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It's true that pristine wilderness isn't attainable anymore (climate change, for one thing) but that doesn't mean that we can't use it as a goal of some sort -
by Yawrehto 2y ago
It's true that pristine wilderness isn't attainable anymore (climate change, for one thing) but that doesn't mean that we can't use it as a goal of some sort - that is, getting it closest to what it would be like in the absence of humans (mostly; I'd support compromising on expensive, unlikely-to-work projects such as cloning the woolly mammoth, as that money could be better spent elsewhere).
The book does sound excellent, though.
- perrygeo 2y agoThe thesis of the book (I haven't read it but am familiar with the core ideas) is that our arbitrary distinction between pristine wilderness and human civilization is itself the problem. It's not the goal at all. Pristine wilderness is a modern myth that never existed - humans have always actively managed the landscape to our advantage, and we in turn considered ourselves a part of that landscape. It's only recently that we've developed this insane idea that we are distinct from nature, and that humanity "in here" exists apart from the purity of nature "out there". That isolation is purely imagined - it's as factually wrong as it is spiritually barren and ecologically destructive.