mjoyce
Joined: 03 Jan 2011 Posts: 19
|
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 10:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I have only been to one national park, Arcadia National Park in Maine. I was six or seven at the time, and I don’t think I really appreciated the experience....
This reading points out the hypocrisy of some of the tourists at national parks. “Oh, I would love to go to a beautiful national park and get closer to nature, as long as I have my RV, DVD player, motorboat, and gas guzzling devices.” National parks make money, and the acceptance of these devices is to attract more tourists. Abbey’s frustration with industrial tourism and how parks changed when the government made them accessable to cars is totally understandable.
I thought I would try to answer some of Will B’s questions:
Does land where humans cannot go exist anywhere?
I know there are a lot of historical sites that people are not allowed to go, because of the fragility/value of artifacts inside (and the need to protect the site), but I’m not so sure about land that humans are not allowed to go on it. I know there is a lot of conservation land that cannot be built upon/altered, but people can walk there if it is publicly owned. Some ecosystems that are being studied by scientists have areas that are closed of to the public. Also, most public lands have restrictions on how it can be used, and these restrictions may include not hunting, not driving on the land, etc.
Would there be value in setting aside land in which humans literally could not go, even on foot?
Since humans are a part of ecosystems, I don’t think taking humans completely out of the equation is the answer. Obviously cars/industrial things are not part of an ecosystem, so removing them would be beneficial.
The value of “untouched wilderness” makes me think about endangered species. If a species is endangered, should humans create a designated area where the species can procreate and repopulate without human interference? Or should humans be more involved (raising the remaining species in captivity)? |
|