Patrick Jones                                                               Approximately 200 Words

pwj2@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Science Writing

The Curb

When I looked at the parking curb separating the path and the grass behind Milne Library, I saw a clear division between the civilized and natural worlds. Cronon’s view, however, is that the division I saw is a fallacy due to the expectations society has created for what is considered natural. As Cronon himself says, “By teaching us to fetishize sublime places and wide open country, these peculiarly American ways of thinking about wilderness encourage us to adopt too high a standard for what counts as ‘nature.’”, meaning that the sublime and frontier aspects of nature has created high expectations for the wilderness that most of nature, including the grass on the other side of the curb, does not meet. I agree with Cronon’s idea about our expectation for natural and after reading “The Trouble with Wilderness”, my view of the curb as a divide has changed. I feel we’re starting to change our ways, and this curb is an example of us beginning to protect the less sublime aspects of nature.

Racheal Devine                                   about 250 words

INTD: Science Writing

rmd20@geneseo.edu

Cronon and the Vines

Everyday we walk by the vines upon Sturges and the Union, some people admire them but most probably don’t even take the time to notice. It could be just that they’re in a rush but more likely they are just blinded to seeing the true nature of the vines. In “The Trouble with Wilderness” by William Cronon, he shares his opinion about this by using other examples. Cronon agrees when he writes, “The tree in the garden is in reality no less other, no less worthy of our wonder and respect, than the tree in an ancient forest that has never known an ax or saw.” Pointing out that nature is all the same in the end but we fail to notice that. I would agree but at the same time many people plant a wide arrange of nature in order to be able to see the beauty and wilderness each day in their backyard. Cronon also points out that nowadays people think of wilderness as a place where humans have not spread their disease. This makes me think that people do think about their contribution to that  and to make themselves feel better they also would plant things to ease their conscience.

Daniel Biskup

INTD 105

Djb29@geneseo.edu

9/21/16

My object, the greenhouse behind ISC, inspires deep thought between the relationship between man and nature. The fusing of the mechanical and the natural in one object makes me think of why such a place exists. The greenhouse shows that mankind feels a need to take care of nature. However, why do they need to take care of it? Mankind simultaneously threatens nature as it tries to nurture it. A paradox forms showing that our intervention will only cause damage that we will try to solve by further intervening.

Based on his opinions shown in “The Trouble with Wilderness”, William Cronon would most likely agree that this paradox is a problematic result of the relationship between mankind and nature. In his essay, he forms this ironic relationship between mankind and nature, arguing it is formed by the idea of wilderness. Mankind finds itself needing to venture out into wilderness, yet it defines wilderness as something completely isolated from mankind. He detests the implicit logical extremes placed in this separation between mankind and nature such as “if nature dies because we enter it, then the only way to save nature is to kill ourselves.”

Both Cronon and I come to similar conclusions that the only way for both humanity and nature to survive in this world is to tear down this separation and realize that nature and mankind are intertwined and not separate at all. Instead of trying to separate the two, such as in the wilderness mindset he deconstructs in his piece, society should try and understand how to coexist with nature. With this view the greenhouse instead shows itself as a step towards this coexistence, rather than an attempt by mankind to preserve what it decided must stay separate.

Emma Cooke                                                                 Approximately 200 words

erc8@geneseo.edu

INTD 105 Science Writing

Bruno Latour and Sturges Hall

Latour’s job and interests involve science studies which “are talking not about the social contexts and the interests of power, but about their involvement with collectives and objects” (Latour 4). By stating this Latour implies that he sees himself as a “translator”, meaning he understands the ways in which objects and ideas are connected through many disciplines. Therefore, I believe Latour would see Sturges Hall as a hybrid between human and nonhuman. However, he also acknowledges that our world functions best with the existence of both translators and purifiers. Purifiers are those who create zones of human and nonhuman which are distinctly different. To these types of thinkers Sturges Hall is a purely human construct, the controlled growth of the ivy around the windows shows that the ivy is not truly natural. Latour finds it crucial to keep both of these viewpoints distinctive but equally present in our society. In my opinion, what is truly fascinating about Sturges is the reestablishment of the natural world to a man-made structure, a reminder that the human and natural worlds can coexist. This way of thinking acknowledges the human and natural as both separate and connected at once.

Aubrie Cross About 150-200 words
INTD: Science Writing
ac46@geneseo.edu

In William Cronons piece, “The Trouble with Nature,” he argues that we need to change our viewpoint on the wilderness. He believes that all nature is important and we shouldn’t just focus on monumental sites being the only “nature” around us. “In its raw state, it had little or nothing to offer civilized men and women.” Cronon argues that before we made something of the nature around us, it had no purpose in relation to humans. During the 18th century Cronon said that humans were afraid of the wilderness, that there was this separation between humans and nature. Nowadays, things are very different because there isn’t that division anymore. However, we have taken nature for granted.

On the Geneseo campus there is a tree that sits in the middle of the buildings and it is known as the Greek Tree. The reason it has been given this name is because for many years now sororities and fraternities have been in competition trying to paint the tree to its highest point possible. Before this became a tradition, the tree was just like any other tree. Since the tree wasn’t planted on a monumental site we didn’t see its beauty or significance. Therefore, when this tradition started the sororities and fraternities figured they could just impose themselves on it. No harm, no foul. If this tree was placed in a state park would people still damage it and paint themselves all over it? Cronons ideas correlate with the tree because it shows that unless the nature around us is in a popular place we don’t see a problem with imposing ourselves on it.

Logan Steffens                                                                                about 200 words

lts6@geneseo.edu

Cronon believes that wilderness was made to fit human design and desires. He would say that humans had put the rock outside Suffolk hall there and its purpose is to fit the needs of those same people. In its own way the campus that we are on is wild. He states “we too easily imagine that what we behold is Nature when in fact we see the reflection of our own unexamined longings and desires”(Cronon, 84). He states here that nature is not really natural at all. We created it by our own design and use it as an escape from everyday life. For instance, for people that live in an urban environment going out to the country may be their way of experiencing nature. However, somebody that lives there may see the man made farms and think there is nothing about the country that is natural. That person would have to go to a much more secluded place to believe that they are truly in the wilderness. The rock outside of Suffolk hall is much more than just a rock it is a part of the connection that exists between humans and the environment that we live in.

Juniper Tremper
Scientific Writing 105-19
Geneseo, NY
~180 words

Efforts to Make Amends Are No Substitute for the Original
Juniper Tremper

Donna Haraway would not appreciate the tree stumps outside the townhouses. Her paper describes the complexity of a world that does not struggle with the boundaries created by humans and  refers to the labels we designate for genders, but the tree stumps are their own imposed boundaries. Like the distinction between genders, the tree stumps only exist because we put them there, and they serve no practical purpose. The argument Haraway writes about applies to the conceptual construction of something (gender boundaries), but even her points about the inability to return to a unity as perfect as the original can be applied directly to the physical construction of the trees in the townhouse dirt plots. As she would have noticed, the development of the paved strip between the buildings created a boundary between nature and ourselves, and our attempt to reintroduce nature in the form of a selective planting of trees has ultimately made no improvement, because “no construction is whole” and while the boundary exists between us and the beauty of nature, there’s no way to just overlook our distance apart.

Robert Romano

9/21/16

Cronon and The Wilderness

“Without our quite realizing it, wilderness tends to privilege some parts of nature at the expense of others.” If Cronon for some odd reason was to be on the Geneseo campus and pass by The Greek Tree I think that he could have wrote another piece just on this experience. Cronon would first appreciate the tree because it resembles the college’s observance of nature and the use of nature to socially connect with everyone on campus. Cronon would also criticize the tree because one of his main arguments is that humans should worship all of the ordinary nature around us and not just the unique, picturesque views that nature is perceived to be. Cronon makes it clear in his work, “Trouble with the Wilderness” that humans make the mistake of only looking for mighty canyons than humble marshes because we look for the divinity in wilderness and feel that the everyday wilderness has no divinity to it. Cronon would tell me that I should have admired all of the trees that I passed by on my way to admire The Greek Tree.

Paul Weissfellner

Prof. Fenn

INTD 105-19: Science Writing

September 21, 2016

Wild Outside the Wilderness:

Cronon and the Rock Outside Onondaga Hall

In The Trouble With Wilderness, William Cronon describes the history of “wilderness,” and the process that it underwent from being perceived as godforsaken land to representing nature itself and national renewal. He denounces the negligence towards nature that the idea of some far off idealized “true nature” promotes. He implores the reader to recognize the beauty and value of nature wherever it can be found.

In light of this, Cronon would wholeheartedly support the presence of the rock outside Onondaga hall. When Cronon states that “there is nothing natural about the concept of wilderness,” (95) he is protesting against a paradigm of thinking about nature. The rock supports Cronon’s subversion of cultural and philosophical norms by blending the natural and the unnatural, but in a significantly different way than wilderness does. The rock, whether placed intentionally or not, has blurred boundaries; it is both wild, as an object created by natural processes, and constructed, as a part of the larger campus as a whole. Cronon implores us to appreciate nature wherever it can be found, not just in the wilderness (103). The rock’s presence on campus, in such a prominent location, brings each passerby into a world where the human and nonhuman, the natural and the constructed, can exist side by side.

Simon Lee                                                                     Approximately  150 Words

Shl5@geneseo.edu

Scientific Writing 105-19

Haraway on The Greek Tree

By Simon Lee

In ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’, Dona Haraway states that the boundary between man and nature has been thoroughly breached.  Haraway asserts “… many people no longer feel the need for separation [of Humans and Nature]”(Haraway 293). Haraway is trying to say that as time goes on the boundary that separated man from nature is slowly disappearing and that this is not a bad thing. Haraway would feel that The Greek Tree is a perfect representation of this unity between man and nature. She would say that because the students have painted the tree and made it a landmark of Geneseo, they have protected it from any future harm that may come to it. Haraway would believe that the distinction between man and nature is hard to see and that this is one step closer for us to realize that we are cyborgs in this world.