The preservation movement focused on the devastating decrease in America's wilderness areas. A true wilderness area is described as land that has not been affected by man and where man is only a visitor. In order to preserve the Earth's wilderness, the government created national parks like Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park to maintain a clean environment for wildlife. The development of these national parks started the National Park Service in 1916 to protect and manage the development of national parks and monuments. This service promotes protection of the environment, historical sites, and the enjoyment and education of U.S citizens. The service plans parks, campground facilities, many other facilities for tourists to enjoy nature without harming the environment, and informs the public of the importance of the wilderness.
How have we learned?
Growing up, we learn from making observations. We learn from opportunity, cause and effect, and the experiences in our lives. The goal of the Preservation Movement and the National Park Service is clearly to set aside a certain amount "untouched" or "unharmed" land so no human is allowed to (further) destroy that land (for themselves) and animals have a clean place to live. Because these portions of land are owned by the government, there are forest rangers and other employees who are paid to take care of and clean the land. This creates a large, natural, clean, and free portion of Earth; the Earth that it was supposed to be. This allows animals to live in the healthy way that they were made to live. This allows humans to see the world as it was originally made; before there were cars, before there were houses and sky scrapers and pollution and cement and machines. The service is giving human beings the opportunity to experience the Earth as it was originally made. The service is giving human beings the opportunity to make observations. The service is giving human beings the opportunity to apply the observations they have made to their life outside of the natural Earth. They are able to see the effects of the way they learned how to live. And finally, they are given the opportunity to change; to prevent their effects from worsening.
But my question is... if we are "given these opportunities", then why hasn't there been any change?
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If the goal of these national parks was to preserve "land that has not been affected by man and where man is only a visitor", then the goal was not achieved. I am not sure if you have ever been to a national park, but man is not a visitor; he is a constant presence. There are paths, trails, picnic benches, woodchips, bathrooms, restaurants, and even gift shops in many national parks. Does this sound like untouched nature? Sure, this is far better than the alternative. There are no cities or towns and the natural resources remain untouched, but the mere constant presence of people makes this "pure" land tainted. Things have been built to facilitate people's desire to see such natural beauty in comfort and have been built to profit from this desire. In this system, the environment has been changed from a land without civilization, only nature, to a land in which nature is put on display in the midst of civilization. While much of the land in national parks remains free of these man made conveniences that disrupt nature, the fact that they exist anywhere in a national park defeats the entire purpose of having national parks. If one went to see Old faithful, one would see a series of twisting wooden paths winding between the geysers. One would not see animals, but people walking around and admiring the "nature" around them. This is not preservation, it is exploitation.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this entry showed a lot of insight into how there has been a decrease in America's wilderness areas and what we can do to prevent this from continuing to decrease. I believe that it is important to preserve the wilderness, in order to allow animals to live a healthy and productive life. Additionally,I really liked how you discussed the idea that "humans are able to see the effects of the way they have learned how to live." I believe that in today's society, many people do not take an interest in preserving the environment and instead, they continue to harm it. I believe that this service will help people realize the importance of helping the environment and the positive impact that it will have. I believe that there has been some change, but a very small amount of change, since we have been given these opportunities. I believe that not a lot of change has occurred partially due to the fact that many people do not know about these opporunities and the true positive impact that it can have on the environment/wilderness.
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