American Camino: Wilderness As It Appears in Opposition to Mythology - Natalea Odell

American Camino: Wilderness As It Appears in Opposition to Mythology 

I never realized “Rather than receiving the hospitality of the constituents of the particular environmental milieu, the survivalist imposes technique and masters the other who is already there (162). I admire this perspective. Even in the most basic sense, humans have the tendency to look at nature as something to use or be taken. I think if we looked closely at our relationship with nature, many of us would see we are simply takers. Very rarely, especially in this age of technology, do we find ourselves giving back. Even some who say they admire nature “use” it, going on hikes, taking aesthetic pictures for their social media feed, etc. But how many people actually give back? How many people pick up litter? Or would that be considered fixing human mistakes? I find this to be the same in the 19th century with accepting “wild” scenery. If it wasn’t aesthetic, then it was strange and spooky. Throughout all of history, humans have tried to change nature to be something for them, whether it be an aesthetic scene or land for food. Because it is so deeply rooted in our brains, hardwired at this point, we should re-think our notions of nature outside of what it does or can do (or be) for us.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kip Redick Example of a Student's Choosing

  This is an example of a topic of the student's choosing.   During the summer of 2022, I attended an environmental encounters trip to Iceland with Dr. Kip Redick, Dr. Joe Balay, and 14 other students. It was a two week trip, but those short two weeks completely changed my life. I learned about more things than I thought was possible in 14 days, and I've never been more interested in learning before. It completely opened my eyes to a whole new perspective, on how the world should live, and what the environment should look like. Everyone was so kind, and they are the most environmental conservative countries.  While there, we did many different activities, including hiking on a glacier. It was so fun, but exhausting and kind of sad at the same time. It was obvious to see how much the glacier have had melted in the past years due to global warming, as there was a large glacial lake at the bottom with melted ice, and the glacier was all rock and sediment before w...
Read more

Kip Redick Example of an Outside Reading Post

 Recently I decided to give the renowned masterpiece by Jon Krakauer known as Into the Wild  another read. Needless to say I was just as heartbroken as the first time I read this novel/watched the 2007 film. I felt the need to discuss the work here simply because I feel it relates to a lot of discussions we have been having in class. I mean think about it, a young man sets out across the country to explore creation as it was intended to be experienced. As the story progresses, I remember being left with a sense of wonder, even thinking things along the lines of "I wonder would what happen if I just decided to do this one day?" I feel it's common knowledge how this story ends by now, with the main protagonist passing away alone in the wilderness, no one around for miles due to accidentally ingesting a poisonous plant. Although I have previously discussed how nature is God's most pure creation and should be treated as such, I feel I need to address a differ...
Read more

Kip Redick Student's Free Choice Example

  Here is an example which would be a free choice entry.    Since last semester, I have been on e-board for the Green Team at CNU. I am the sustainability and research chair and my role is to make campus more green and sustainability which is challenging because CNU tends to be stubborn and not want to change. Although I have been struggling to do my job and change things, I have gotten so much insight from the other Green Team members because we come from different customs and view points. We have bonded over our love for the environment and our need to change. We have our own rituals were we try to connect with nature through meditation, yoga, and reciting poems and sharing ideas. We have a big/little system called Oaks and Acorns in order for new members to know how the group works and become close to each other. Green Team is not dominated by one class, one religion, or one race. That is why I love this organization so much. We are all accepted and brought...
Read more