Ted Steinberg\u2019s work Down to Earth: Nature\u2019s Role in American History<\/i> definitely made me think more about the greater themes in this class, and helped me solidify my constantly fluid opinions I\u2019ve developed this semester. This is a perfect book for our class to finish the semester with, as it ties everything we have studied together with how it connects the environment and the history of the United States.\u00a0 While one could argue that we should have started the course with this book, I don\u2019t believe I would have appreciated Steinberg\u2019s work as much without having read the previous works in this class.\u00a0 Steinberg makes a number of bold proclamations about how the environment shaped American history (ie: the environment in Indonesia impacting America, as Brandon mentions below).\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe I would have bought some of the connections he made when I first entered this course, however, because of how we have looked at environmental history from multiple angles, I was thoroughly convinced by Steinberg\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n
While we have spent a lot of time in this class discussing things such as what the term natural means to us and how it has changed, I believe the biggest thing we should take away from this class is a greater understanding of how the natural world and environment (regardless of how you define them) have shaped the world we live in.\u00a0 People usually worry about the future of the environment (as they should), yet they overlook the role it has had in the past, and we were able to fully appreciate that in this class, especially with Steinberg\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
I really enjoyed Manish\u2019s discussion of space in his blog post, as the closing space in the modern world is why the environment is changing drastically so quickly, with human\u2019s ability to close the gap between spaces with advanced transportation.\u00a0 I found it interesting as the idea of humans closing the gap in their westward expansion and privatization of the land applies specifically to my final paper.\u00a0 When the government built the Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam), they felt that they could privatize and expand in Arizona and Nevada despite the desert environments by building a man-made reservoir.\u00a0 While they were able to help create some semblance of sustainable life, their lack of foresight into how a fully grown city in that area would not be able to thrive in an environment despite what the dam provided.\u00a0 Just like \u201cKing Cotton came back to bite [the South] in the end\u201d (98), the government\u2019s hubris and desire to close the space has resulted in a city that has struggled through water scarcity issues.<\/p>\n
While I have (and still do) see nature as an interaction between humans and the environment and cities as a new form of nature, the lack of space complicates this greatly.\u00a0 I think the modern environment is one in which human\u2019s have a greater role, and cities have developed as a result, however the questions Manish poses and Steinberg doesn\u2019t answer as to \u201cWhat should we do with things such as trash? Where would pollution go?\u201d are not answerable as long as humans continue to privatize space and insist on a more dominant role in the greater environment.\u00a0 Human\u2019s greater role in nature is inevitable, but people need to start living in greater harmony with the other elements of the natural world or soon they will feel the consequences. While I don\u2019t have an answer to the issue with the closing amount of space, I don\u2019t believe preserving national parks or doing anything similar that separates humans and the environment completely is a good idea.\u00a0 Somehow, human\u2019s need to reach a point in which they interact with the environment rather than dominate it, but this is a pipe-dream, and most likely the environment will fight back at some point and human\u2019s will feel the consequences (maybe the crumbling ozone?).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ted Steinberg\u2019s work Down to Earth: Nature\u2019s Role in American History definitely made me think more about the greater themes in this class, and helped me solidify my constantly fluid opinions I\u2019ve developed this semester. This is a perfect book for our class to finish the semester with, as it ties everything we have studied … <\/p>\n