For me, wilderness both resonates of human potential and also describes the ultimate expression of humanity. No other state of relations can be more admirable. Far from the notion of humankind and wilderness being mutually exclusive, I believe we must rather aspire to change for the benefit of wilderness and in so doing, restore to ourselves, integrity.
“Genuine wilderness must embody a strong element of wildness and freedom.
It is not a nature park with paths and handrails and faux rustic signs warning of the obvious with myriad rules enforced by badged bureaucrats in uniform.
Real wilderness is also a state of mind which entails not only freedom but responsibility. It’s a place where one may do as they wish but no one else is liable for the consequences.
Parks have their place but they tend to present nature as a passively experienced spectacle for tourists. Wilderness is something more up close and personal. One doesn’t just see it, one lives it.”
Walter Starck, May 2008
Cape Grenville, Australia, Photograph by Walter Starck
Cape Grenville, Australia, Photograph by Walter Starck
I just had to post the picture twice.
part 1 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000797.html
part 2 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003015.html
part 3 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003044.html
part 4 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003104.html
part 5 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003112.html
part 6 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003120.html
part 7 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003124.html
part 8 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003127.html
part 9 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003129.html
It becomes so hypnotising, that I’ve just had to dive overboard into 15,000 feet of ultramarine indigo and let my boat sail on without me with no one on board.
Mind you, I had a long line trailing…….
I felt I was “the first that ever burst into that silent sea”.
Beyond Buyat Bay, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photograph by Eric Ness
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part 1 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000797.html
part 2 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003015.html
part 3 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003044.html
part 4 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003104.html
part 5 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003112.html
part 6 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003120.html
part 7 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003124.html
part 8 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003127.html
“Wilderness is mainly in the mind’s eye – to be a stranger in a strange land for a fraction of a second and create an other world where what is familiar and drab and safe is fleetingly unrecognisable yet beckons like a siren’s song. A place like home yet a place like no other.”
Posted by: Libby at May 27, 2008 10:06 PM
Photograph of Elford Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Provided by Walter Starck
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part 1 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000797.html
part 2 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003015.html
part 3 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003044.html
part 4 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003104.html
part 5 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003112.html
part 6 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003120.html
part 7 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003124.html
“Why do we love to believe that mankind is a plague upon the Earth? We view anything and everything that happens in nature, no matter how barbaric, bloody, or destructive, as good. Indeed, the word ‘natural’ has no negative connotation at all.
If a volcano like Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines dumps millions of tons of sulfur into the stratosphere, cooling the Earth for two or three years, this is simply Mother Nature at work. If humans did it, we would call it an environmental catastrophe.”
Roy Spencer. May 29, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=MDExMTEwZWVjZmI5MGFmNzgzYmM1MWVmNTc0MDMyYTU=
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part 1 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000797.html
part 2 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003015.html
part 3 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003044.html
part 4 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003104.html
part 5 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003112.html
part 6 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003120.html
“At its heart ‘wilderness’ is a value judgement.
“As poor old Hawking had to concede nothing is destroyed, it just changes appearance.
“Wilderness is an appearance which is judged by some to have a superior aesthetic to the appearance of things which have had the human hand upon them. In this respect the ‘wilderness’ issue is a small but still substantial element of the global warming debate, which has its essence in an assumption of natural superiority.
Beyond Port Lincoln, South Australia, May 12, 2007. Photographed by Jennifer Marohasy. Guided by Phil Sawyer.
“But ‘wilderness’ is more than saying that nature is superior to humanity; it is also saying only a superior human can appreciate that nature is superior. That is, no matter what sophistic context you place on the meaning of ‘wilderness’ you can never get away from the fact that an aesthetic of ‘wilderness’, and indeed nature as a whole, can only be realised from the disconnected reality of a civilised vantage point which has kept ‘wilderness’ and nature at arm’s length.
“Humans who live according to the survival dictates of ‘wilderness’ have no time for generating an aesthetic about it beyond paganest invocations. For the primitive, ‘wilderness’ would be designated out of fear rather than decadence.”
Posted by: cohenite at May 28, 2008 01:51 PM
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part 1 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000797.html
part 2 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003015.html
part 3 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003044.html
part 4 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003104.html
part 5 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/003112.html
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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