Nature is: Humanity and Nature for Thought
At the beginning of the quarter, Professor Barbara Muraca asked the class a simple question; What is nature? For me and many in the discussions around me the question seemed simple, easy, and efficient. Yet, as we peeled back the layers of opinions in morals, politics, and in society based biases we discovered that this question was deeper and required the whole quarter to look and discover upon. Though, I would be lying if I said that at the end I knew the answer or at least the right answer to this question and the reason for that is because there is not an answer. In my own analysis and the analysis in Environmental Philosophy After the End of Nature by Steven Vogel, Vogel finds that the term nature is too ambiguous and employs layers of thought unknown to philosophers. In fact, Vogel questions, if nature like Bill McKibben stated in The End of Nature has already ended, does the idea that environmentally philosophy as a form of thought remain in it. This paper by Vogel and claims by McKibben bring into question not only the legitimacy of the class but the class as a whole as well. Yet instead of taking that route which seems pointless as I believe that environmental philosophy is useful and remains current even with the terminology of nature being invalid, it shows that with Vogel’s postnaturalism how and what environmental discussions will be about. Postnaturalism means environmental philosophy without nature. Humans conversed in and out of this type of thought can see how this can be discovered in many ways and in many mediums. I look specifically at the Acadia National Parks main website as a key insight into postnaturalism taking into effect in modern times. This along with the discoveries and curiosities of Steven Vogel, I will argue with the definition of postnaturalism and the impact of authors such as Vogel and McKibben’s can simulate and destimulate this concept in a way to solidify postnaturalism in modern times of environmental philosophy. First, I speak upon the cover of the Acadia National Park webpage in its facets and statements in regards to Vogel’s stripping of the first part of Bill McKibben's thesis. Then I will continue into the second part of McKibben’s thesis on the connectivity and or lack thereof with humans and nature in response to Vogel’s opinions in correlation to Acadia National Parks separation of humans and everything around it. Finally, I will as a whole speak upon the entire web page of Acadia National Park and speak upon the mirroring symbolism of a webpage for nature as a part of postnaturalism though.
Acadia National Park, located in Bar Harbor, Maine, is known as the “Crown Jewel of the North Atlantic Coast”. The website states “Acadia National Park protects the natural beauty of the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline of the United States, an abundance of habitats, and a rich cultural heritage. At 3.5 million visits a year, it is one of the top 10 most-visited national parks in the United States. Visitors enjoy 27 miles of historic motor roads, 158 miles of hiking trails, and 45 miles of carriage roads.”( Acadia National Park webpage). This quotation struck me as ironic and having a dualistic approach to it. On one end it speaks upon how the park protects the natural beauty of these rocky mountains, bringing in the question of human involvement in nature. Yet on the other end it speaks about how highly visited and rated this park is. Showing the historic motorhomes, hiking trails, and carriage roads, this speaks upon the engraved humanistic part of the park even though the park protects its beauty. Which brings into question Steven Vogel's dissertations of Bill McKibben's essay of, when does the human touch end nature and does nature end with human existence. At the beginning of the paper, Vogel speaks on why he disagrees with Bill McKibben's thesis. Bill Mckibbens believed that due to human intervention of nature that climate change and the unaltering of nature is forever changed. He speaks upon this further by saying : “By changing the weather, we make every spot on earth man - made and artificial” ( McKibben The End of Nature, Vogel 2). This quotation questions the coexistence of man into the natural world due to climate change in modern times, yet Vogel disenfranchised this by questioning that if this was true then the mere idea of humans coexisting with nature is inherently the problem. This ideology is transferred into the irony of the Acadia National Park quotation stated above believing that with human trials, the beauty of the park still remains intact.
In continuation of Vogel’s analysis, Bill McKibben’s thesis with what the word nature inherently means is questioned by Vogel. McKibben’s states that “Nature’s independence is its meaning; without it there is nothing but us”( McKibben The End of Nature, Vogel 2). Vogel further debunks McKibben’s thesis that with this ideology we are in fact in this postnaturalism world inherently a part of nature speaking that without nature it is just us. This pushes back to the idea that humans and “nature” are connected and interwoven. Yet with nature, comes other species like animals, plants, and habitats that they live in; they are all pushed into this idea of the umbrella of nature and we, humans, are not considered a part of nature. Signaling that human transformations are unnatural and everything else is natural. This brings into question idealizations of nature as a context to explain current human biases, interaction, and processes; as the common phrase goes “ It's just natural”.
Looking back at the webpage of Acadia National Park, the human interaction is separate from the ontological beings in and around the park itself. This webpage has a page for nature detailing the natural elements of the area, the animals running around on the ground and in the air, and the ecosystems that the park has in it. I found this as a direct correlation to the signalings to McKibben’s thought that all of these things are a part of nature and we as humans are not. Yet, with this, I find an alternative to this notion as this park, as stated above, has human- and man- made interactions of preservation, reservation, and restoration. In that of permits, where to go, what to and not to feed to the animals in the park; the list goes on. The park and the people that keep the park going, used the park as a part of the ongoing efforts to protect nature as it is.
Lastly, as a whole, the web page serves a complete and blatant use of postnaturalism as in of itself it “unnatural”. Yet, with an age of thought coming into technology, humans and the environments around it evolve, grow, and change. With the new and ever evolving era, humans need to be informed in order to protect and converse the ideas that they want and to push and save around them. This technology pushes the ideas that yes, this world is in fact in a post naturalism world. Yet, in this postnatural though it continues to bring to part the ambiguity that nature brings and seeps into as it brings into question; do we need to protect the land or is that land better off let alone? Given there are areas that humans never touch, deep forest and oceans of blue, why do we as humans even take part; or can we just leave it alone? So has this idea of nature ended? It is questioned further and of what nature has ended considering these areas of protection or untouched surfaces to humans. Yet with this rabbit hole of discovery we can further elicit the quotation above made by McKibben that due to climate change these ecosystems are not how they used to be. But with humanity, it can be impacted for the good of the planet and all of its creatures and ecosystems, human or not .
Annotated Bibliography
“Acadia National Park (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/acad/index.htm.
This website is a fact and information into the Acadia National Park. It lists files on the location, culture, history, and the environments that encompass the park. The website has many articles on the rules of the park as well as many sites most highly visited in the park.
Vogel, Steven. Thinking like a Mall: Environmental Philosophy after the End of Nature. The MIT Press, 2016.
Steven Vogel speaks about the postnaturalism in environmental philosophy. It speaks upon the social and political ramifications of the thoughts, practices, and definitions going into the postnaturalism definition and lack thereof for nature. Analyzes Bill McKibben’s dissertation of The End of Nature in it as well.