After reading Chapter 9, I couldn’t help but think of the dichotomy that humans have concerning bird conservation and appreciation. In one frame, humankind has an undeniable reverence to birds and the resources they provide us. For example, the author cites how the American Indians who inhabited the region before colonists celebrated and cherished eagles, so much so that there was folklore connecting the two. The American Indians had an intangible commitment to birds, as they believed that they had to ask the Mother Eagle for permission to hunt her fellow eagles. This type of respect that the Natives had for nature is certainly unparalleled to our core values today.
Colonists, after displacing the Natives and claiming the New World as their own, inherited the land and passed down their values. Those values, however, were much different and did not leave much room for respecting the environment and other animals. In fact, this is made clear with the author’s note about how entire villages and towns in the New York area would congregate to shoot down thousands of pigeons for pure sport and entertainment. The colonists’ actions deviate entirely from previously held believes. Instead of cherishing the birds, colonists were instead using them for primarily sport and entertainment purposes.
Fast forward to the Information Age that we live in today, and we can see that our values regarding the environment and conservation may be finding a center. We now realize, with a well-said line at the end of the chapter, that “What has been destroyed can never be created again” (McCully 145). We are now becoming more determined to preserve what have become rapidly endangered species. In addition, when books such as City at the Water’s Edge tell accounts of formerly existent species, they convey to the readers that if we don’t try to change our lifestyles and cultural habits, there may be a lot more to lose. There is now becoming a clearer message that there are consequences for our actions, in the short and long-term. As these consequences become more apparent, they encourage us to shift more toward the American Indian values and how they treasured and honored the resources and animals they reaped and how the environment is worth preserving.
