Thoughts to William Cronon

Cronon says, "Although wilderness may seem today to be just one environmental concern among many, it in fact serves as a foundation for a long list of other such concerns that on their face seem quite remote from it. That is why its influence is so pervasive and, potentially, so insidious."
I have to disagree with Cronon. It is true that wilderness should be taken into some concern but that it is evasive and possibly insidious is not something that I would agree with. Wilderness is needed for a chance to find oneself. Sure the trees and foliage we have in our own neighborhoods offer relaxation as a "breath of fresh air." But wilderness in its true setting are necessary for one to cleanse him or herself and dig deep to find what the individual soul is trying to say and teach. How can one be lost in deep thought and meditation when cars fly by on a close busy street? How can the soul inspire when a family member or roommate has music playing at a decibel level enough to cause distraction? How can the soul grow without an opportunity to strengthen itself against temptation and fear. Those are where the victories are won. It is when one pushes him or herself to their capacity that strengthening occurs. And I think that solitude in the wilderness is a necessary means to those self sustaining victories. It's difficult to find oneself constantly surrounded by others.

Civil Disobedience

With regards to civil disobedience, I can't think of one thing that I, personally, would do like what those other people from Earth First! were doing. I believe there are other ways to get the point across. Most of the time I've learned, when you fight like that against something, the other side fights just as much. So it's essentially a lose-lose situation when you really look at it. So the people that enjoy doing that, my hat's off to them but you ain't gonna catch me living in a tree or sabotaging businesses just to prove a point. Things can be dealt with in a better way I feel. So with the question of if I would do something like that for what I believe in, my answer is no. Like I said a sentence ago, there are other ways to come to an agreement with people. And ruining their things doesn't make the situation any better and perhaps can extend the time of the feud. I gave 2 years of my life for what I believe in most in my life. I served a mission for the LDS "Mormon" Church. Sure we quarreled with people about points of doctrine and beliefs, but the reality is that people are going to do what they want to do and what they believe in. And you have to respect that. And if not, then you better learn to because it'll just end up ruining your day. I never wanted to force things on anybody. If they wanted to believe, that was great. If not, they have things to do as did I. No hard feelings and we went our ways. I just think that if you deal with people in the proper way, with respect and a genuine concern, an agreement will eventually be made. And these sorts of acts are probably not the best way to handle such stuations.

Conservation/Preservation

We look at the difference between conservation and preservation and see that they can mean almost the same thing but in reality, they don't. John Muir was the "founder" of the idea of preservation when he opposed the idea of building into national parks or preservation areas. He thinks that they should be left alone and not touched at all...except by a few to appreciate what nature has to offer but to keep it clean. Gifford Pinchot on the other hand thought similarly but not exactly the same. He believed in conservation which means to allow the use of nature resources but not overuse them. Use what is needed and conserve the rest to produce more. To describe a little history between the two, they were once friends fighting for the same cause until the case of Hetch Hetchy. It was up north in California and Pinchot was supporting the idea to build a dam to allow water for the residents in the Bay Area. Muir thought the opposite and desired for the land to stay as it was, untouched. Since that point, the two became enemies so to say and went their different ways. Pinchot went on to work with the government because of his connections and by so doing gained more power and authority. Muir fought until his ultimate death to preserve hetch hetchy but the dam was built and Muir passed away.
So I found an article from the Greenpeace website that has been talking about timber in Alaska and the illegal use of it. Companies that are being subsidized by the U.S. government are lying on their reports to exceed the allotted use of the timber in the northwest. And as a result, animals are becoming extinct and it messing up the ecosystem up there. Not only that, but we, the taxpayers, are covering the costs for these companies to make money. But the issue is the topic of conservation. It's pretty hard to support the idea of preservation as a whole because I believe that we have been given natural resources to use for our survival. So I tend to lean more on conservation when it is used properly. In this case, the companies are using way more than what is necessary. This is causing many problems that the companies are not seeing and creating more animals on the endangered species list. When the animals have no place to go in the forests, they find other places to go like local neighborhoods, etc. That in turn causes problems with humans and so forth. The courts are now starting to take action which can be a good thing if these companies are proven to be doing what they are accused of. So we'll wait to see the outcome.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/greenpeace-sues-to-protect-rar
My opinion is that it needs to be controlled. I don't like to pay for stuff like this while others are getting rich and breaking laws. It is causing tremendous problems for the natives as well as the before mentioned ecosystem that needs to exist. Conservation is necessary to remember for what it really means...use only what is necessary and leave the rest alone. I hope that justice will be found.

Impressions from John Muir

How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!
John Muir

I take this quote more as transcendental and spiritual more than the other concepts we have thus far discussed. When I think of the sun, I think of God, warmth, energy, new life, rejuvenation, a new beginning. I think he really solidifies his depth and respect of nature with this quote. It is a profound statement that links majestic objects together. For some, they perhaps haven't been able to experience a sunrise in a mountainous area. And that is unfortunate and hopefully someday they may have that opportunity to do so. It's amazing to see the sun rise and catch the tip of the tallest peak and slowly work its way down to the base and into the valley. I grew up in Utah in a very mountainous region. My house faced Mount Timpanogos. It is one of the tallest peaks in all of Utah. Snow stays on for almost the whole year with the back of the mountain containing glaciers. It was a comforting feeling waking to gaze at the mountain at times when the sun would shoot through the Provo Canyon and capture the face of the mountain.
I fell in love with mountains growing up because of experiences like that. Friends and I would frequently find ourselves camping in various spots of the mountains in the heat of the summer or the freezing cold winters with snow that sometimes went up to my chest. We would sometimes go up the canyons to friends cabins and enjoy the snow on ATV's and/or snowmobiles. So many great memories and pictures that I'll enjoy my whole life. I noticed my love for them when I was in North Carolina for two years serving an LDS mission. NO MOUNTAINS!!! There were plenty of trees but no mountains. So I convinced myself that on the other side of the trees, there were mountains. It really helped me to feel comfortable. And then the beautiful peaks and straight up surfaces of the Hawaii mountains were nothing short of amazing. I hiked some great places out there with many waterfalls and all sorts of beautiful trees and bushes. No where else do I know of that within an hour can one be in the ocean and then start a hike that shoots up a couple thousand feet. There were some amazing sunrises in Hawaii as well!!

Nature, Art and Culture

I remember times when I was growing up watching movies of the old west. I remember watching Quigley Down Under, Maverick, John Wayne movies, etc. My father was a huge fan of westerns and his father was as well because I remember seeing paintings of old cowboys sitting on a stool looking to their left or having a beer. I also remember my grandfather having little statues of cowboys too. So I guess it was only a matter of time that I would pick it up. I didn't totally get into the cowboys but I found that I have a love for the desert and the old west setting. I loved watching movies like Young Guns and Tombstone and Desperado and even the new Mask of Zorro. And who could forget about the 3 amigos? So anything that had to do with the desert I fell in love with. It's something about the cactus and rattlesnakes and other desert life that fascinates me!! So growing up when I think of nature most of the time the desert is what comes to mind. When I got into junior high and high school, I still had a love for the desert but found myself loving the ocean scene more and more. Something about the deep blue catches my attention and makes me want to be a part of it. And now I just see myself enjoying all of it because each part of nature has a different importance and I like adventures and new explorations so I end up out in nature more often than I give myself credit for. But as a youth, I would say that I was more partial to the desert setting.
I believe that art and culture can truly change a perspective if a person is able to catch it. Some things are so humbling and they seem to catch you almost off-guard. It's like that oceanic feeling that Freud talks about. You realize that creations on earth are so massive sometimes that it really puts a deeper perspective on life. As for art, I think it can if the respective person allows it to. Some people fight it but as we grow older and understand more about life, I think most people end up enjoying art in its different forms. Not necessarily pictures, but music and paintings and other art forms that connect with that individual. Culture also plays a role of how nature can be viewed by how different people treat the land and their perspectives on it.

Thoughts on Nature

I enjoy nature and I have loved it for as long as I can remember. The way that it can take a person put of everyday life and cleanse that person speaks wonders of its power to give life. It is so easy to get caught up in everyday metropolitan life and forget who we are individuals most of the time. We find ourselves questioning things often because we don't have the opportunity to think things out. There's always something to do or somewhere to be. And that can take its toll after awhile because I feel that I sometimes don't know what I want or what I'm doing. People have different ways of letting off stress. My way has always been to get away and be around nobody. I take the privilege of what God has created for what I think is pure relaxation. And that would be nature.
When life gets hard and confusing, I take time to go out and see what's outside of the city. Or I'll grab a book and sit next to the lake or river and ponder about life. In Arizona my favorite place to do this is Saguaro Lake. So don't even think about taking my spot! I enjoy going up there because at night time, nobody is really ever out there. I can listen to the water, see the moon reflecting off of it, and gather my thoughts to think them out wisely. It gives me a chance to communicate with God as well in an uninterrupted setting. And like it says in our book by Nash, many men from the biblical times, even Christ himself, would go to wilderness to commune with God. I'm not saying I'm like them but I can understand more why they went and did that. So all in all, it's my way out of life when I really need to find myself.
I grew up in Utah. It is a very beautiful state. If you aren't an outdoors person, then I wouldn't recommend going up there...unless you happen to be a Mormon. It offers so many different ways to enjoy nature. It has beautiful lakes and rivers and mountains all over the place. I have many childhood and adolescent stories of fishing, camping, hiking,hunting, and being out of the house. We often, my high school friends and I, went camping on the weekends to go and enjoy ourselves away from everybody else. We would bring our guns and fishing poles and have a great time. So many memories from those days. But when I really learned to love nature was in my youth with my father. He wasn't really an outdoors kinda guy but he would every now and then take me out fishing and on hikes. I remember hiking to Sundance Falls as a family when I was probably around 12 years old. After we reached the falls and relaxed for a little bit, we packed our stuff and started the hike back. We were maybe about a mile into the hike when right in the middle of the trail there stood a huge moose. It just stared at us as my father told us to get behind him. Luckily for us it wasn't aggressive and didn't feel threatened by us because behind the moose stood its baby. It was a awesome! I'll never forget that one. But after a minute or so it and its baby took off down the side of the hill and we continued on. So my father was the one that really planted a seed of appreciation of nature in me and I have allowed it flourish ever since.
Another great thing about nature is that it's never constant. I mean that there re so many variations no matter where I go. I have done numerous hikes, even some of the same ones, and found that, even the same ones, they change. Whether the water falls are smaller or bigger, or the trail has eroded, or whatever it may be, nothing is ever the same twice. And I really love that. I enjoy adventure and consider myself an adventure seeker. If there's a possibility I could get hurt, I'll do it. That's how I have always been. I have my limits of course but there aren't very many of them. So I always keep an ear open for new hikes or places to see.
I love animals and wildlife as well. I'm not one of those PEDA dudes or anything but I really love to see animals in their natural setting. Sometimes I'll mess around with them, actually pretty much every time I'll mess around with them but like I said, I still have some limits. You wouldn't catch me messing around with that moose and her baby...but other things I definitely will be checking out. A good friend of mine and I love to go out to Fountain Hills. There is so much wildlife out there it's unreal. We've caught things like rattlesnakes, scorpions, javelina, rec racer snakes, Texas blind snakes, tarantulas, etc... We really have a great time going out and looking for stuff like that. I guess it may be childish but I love it nonetheless. We even go around chasing Bobcats. I know, we're retarded. But I love it the same. And over the summer I went out to Hawaii as tradition. When I went out this time I wanted to swing with the sharks. Unfortunately a friend with a commercial fishing boat wasn't able to take us out so we had to go to a tourist one on the North Shore. As we were going out to the spot, the captain turned off the boat and told us to look to the left side of the boat. We looked and there was dolphins out there doing flips and spins and stuff. It was pretty cool to see and I did get it on video but I'm not sure if I can upload it...I'll try to. But when we finally got to our spot they turned off the boat and chummed for sharks. About 5 minutes in there was probably 30 to 40 Galapagos White Tip sharks swimming around. They were awesome. They weren't too big maybe 10 to 11 feet most of them but it was cool to see them that close. When our turn came to get in the cage I pretty much jumped in! They told us not to stick our hands out of the cage and touch the sharks but there was no way I was gonna be that close and not touch them. It as a great time. And those suckers feel like rubber. Pretty cool if you've ever touched one.
I really love to get out and enjoy God's creations. I love nature and often find myself out there more than I give myself credit for.