The article really got me thinking during discussion. Is it really possible that wilderness could be more of an idea than a physical space? If so, how can we connect with it and how does this interaction relate back to Cronon's idea of wilderness?
In order to investigate this I first had to find a method of connecting with the wilderness around me. I remembered Justin, my GSI, commenting on how he felt that when people tried feeding squirrels in the diag they might have been trying to connect with wilderness. I thought I would give it a shot.
For those of you who are unaware, the University of Michigan has actually had quite a history with its furry friends in the diag. Students at the university have been feeding these guys since 1913. Don't believe me? Take a look at the picture below!
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| Will Caine, a UofM student, feeds a campus squirrel |
This activity has become so popular that there is actually a squirrel feeding club here on campus. The club was formed in 2002 by students Jason Colman and Justin Hyatt. With only five members attending their first meeting the club quickly grew to having over 400 members by 2004. They meet every Sunday at 4pm to feed squirrels and enjoy nature. Pulling directly from their website the Squirrel Club's mission statement is as follows, "We are dedicated to the feeding and welfare of the squirrels on campus, and we publicize this goal through awesome T-Shirts too."
Following in my predecessors footsteps, I was going to see if it was possible to connect with the wilderness by feeding a North American Squirrel.
The next morning, I grabbed some peanuts and headed off the concrete pathway into nature. Snooping around right next to a tree lay my target, a nice plump squirrel. I cautiously approached the little critter, peanut in hand. He stared at me, sniffed, and slowly slinked over. After thirty seconds of deliberation, the little guy grabbed the nut from my hand, staring at me the whole time, and scurried off. Success!
Looking back on the experience, I'd like to discuss how this relates to Cronon's article.
Before I get started, I'd like to address that there are many complexities that can be drawn from this situation. It would be impossible for me to fairly tackle each one in a blog post like this as there have been whole academic careers dedicated to the study of Cronon's thoughts. I'd like to mainly address what Cronon's argument is and how it impacts our lives.
Cronon basically argues that wilderness can be thought of as an idea with two parts - sublime and frontier. The sublime refers to the religiousness and spirituality that is often attached to wilderness. The frontier describes the ruggedness and wildness of the nature around us. This idea itself can be applied to the nature in our everyday lives rather than a physical space dedicated as "wilderness".
When I fed the squirrel a peanut, I actually did feel somewhat connected with the wilderness around me. It was a pretty sublime experience. According to Cronon, these everyday interactions with wilderness are the sort of thing that we need to begin opening our mind to. In his article he states,
Wilderness gets us into trouble only if we imagine that this experience of wonder and otherness is limited to the remote corners of the planet, or that it somehow depends on pristine landscapes we ourselves do not inhabit. Nothing could be more misleading. 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 a saw.My experience with the squirrel showed me that wilderness is in fact more of an idea than an actual physical space. I was surrounded by an urban setting, yet I still felt a natural connection with another living thing. Cronon argues that in order to appreciate wilderness in our everyday life like this, we need to start seeing the wonder in the small things around us. There is no need to venture into a wild forest to feed a squirrel because the squirrel in the diag is just as "wild" as the squirrel in the forest.
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| Isn't he cute? |
This is because when we don't view the trees in our city as wilderness we are essentially stating that wilderness is limited to certain geographical areas that we must preserve, instead of viewing the entirety of the world as something that must be preserved.
So as far as feeding squirrels goes, it is definitely possible to see Cronon's wilderness idea emerge, but there comes many political implications from doing so. How does my feeding a squirrel affect it's natural diet? How does this change the squirrel population in the diag? Do these changes justify my right to feed squirrels? All are things that must be thought about in order to further our understanding of modern day wilderness preservation according to Cronon.
I'd be curious to hear all of your thoughts on the post? Do you agree with my interpretation of Cronon? What are other modern day implications of environmentalism based on the wilderness idea? Comment below and let me know.
(Credits: Picture of Will Caine was taken by J.D. LaRue, Photo's of Kevin feeding a squirrel were taken by Javier Torres, Quotes of Cronon were taken from The Trouble With Wilderness, Picture of Squirrel was in public domain.)
I immediately loved this post because I love squirrels. Not just because of their adorable aesthetic qualities, but because I just think they’re really interesting. Almost everyday I stop for a few seconds on the way to class or to the library and observe the squirrels for a while. While this may just be an expert procrastinating technique, it has invoked a lot of curiosity within me. What are they looking for with their little sniffy noses? How do they remember where they put their nuts? How do they decide who is the dominant squirrel? What do they think of us?
ReplyDeleteBefore I get carried away with my unnatural squirrel obsession, let’s talk about the implications of having a squirrel-watching club. One of my friends once said, “These squirrels are far too friendly. I’m going to make an anti-squirrel club where we just shoot darts at squirrels so they learn to stay away from humans and our food.” As shocking as that idea is, he may have some merit when he says that the squirrels are too friendly. Even though it’s a depressing thought, humans do not always have squirrels best interest at heart. Or they might unintentionally feed them something they cannot eat. Squirrel poison.
Let’s go back to these people that intentionally might hurt squirrels. As Cronon said, we humans have a tendency to view ourselves as separate from nature. We view it as something untouched and pure that needs to be saved. We do not have a working theory on how to live with and within nature, maintaining it as we do. Instead, we have conservation groups who aim to “save” nature.
While this view that nature is sublime and pure leads some to work to save it, it also leads some people to completely separate themselves from it and thus not see how mistreating it affects them. In recent years we’ve learned more and more that human action does in fact affect the environment, which in turn affects us, but a lot of people don’t know or don’t care. They don’t see how a little squirrel on the diag has anything to do with them so they’ll feed one bad food, or blow smoke in one’s face.
One good question to ask yourself is: why does the squirrel club appeal to people? Is it for entertainment or natural curiosity about squirrels? If you ask me, I think that the squirrel club almost emphasizes the belief that we are separate from nature by putting squirrels on display as entertainment. Just let the squirrels be.
Erin,
DeleteThanks for taking the time to comment on my blog post. You brought up some really good points.
I think you are on to something when you say that the squirrel club is more for entertainment purposes. You can somewhat see this in the squirrel club's mission statement:
"We are dedicated to the feeding and welfare of the squirrels on campus, and we publicize this goal through awesome T-Shirts too."
I'm all for the welfare of our campus squirrels, but the part about publicizing it through selling "awesome" t-shirts does seem to suggest that this club is more entertainment based. So maybe you are right. Maybe the reason people join the squirrel club is to say, "Hey, I'm in a squirrel feeding club! Look how cool I am!"
In this case,I think that the participants in the club would have a mindset viewing themselves separate from nature as you said. Which would mean they were going against the wilderness idea and constraining wilderness to a physical space.
Whatever the case may be, this is an interesting point to think about. Thanks for your comment!