You ask "I wonder about those settlers whose aim was to solidify this place, to make it able to grow things predictably, to hold the bay and sloughs back. What would they think about destroying the dikes and welcoming the ducks?" No doubt they would be appalled, dumbfounded and astonished. But they lived in a time when what we call 'natural resources' were assumed to be infinite. Someone would need to explain to them that those trees and wetlands turned out not to be infinite, and that (luckily) we stopped the cutting and diking and draining, then the paving, before it was all gone, and now we've even realized that we went farther than we should have and need to step back and allow the natural world to reclaim some of its original territory -- for our own good!
One reason to raise the question, I think, is to develop what is sometimes called "historical empathy." And that, I think/hope, can help us have humility of our own certainties. Their "progress" and our "progress" are different and will be different, yet again, for our grandchildren's generations. Thanks for reading and commenting, Phil!
Well done and very interesting! I enjoyed the read!
Thank you, Bonnie!
You ask "I wonder about those settlers whose aim was to solidify this place, to make it able to grow things predictably, to hold the bay and sloughs back. What would they think about destroying the dikes and welcoming the ducks?" No doubt they would be appalled, dumbfounded and astonished. But they lived in a time when what we call 'natural resources' were assumed to be infinite. Someone would need to explain to them that those trees and wetlands turned out not to be infinite, and that (luckily) we stopped the cutting and diking and draining, then the paving, before it was all gone, and now we've even realized that we went farther than we should have and need to step back and allow the natural world to reclaim some of its original territory -- for our own good!
One reason to raise the question, I think, is to develop what is sometimes called "historical empathy." And that, I think/hope, can help us have humility of our own certainties. Their "progress" and our "progress" are different and will be different, yet again, for our grandchildren's generations. Thanks for reading and commenting, Phil!