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Peter Hollen

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Mary Traester
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Writing 150
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9/15/14

An Effort to Prevent Another Martha

In Colonial America, the wilderness was truly wild. No skyscrapers or massive


agricultural fields blanketed the landscape; instead trees and vegetation stretched as far as the eye
could see and the biodiversity flourished. One aspect of this wildness was Passenger Pigeon.
This bird, thought to be the most abundant bird ever known by man, was seen in flocks of 3.7
billion individuals that would darken the skies for days at a time during migration periods.With
the 19th century pigeon population at an estimated 600 billion, sadly, hunting, pollution and loss
in habitat forced near extinction for the abundant species in only 100 years. . By 1914, the last
Passenger Pigeon in America, Martha, passed away and the species became extinct. Ecologist
Christopher Solomon examined the American role in cases like Marthas and other examples of
environmental degradation in his article Rethinking the Wild. In his piece, he admitted that
humans are guilty of incredible harm on the environment and have an ethical responsibility to
protect the wildness of the wild. He went on to describe two roles that humans could fill in
order to protect nature. One role, the guardian, would protect nature and let natural processes
fix human error, while the other role of gardener would take a more proactive role and
intervene in the natural order in order to fix these problems. Solomon heavily supported the role
of the gardener, however he failed to see that both of these roles only encourage unsustainable
human activities by strengthening clean up programs. Therefore, ecologists should

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instead focus their efforts on attacking the problem at its source, humans, in order to ensure
movement into the future of a sustainable American society.
While the role of the gardener provides a fast-acting and potentially beneficial solution,
the human lack of understanding concerning the environment creates too much risk to when
attempting to interfere in natural processes, uncertain of these human efforts and their potential
negative ramifications. Biologists and ecologists have just barely cracked the complex natural
cycles that allow nature to operate. While some systems like the carbon cycle or a food chain in a
certain ecosystem have been highly studied, there is very little known about the synergistic and
complex relationships between these systems. This does not including the independent systems
that are still not understood in the scientific community. In his article, Solomon describes the
implementation of irrigation systems, the relocation of animals and the thinning of trees as
examples for the intervention in nature in the gardener role. However he does not take into
account the risk factors that come with all of these processes. For example, irrigation systems
can cause salinization and water shortages. While the relocation of animals intrudes natural
order. Such as the Cane frog (native to South America) was introduced as a pest control in other
tropical regions, but soon overtook the natural order and caused the extinction of several species
of insects (National Geographic 1). This is just one example. The title of gardener brings the
connotation of superficiality and human control. However wasn't Solomon commenting on
preserving the wildness of the wild in the first place? While this solution may provide short
term results that clean up human wrongs in the environment, it violates the idea of nature and
natural order.This also touches on the issue that humans cannot be the gardener of a garden
that they do not fully or truly understand.

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Although ecological intervention does not provide a long term solution for environmental
preservation, it is absolutely necessary to step into the role of the guardian to some degree. The
worlds most beautiful and fragile ecosystems require complete isolation of human activity. The
Wilderness Act of 1964 did just that as it sought to establish a hard green line between nature
and human enterprise. This specific legislation has allowed many ecosystems to recover after the
environmental degradation of the industrial revolution. However, nature has proved to be more
interconnected than ecologists previously predicted. Solomon asserts that human effect has left
no place unmolested, even the most unpeopled corners of the planet have been blemished by
the human hand. History has proven that protection alone does not fully resolve the issue. If it
did, ecologists would not be faced this problem in the first place. One example of the
interconnectedness of the worlds ecosystems is the effect global warming has on coral reefs. In
only one year, 16% of the worlds coral reefs have disappeared because of warmer water
temperatures and high levels of dissolved carbon dioxide. The loss of this habitat leaves
thousands of aquatic organisms homeless, which affects food chains on a global scale. One case
is the loss of predatory fish because of their dependency on the coral reefs. This loss also effects
secondary and tertiary level predators (NOAA 1). Another example is the 14 billion pounds of
garbage dumped into the ocean this year (Kostigen 1). Water is circulated through its elemental
cycle and is dispersed all over the planet. Humans cannot guard ecosystems from
contamination of the one element that all life is built on. These are just a couple of the numerous
examples of cause-and-effect relationships. Despite the United States efforts along with other
world powers, no hard green line has been established to protect the environment. The
communion of the worlds ecosystems create complex relationships that humans cannot prevent.

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These cause-and-effect relationships create a fundamental need to do more than just protect and
guard the environment from human enterprise. Ecologists must take a stance that prevents such
incredible stress on the ecosystems of the earth.
Attacking the problem that Solomon points out at the source of environmental stress can
provide a long term solution in which the roles of guardian and gardener cannot provide. As
explained in the previous paragraphs, while each role possesses benefits, both have weaknesses
that do not allow them to provide a satisfactory solution into the distant future. America does not
have the man power nor the resources to clean up every human effect on the environment. It is
irrational to clean up these effects when they can be prevented in the first place. Preventing the
problem before its effect reduces any kind of risk that clean up roles and processes generate,
especially the role of the gardener. The creation of sustainable technologies can provide
opportunities for jobs and future economical benefits more so than any kind of environmental
clean up. Prevention of environmental stress provides a solution for ecologists that will create
sustainable environmental practices into the future, all while avoiding the risks of intervention.
Confronting the problem of environmental degradation at the source of human action
provides the most sustainable and potentially beneficial strategy to change human interaction
with nature. However, attacking the problem at its source must have some kind of definition. It
can be defined as efforts to reduce human effect on the environment by changing processes that
cause the stress on nature in the first place. Solomon described the roles as clean up systems that
would happen to alleviate the weight of past and future human activity. However neither of these
roles limited or changed human action. With no change in unsustainable processes and a growing
population, the American society will not be able to keep up with the stress that is being put on

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nature. Preventing environmental stress can interrupt many of the different factors that contribute
to harmful effects on nature. First and foremost an alternative energy source must be found that
can support human endeavors. An example of attacking the source of this problem, would be to
write legislation that forces companies to put 2.5% of profits towards research for more
sustainable production that does not involve fossil fuels. Legislation could encourage more
sustainable energy sources by taxing the use of fossil fuels, subsidizing alternative energy and
reducing subsidizations on crude oil. However, these are just a few ways in which legislation
could attack environmental problems at their source. Other examples could include more
sustainable processes of waste management, logging, use of plastic bags, agriculture and
operation of SUV vehicles. There are a great number of other human activities that have the
capacity to be shaped into more environmentally friendly processes. This strategy of
environmental protection provides moves and advancements into the future of technology. Clean
up strategies only delay any kind of technological advancement. Earths resources are limited by
current human populations and it is absolutely necessary to find new sustainable resources that
can support future populations. Even after the large amount of environmental stress since the
industrial revolution, nature has stayed durable and enduring to some degree. Beautiful
ecosystems have withstood human stress and wrongs and plentiful resources still remain.
However this durability will not last if more and more stress in put on nature as the human
population increases. Therefore, actions must be taken to prevent this stress rather than cleaning
it up.
However, Solomons proposed roles must also be in effect to clean up immediate
environmental abasement. The earlier paragraphs were not disproving the effectiveness of these

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roles in the immediate future; the arguments only illuminate these roles inability to present
strategies that will create a more sustainable human society. After all, Solomons goal is to find a
blueprint to preserve nature. Stopping unsustainable human action provides the long term
changes needed for this transformation. However, the roles of guardian and gardener are
needed to take action in the immediate future. The legislation and resources needed to improve
technology will take some time to develop, but Solomons roles can provide short term solutions.
More land and ecosystems need to be protected and natural intervention is needed to clean up
human error. The most important part of the coupling of these strategies is the education of
American citizens. Most Americans do not understand the effects of their households and work
on the environment. This education could assist in motivating citizens to comply to Solomons
goal. Education combined with the three strategies summarized earlier could be a very effective
way to end environmental mistreatment.
Changing human action, in itself, provides advancement into the future. Neither of
Solomons proposed approaches provide a sustainable future. They may have their benefits on
immediate problems, however they will be unable to keep pace with human growth in population
and environmental stress if the unsustainable processes do not change. The weight on the
environment is too great to ignore. In essence, Americans and ecologists are not making the
environment the priority by listing it as something that only needs to be cleaned up and not
protected in the first place. There is no imminent risk in changing human action as there is in
intervening in natures processes. Solomon is searching for a strategy that will satisfy human
moral responsibility to preserve the environment for future generations to come. Changing
human action provides the biggest investment into the future. Hopefully, humans can preserve

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the beautiful things that the environment has provided for this generation. Nature has provided
for Americans for hundreds of years and it will continue to be the foundation of American
success. It is the ethical responsibility of American citizens to preserve the beauty of the
environment so that generations to come will not have to experience the kind of losses in nature
such as Martha and her kind as the billions blacken the sky and exemplify the wildness of the
wild.

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Works Cited

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"Cane Toads, Cane Toad Pictures, Cane Toad Facts - National Geographic." National
Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.

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Kostigen, Thomas. "October 2014." Discover Magazine. N.p., 10 July 2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
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Solomon, Christopher. "Rethinking the Wild." The New York Times. The New York Times, 05
July 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.

"Value of Coral Ecosystems." NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program: Values. N.p., n.d.
Web. 15 Sept. 2014.

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