Sarah Palin - Save the Wolves

Wolves become increasingly violent towards humans, pets

Wolves Vs Humans

Wolves Vs Humans

In the modern world today we are slapped in the face with a revolving issue of domination and co-existing with non humans. The issue at hand is about the existence history of the North American Wolves. How they have been to the point of extinction, put on the endangered species list, fought back to sustainable numbers, and now are beginning to be classified as a problem so they can be hunted again. In this article the main dualism is man Vs beast (wolves). The article is “How America is learning to live with wolves again” and was written by Suzanne Goldenberg. Here is a quote from the article that we can briefly discuss.

“They were hunted almost to extinction, but now the wolf population is growing, and man and beast are being forced to co-exist”.

I chose this article because it is an example of how the world is viewed in an anthropocentric way. How the ranchers want to co-exist and don’t want to use excessive force, but at the same time they fail to realize that they are the reason there is a problem with the wolves. If the ranchers did not come in and decimate the lands to begin with, the wolves would not be a current problem. This creates the dualism in the efforts of conservation on one side you have the government (Hierarchy/Humanism) and on the other the romantic view of the conservation alliance of ranchers. This is an example of the issue we deal with everyday that we fail to “see” that the world does not revolve around us.

In the reading by Leopold ‘Thinking like a Mountain’ he describes the effects of not looking at the whole ecosystem. When we focus on one problem we forget, or just don’t care about the results of our actions. How the ecosystem needs every part of it to survive, and every part needs to be controlled at the same time. Leopold said

“I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer. And perhaps with better cause, for while a buck pulled down by wolves can be replaced in two or three years, a range pulled down by too many deer may fail of replacement in as mayny6 decades. So also with cows. The cowman who cleans his range of wolves does not realize that he is taking over the wolf’s job of trimming the herd to fit the range. He has not learned to think like a mountain. Hence we have dustbowls, and rivers washing the future into the sea.”(Leopold p.2)

The views expressed in the article of the conservation alliance of ranchers, the politician (Governor) and wolves; all prove that we really don’t know how to co-exist. This issue is based out of Montana’s metaphorical so called “wilderness” and stretches to places like Idaho and Wyoming. This is a current issue in today’s society/Government, with this article written back in December 8, 2010. The main points in the article is the problem with the wolves now threatening wildlife and farm animals, and should they be taken off the endangered species list to be hunted again. This is something we have protected since the 70’s and how do we regulate it so it does not become a problem?

This is the proof that humans and wolf will not be able to co-exist. They put the wolf in a class lower than human, to be beast like, savage, and wild to name a few. Plumwood best describes this with the master narrative of ourselves and our relationship to nature with our proper place in it. The title focuses on the issue of having to be forced to co-exist. This is one of our biggest problems; we are unable to rationally think about the consequences of our actions. We have the problem of endangerment because of our goals to tame the wild. Then we realize what we have done and then we stop the hunting to only realize again we have a problem. I found a good quote in the ‘Land Ethics’ by Leopold.

“There is as yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. land, like Odysseus' slave-girls, is still property. The land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations."(Leopold p. 140)

The problem with this article is they fail to realize the real issue. Even with the views of the conversationalist, they fail to realize that they are the reason that the wolf is the problem. Without the ranchers there would not be the livestock to be attacked. In the article it talks about the romantic view of a rancher named Stone who believes in the co-existence of the native wolf. He said in the article

“They are a part of the chain of life. They were here before we came so it probably makes sense that they are here [now].”

At the same time the article contradict his statement when they talk about his 2500 arcs, a fine example of the quote above. How they view the land as property and don’t realize they are classifying it as slave like.

Finally we have the hierarchy of the Government to make all the decisions whether to keep the animal on the endangered species list or allow for it to be hunted. The anthropocentric views of the Governor of Montana see the wolf as a problem and want to “declare open season on the predators”. In the article a story is told with the first encounter of the wolf to what it is today. In the past the wolf was instrumentalized by the extermination efforts to destroy the population by poisoning, trapping, and over hunting. This was done by ranchers and miners when they first came to the area who declared they were kings. This gives us a window into the minds of the people of the past who did not see the wilderness as something that need to be preserved, Cronon best described their views

“To be a wilderness then was to be deserted, savage, desolate, barren – in short, a waste, the word’s nearest synonym”…”presence of something irreducibly nonhuman,…” (CrononP.8)

In the eyes of the miners and ranchers they did not care about the lands other than how to exploit them. We can see the issues at hand are repeating themselves. Until we can truly see nature for what it is and how it needs every component in it to sustain balance, we will continue to repeat our history. Till who knows when it will be too late to repair the damage that we have caused!

Decades after its near-extinction, the wolf of Montana is back in large numbers. Photograph: Jeff Vanuga/Corbis

Another site to check out about the issue is killing the wolf at the door .

Trouble With Wilderness (Edited)

Cronon described the wilderness as a place of terror. This is because of the stories and problems with the past of the wilderness. King James said you "can lose oneself in moral confussion". Moses "had wandered with his people for forty years... and nearly abondoned their god". Even the Pharaoh said "they are entangled in the land". Stories like these have set the views on individuals throughout history because we live in a metaphor which was given to us by the stories of well known, powerful, people. They made people believe that what they experienced was the way correct way of seeing wilderness. It was was until many hundreds of years later that people realized they could have their own views on how they preceived the wilderness.













Now views on the wilderness have changed, atleast in America. Protected and resevered land is a thing of beauty that people enjoy and free their mind in. In fact, now people make vacation time to get out and enjoy the wilderness. It is no longer a thing of terror, but rather a thing of beauty. But it goes on father than just beauty. We need the wilderness to preserve wildlife or generations from now will not have a clue on the things were. Because of the views of King James, the Pharaoh, and Moses, many people have already lost most of the possibilities to see the natural wilderness without government interference. I understand that the land needs to be used for improvments on society to the human race, but other species of animals alter it on a day to day basis, just not as drastic. The difference is, when people thought the wilderness was "wasted" space, they destroyed so much at a fairly rapid pace. There needs to be wilderness because it is a need, not a want. We need oxygen and animals need a home. The views have changed for good. People want to enjoy the wilderness, and as long as they are enjoying it, they will destroy less; thus preserving the no longer terrifing wilderness. People can see the wild in their own master narrative rather than the metaphor brought to them by previous stories.
Alaska is one of the most sought after places of travel, probably because of the so called 'wilderness' that surrounds it. www.alaskatravel.com/?gclid=CK2X48uSyKccfa1d7aodxhOfdg is a website that shows several great things to do across the land of Alaska. The site shows the new view, which is still technically a methaphor of the locals, of Alaska and all that is has to offer. By going there for vacation, one can get their own view on what Alaska really is. I have never been, but I always imagine layers of snow with polar bears crossing infront of everyone with no harm. I assume that my perception is not correct, but until someone goes and see's for themselves, my view may be all they have to live for. Frozen glacier water is also a common image that comes to mind; it's not a scary image of wilderness or anything, but is it the true image of Alaska, or has mankind destroyed the wilderness with oil drilling? You will have to visit and decide for yourself.

Opposing the Master Narrative

As Americans, we are raised with the mentality that everything will be ok. We are raised thinking that the decisions we make won't affect anyone else. This video by Glenn Beck is a a prime example of that. Glenn Beck is trying to justify Americas current approach to nature, by tearing down the notion that what we do to our environment really matters.

This is outrageous. We cannot justify the amount of pollution that we pour into our ecosystem. We cannot believe that what we do today will not affect our lives tomorrow. We must start taking respnosibility for our actions and begin working towards a cleaner environment.

Our environment is changing. "There is no question that the concentration of carbon dioxide shown in Figure 1 has been increasing exponentially for almost 50 years now. These data were collected by C. C. Keeling of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii.^{3"( http://www.icr.org/article/evidence-for-global-warming/)}

Fig. 1. Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration.

Fig. 2. Sea-surface Temperature.

Fig. 3. Frequency of Hurricanes.

Fig. 4. Extent of Sea Ice.

We as American citizens must fight the Master Narrative, and begin to enact measures to prevent the current path we're on. We must strive to create a more environmentally friendly America. We must break out of our imaginary world where everything always works itself out, and realize that our actions have consequences.