Monkey Wrench Gang

This book made me think a lot of the methods used in bringing attention to the environment. The book made me think a lot and the in class presentations also got me thinking a lot of what everyday people to bring attention to their causes. Perhaps it was irony but when I got home I turned out and it was a rerun of the show whale wars in which everyday people use nonviolent ways to protect whales from illegal whaling. As I watched the men try to take on those massive ships on an inflatable single engine raft I understood the authors fascination and distaste for machines.

A Sand Country Almanac

Aldo Leopold in my opinion was a man who deserved to be admired for his accomplishments. He went from one side of the spectrum to the other in one life time and for most people that is really hard to do. He grew up a hunter and an arrogant one at that. Still, even I his blood thirsty days, he was still a man of honor. Giving himself kill limits and only hunting certain animals at certain parts of the day. A trait I could seriously admire. In his story thinking like a mountain he describes the event that changed his life. After shooting a wolf and staring into her eyes as she died, it changed his entire outlook of everything. He then began fighting to preserve the very life he once so proudly hunted. He accomplished much in his life and even his death was a very dramatic symbol of what he stood for. He died from a heart attack while he fought to fight back a wild fire. The flames engulfed and consumed his body long before anyone even realized he was missing. When he was atlas found his arms were crossed and he lay perfectly straight, he’d died peacefully and with a clean conscious. He lived his life by what he believed he was brought here to do and died fighting for what he thought was right. He died feeling fulfilled and in peace, we should all be so fortunate.

My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

I didn’t think much of Muir’s book, it seemed like he was a bit too judgmental about a whole list of things. I especially didn’t like his attitude about Native Americans. I think there is more to be envied about their lives than just clean air and water. You think someone who had such a big problem with society would have felt a bit more connected to the people who were so closely connected he claimed to love. I did like his description of the animals and their roles in the environment. The in class conversation also got me thinking, could the black ant really be the ruler of his realm? I think so; there is great power in numbers. A single ant would be nothing more than an annoyance, but an army could bring the biggest man to his knees.

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian

This book made me think a lot of the topic of exploiting nature. When they brought the topic of how the land could be divided so that people could come settle the west I’m sure they never thought of the consequences it would have. Even in the in class lecture when we spoke the resources and whether or not the west could support so many people it seemed irrelevant to me. If there is one thing history has taught us is that man will find a way to survive anywhere where survival might be profitable. It also seems that from the second of their arrival they manipulate the environment into whatever seems to suit them best; stripping down forests, damning rivers, burning away brush to make room for livestock to grow. They even go as far as hunting down and wiping out entire native species just so that they could bring non-native species in. I wonder if they ever really stopped to think of what the consequences would be in the long run. Still, you can’t really hold them entirely responsible because even in modern days things haven’t changed. Areas where I used to play when I was little have been turned into housing subdivisions and are local river is so polluted I would never think of swimming in it much less drink from it. I know this isn’t entirely relative to the book but that’s what it made me think of… here is a visual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tlmD5_mtEM&feature=related

Exploration of the Colorado River

This book really got me thinking and wondering what it must have felt to do something like what Powell did. To go out into the unknown without knowing what to expect; to not know who or what he might meet. It seems like back in those days a man would go out into the woods whenever he needed to find himself. Now things have changed so radically. Nothing seems to be wild anymore. Even when people do go camping in the woods it’s in a wildlife refuge that’s under constant monitoring by park rangers and such. They have cell phones, GPS systems, and readymade food. They didn’t have to live off the land and they know exactly what their getting into. It would have been pretty cool to be able to go somewhere the rest of the world knows nothing about and to do so with nothing more than my own skills. Kind of like that show man vs. wild, but with no camera’s.

Thoreau's journal

I was assigned the later pages of Thoreau’s journal and quite frankly I found the man to be a bit strange. He spoke of nature very passionately but at times it seemed a bit exaggerated; like if he used nature as a way to hide behind his problems therefore he had to give it a higher meaning. It also seemed as though he must have been a very lonely man. There was scarcely any talk of friends or even of any kind of female companionship. As far as I could tell the few friends he did have didn’t seem to care for him very much. They seem to spend much of their time cutting him down about his obsession with nature and even his cheap cloths. Which is another thing I found strange it was obvious that he didn’t have money but why did he feel like he had to justify being broke, like when he spoke of why he had the cheap cloths he had. i did however enjoy how he was for the mostly consistant throughout the years something that i thought was special. Most people's attitudes tend to be constantly changing now a days.