- William Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness" (1995)
- preview--all the views of nature in this article are European/American--next time we'll get off that track and look at some Native American ways of thinking about/valuing nature (no reading or RR)
This week: how we think about, feel about, and value wilderness
William Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness"
- Critique of environmentalism
- wildness and wilderness are treated as "naturally valuable"--indisputable, universal, same meaning for all--perhaps like water is "naturally valuable"
- attitudes nicely exemplified by E.O. Wilson's chapter from The Diversity of Life:
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| Wilson, "An Environmental Ethic" p. 331 |
Cronon's main arguments
1. Wilderness is a "human creation"
Much of history (and in some places today), wilderness is thought of as terrifying, savage, deserted, bewildering (p. 2)
- Wilderness is not naturally valuable but rather a "human creation"
- Wilderness is literally made, not found
- Overvaluing wildness has bad consequences
"Far from being the one place on earth that stands apart from humanity, it is quite profoundly a human creation--indeed, the creation of very particular human cultures at very particular moments in human history. It is not a pristine sanctuary where the last remnant of an untouched, endangered, but still transcendent nature can for at least a little while longer be encountered without the contaminating taint of civilization. Instead, it's a product of that civilization, and could hardly be contaminated by the very stuff of which it is made." (p. 1)
Much of history (and in some places today), wilderness is thought of as terrifying, savage, deserted, bewildering (p. 2)
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| Little Red Riding Hood |
End of the 19th century, wilderness thought of as garden of eden (p. 3)
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| Bierstadt, "The Rocky Mountains" (1863) |
18th century, wilderness seen as positively sacred, a place to have religious experiences--though with an element of terror (p. 4-5)
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| Henry David Thoreau (1846), writing about climbing Mount Katahdin in Maine |
The wilderness as comfortable church (p. 6)
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| John Muir writing about Yosemite valley |
Wilderness as playground for the rich-- impressive lodges in National Parks (p. 8)
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| St Mary lodge, Glacier National Park |
Wilderness as a frontier where rugged individualism can flourish (p. 7)
2. Wilderness was actually made, not found (p. 10)
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| Monument Valley, Utah (where many westerns were shot) |
Wilderness as a place for authenticity--where you can be yourself (p. 11)
Anything else?
2. Wilderness was actually made, not found (p. 10)
- Removal of native Americans from national parks (article and video)
- FYI--an interesting article about returning national parks to native Americans
- It teaches us to value certain things and then makes them distant and unattainable (p. 17)
- We search for pristine wilderness and don't notice equally impressive nature nearby (p 18-19, below)
Applying Cronon's perspective to real-world problems
- suppose you agree that wildness/wilderness are "human creations"
- how should this affect your position on wilderness preservation?
- contrasting answers below
Example #1: Kevin DeLuca, "A Wilderness Manifesto"
- in the section we skipped he endorses Cronon's view of wilderness!
- environmentalists should fight for wilderness, not for environmental justice (for people)
- analogy--art is a human creation, but worth fighting for!
Example #2: Alison Kafer, "Bodies of Nature: The Environmental Politics of Nature"
- endorses Cronon's view of wilderness--it's not "naturally valuable" but valuable in different ways to different people
- uses it as part of her argument that nature should be modified for the sake of accessibility
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| Carlsbad Caverns NP--the cafeteria at the bottom, accessible by elevator |
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| Should every trail be wheelchair accessible? |
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| The Appalachian Trail. One of Kafer's main points: able-bodied people don't notice the way nature had been modified to make it accessible to them |
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| Staircase to Fimmvorduhals trail, next to Skogafoss waterfall in southern Iceland. Accommodations for people who walk and don't fly!
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