Emma Marris concludes Rambunctious Garden by weighing in on some of the goals that could be strived for. Throughout the book, Marris talked about how nature is not only a “pristine” ideal and it cannot be put back into its original form, or to a certain baseline. Thus there are other goals to focus on when thinking about nature, yet she points out that all these goals cannot be accomplished together, so it is up to people to decide what goal would work best for each area.
I don’t quite agree with the first goal Marris presents, which includes protecting the rights of other species. While it makes sense to try and protect the rights of animals on a certain level, deep ecologists believe that “all living things have intrinsic value and deserve to be protected for their own sake” (154). Many deep ecologists put the rights of the earth on the same level as human rights and claim that humans have a moral obligation to reduce their population and tap into nature less. I don’t believe it is correct to place humans on the same level as non-sentient parts of nature or even other animals and it seems more morally correct that humans should place their own interests above any other aspects of nature.
The second goal Marris mentions is to protect charismatic megafauna. This may be a good idea because people will tend to support and donate to conservation and protection funds if they like the animals that the fund says they are trying to protect. If the fund just mentioned plants that could go extinct or a species of insect, very small amounts of people would actually care about such matters since others might view them as miniscule. On the other hand, discussing the dangers posed to popular species would get more people interested in conserving ecosystems.
Marris talks about several other potential goals, including the idea that nature should be protected just for the aesthetic experience of nature. I agree with this goal because nature is something that many just enjoy watching and spending time in nature. I also agree with Marris’s statements about the beauty found in both artificially and natural created landscapes. Examples such as Niagara Falls and the Sandhill cranes display how the combination of human and natural activity creates an amazing display. Marris sums up the collaboration very well with the line, “This conscious and responsible and joyful cohabitation is the future of our planet, our vibrant, thriving, and rambunctious garden” (170). As Marris sums up her book, I find that I agree with a few of her ideas, such as how nature has been altered and it is very dynamic. I agree that nature should not be forcibly kept static to resemble an arbitrary baseline and there should be different goals that apply to the variety of nature in the world, whether its the small garden in a city or a rural area.
