Nicholas
Sheridan, Jr.
Island civilization: a vision for
human occupancy of
EARTH
This
article written by Roderick Frazier Nash touched upon the human impact on Earth
and several different solutions to saving our planet. When European colonists
first started landing on western lands their main objectives were exploring,
finding treasures and settling on new lands. The Europeans, however, were
concerned only with achieving these objectives for their Queen and not the
wilderness. Through construction of roadways, railroads and buildings they were
the first people to have a negative impact on the land. Native Americans were
the direct opposite of the colonists because they praised the land and had the
utmost respect for it and its animals. Native Americans would hunt only what
they would need to survive, not for game. The Colonists mindset for food, on
the other hand, was to cut down and flatten the land. This new emergence of
colonists shows that we have moved from hunters and gatherers to farmers.
The
definition of a wilderness is a land that is still in its natural state, and
hasn’t been altered by humans. The views of people during this time weren’t
affected by the destruction of the wilderness. In fact, people hunted and
killed animals strictly for fun. People were trying to acquire as much land as
they could and cut down all of the trees and use that land for farming. Authors
such as Henry David Thoreau and
George Perkins Marsh wrote several books stating that the wilderness contained
all of the items that humans needed to survive. They both claimed that humans
should be more concerned with protecting the abundant forests they have than
inventing new technology. A major flaw to the rapid deforestation of the lands
is that once all of the trees are cut down, then what? Will we travel to
another distant land and repeat the process again? Our lands would now be
barren and the erosion would cause flooding all over.
In the 1870s one man, John Muir, went against all beliefs at
that time and spread his ideas that forest should be treated as gifts from God.
Mountains and other landforms should be thought of as cathedrals and other
important symbols. Muir’s views really stood out when 20 years later it was
declared that there was no longer a frontier. The colonist mentality of rapid
civilizing had come to a halt. One of the most famous books of all time, The
Call of the Wild, was published only a couple years after this disturbing news
of the frontier. Jack London, the author, talked about how the view towards
nature is now going to change.
The birthplace of books like The Call of the Wild and Tarzan
were in cities, and therefore that is where the first ideas came from
concerning the protection of the wilderness. In 1964 a miracle happened; The Wilderness Act was founded.
People finally wanted to honor and respect the land because it was a product of
God. They understood that God gave them the opportunity to live on the lands
and they should not take it for granted. After the newly passed act was
founded, people shifted their views towards the animals in the lands and
shortly after two animal-concerned acts were passed.
There are several different
ways in which Mr. Nash portrays the future for Earth and its inhabitants. One
outcome is that of a terrible, trashed and desolate land that only a few
species can survive on. This land is depicted as no longer being the forest
covered, mineral rich Earth that we all know it as today. Another outcome, a
more promising one, is that of an island civilization. The theory of an island
civilization is that humans divide up into 500 different camps that are located
all over the world. Each of these camps is in the size of approximately 100
mile circles. Engineers would have to design other places of living, such as
underground or in the air to squeeze that many people in such a small space.
The camps would be self-sustained, and the people would live off the lands and
if needed the lands outside of their camp. Containing the humans to certain
camps allows the human destruction to also be contained and not affect the
lands and animals.
The way the European
colonists thought when they came to these new western lands was arrogant and
self-indulgent. They were not concerned with the consequences and destruction
of their impact. In my opinion it is good that they realized the devastation
that they were causing when the frontier was finally completely explored
because had they moved to other continents they could have destroyed the
forests and lands of the entire world. The authors who wrote books that
discussed human impact on Earth served as a wake-up call. It was a kick in the
rear end to those who thought deforesting the entire land was a good idea.
I personally think that the
idea of an Island Civilization is one that is far-fetched but possible. The
amount of time that scientists and engineers are going to have to put in to
develop technology to allow us to live on new types of environments like under
the water or under the ground is going to be intense. We are all going to have
to work together to make something like this happen. If we were going to decide
to live the future like this I believe it is important to start making the
blueprints and the technology as soon as possible.
