Will Gerber About 150 words
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“The Trouble with Wilderness”
By Will Gerber
William Cronon’s essay “The Trouble with Wilderness” is a critique of post American Romantic views on the idea of wilderness. Cronon claims that the contemporary view of the wild, in which we see nature as a test of individualism and escape from modern responsibilities, is not only historically inaccurate but socially damaging. He refers to pre-nineteenth century accounts of people exploring far from civilization and notes that nearly all of them are marked by fear and awe rather than wonder and contentment. This change in outlook was accompanied by a strict line being drawn between the natural and civilized worlds, with the former being glorified and the latter being demonized.
Cronon’s argument holds up well, as we are in fact prone to holding some stretches of nature in higher standing than others. However, I feel he puts too much emphasis on our intrinsic motivation to maintain beautiful expanses of nature and not enough on our desire for clean air and water for our own physical well being.
I completely agree with your thought about Cronon not putting enough emphasis on the environmentalist desire for limiting pollution. At the end of the piece he does bring up using land sustainably but does not mention the idea of making sure the land is not polluted by human use.
Excellent explanation of Cronon’s argument. However there was little emphasis on how this constructed separation between nature and humankind affected civilization negatively, such as its affect on removal of Native Americans in the United States or the removal of resources for indigenous people in rain forests.