild life. Although this option takes away much of the freedom we have always had, it provides wilderness with its chance to be what it is supposed to be, wild. Since we are supposed to share this planet with the wilderness, it makes sense to place limitations on ourselves instead of taking over what isn’t really ours. Yes Island Civilizations would cause the human population to be contained into smaller areas and not give us the opportunity to wipeout wildlife around us, but it would give the wild life its chance to grow as it should, since it is wild. 

After reading all of the different scenarios my mind has been opened to the fact that the human population might have taken control of what isn’t rightfully ours, even though we thought it was. The statements made by Nash about us not being good neighbors to the wilderness really opened up several thoughts in my mind that I had never thought about. As this reading discussed the fact that technically the wilderness should have just as much freedom as the human population has, I began to think about how unfair it is that we have ruined so much of the biodiversity of the world around us. We have gone into the homes of animals and completely wiped them out just to have space for what we call “growth” and “”progress”. But is it really growth or progress if we are ruining the life of another species while doing so? 

After reading this it makes sense that the wildlife have just as much right to “civilize” as we do as human beings. I think that so many of us forget that we aren’t the only group on earth that needs space, and after reading this I realize that. It amazes me how selfish we can be as human beings and not even realize it! I thought that the explanations of the different scenarios were very helpful in deciding my own opinions concerning how unfair the human population is towards the wilderness. Also the connection Nash used of us being “bad neighbors” really helped me in my understanding of the relationship we have with different biotic groups, because I had never really thought of it as a relationship of that kind. The reading was kind of difficult for me to get into at first, but I gradually began to understand what Nash was saying and in the end I really enjoyed it.