In the past couple of years, human development has increased exponentially and has touched upon many aspects of the Earth. Thus, the effects of the development has increased exponentially. To match the effects of their development, humans have increased the concentration done on conversations. But chapters one and two of Rambunctious Garden questions as too how we have misinterpreted the methods and thought processes of these actions. What we see as nature is something that is not touched upon by humanity. That is why environmentalists and conservationists are trying to reach baselines, which is “a zero point before all negative changes.” However, Marris believes that there is no such thing. Instead of thinking that way, Marris quotes, ” We can find beauty in nature, even if signs of humanity are present.”
Marris expresses her thoughts on baselines in chapters one and two. She writes, “ecosystems are in constant dance, as their components compete, react, evolve, migrate, and form new communities.” It is nearly impossible to look back in time to see how the environment was like beforehand. Even through using all the available resources like fossil pollen records and climate information, we still can not see what it looked like thousands of years ago. She also points out that, ” A historically faithful ecosystem is necessarily a heavily managed ecosystem. It is not the “pristine wilderness” many nature lovers look to as the ideal… If we define wild as “unmanaged,” then the ecosystems that look the most pristine are least likely to be truly wild.” As we live in a world heavily operated by humans, it is very unlikely to find an area that is untouched. And as we block off areas for conservations, we are still being involved in the process of changing the area to before humans changed it.
Another idea that Marris expresses is the definition of “nature.” People picture nature, they see those magazine pictures of forests, deserts, and oceans. However, people fail to realize that nature is all around them. The small park a few blocks down from your house is also nature. We are too focused on our own definition of nature that we fail to recognize the nature surrounding us. We think we live in a place isolated away from nature, and feel the need the travel away from the city to experience nature, when it fact it is always beside us.
In chapters one and two, Marris comments on the traditional views of conservation. She wrote, “This faith that native ecosystems are better than changed ecosystems is so pervasive in fields like ecology that it has become an unquestioned assumption.” And she ends with, “The cult of pristine wilderness is a cultural construction, and a relatively new one.” People think that nature is always better than what people themselves have made throughout the years. I agree with Marris and her views against the traditional method of conservation. People think on extremes, whether it is their definition of nature or in trying to go back to the baselines. We need to incorporate new methods in embracing humanity’s work on nature and work from their in finding new methods of conservation.
