Part of the problem is that Americans can't seem to detangle wilderness from nature. Not all nature is wilderness. And, 40 years of Big Dude Adventure advertising hasn't helped -- god spare me as the guys in the matching fishing shirts descend on us for another summer of Hemingway/Maclean cosplay here on the Yellowstone.
Hey Ethan - great post. I sincerely appreciate and wholeheartedly agree with your perspective. It's beyond frustrating that we are stuck debating whether or not there is such a thing as wild nature. I also loved Treuer's article. It's nothing new for a faction of the Left to be throwing "the wild" under the bus (which the Right is happy to pile onto), but it has reached a new fever pitch in this era of social reckoning. Treuer struck a great balance. J Drew Lanham has done a similarly good job in many of his essays. Rich Holschuh of the Atowi Project in Vermont is taking a similar approach in his talks. My friend Germaine White of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes has long shared the value of wild places with the broader public. And there are so many others. But some writers and academics seem unable to get past the notion that it is a continuum, as you put it. And we keep seeing people misinterpret the word "untrammeled," which will probably be the topic of one of your future blog posts, I'm guessing (or hoping!). Thanks for your great writing.
Thanks so much, Zack. I'm glad to hear the post resonated with someone in the trenches, as it were. You're absolutely right that it's a question of balance—one reason why I think it's so important to move beyond simple conceptualizations and caricatures of each other's views. How we talk about wilderness has real consequences, and can do real harm, in many directions.
Part of the problem is that Americans can't seem to detangle wilderness from nature. Not all nature is wilderness. And, 40 years of Big Dude Adventure advertising hasn't helped -- god spare me as the guys in the matching fishing shirts descend on us for another summer of Hemingway/Maclean cosplay here on the Yellowstone.
Hey Ethan - great post. I sincerely appreciate and wholeheartedly agree with your perspective. It's beyond frustrating that we are stuck debating whether or not there is such a thing as wild nature. I also loved Treuer's article. It's nothing new for a faction of the Left to be throwing "the wild" under the bus (which the Right is happy to pile onto), but it has reached a new fever pitch in this era of social reckoning. Treuer struck a great balance. J Drew Lanham has done a similarly good job in many of his essays. Rich Holschuh of the Atowi Project in Vermont is taking a similar approach in his talks. My friend Germaine White of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes has long shared the value of wild places with the broader public. And there are so many others. But some writers and academics seem unable to get past the notion that it is a continuum, as you put it. And we keep seeing people misinterpret the word "untrammeled," which will probably be the topic of one of your future blog posts, I'm guessing (or hoping!). Thanks for your great writing.
Thanks so much, Zack. I'm glad to hear the post resonated with someone in the trenches, as it were. You're absolutely right that it's a question of balance—one reason why I think it's so important to move beyond simple conceptualizations and caricatures of each other's views. How we talk about wilderness has real consequences, and can do real harm, in many directions.