The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature

In the article, "The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature" by William Cronon, he directs us to the deeper issues of the term 'wilderness'. What exactly is wilderness? In the beginning of time, it was a common belief that this concept was "anything but positive". The article states, "As late as the eighteenth century, the most common usage of the word "wilderness" in English language referred to landscapes that generally carried adjectives far different from the ones they attract today"(2). In fact, the Bible was one of the most important factors influencing this concept of wilderness and over time this concept completely transformed. When most people think of this term they tend to paint a beautiful picture of a pure, pristine, and untouched landscape inside their minds; a sacred place in need of protection. A place where humans can escape reality and find peace within. However, the problem with this viewpoint is they are separating the natural world and humans, instead of viewing it as one combined whole. People are taking the presence of humans out of the picture as they feel we are the largest contributors to nature's suffering and downfall. Some may say that this idea of separation may be the perfect solution to fixing the earth, but Cronon would most likely argue that we can not go about it in this way. He states, “The removal of Indians to create an “uninhabited wilderness” --uninhabited as never before in the history of the place--reminds us just how invented, just how constructed, the American wilderness really is. To return to [his] opening argument: there is nothing natural about the concept of wilderness”(9). Now, what does he mean by constructed and invented? A social construction is when any thing is understood to have certain characteristics because people agree that it does, but what about other viewpoints of nature and wilderness ? Cronon says, “it is not the things we label as wilderness that are the problem--for nonhuman nature and large tracts of the natural world do deserve protection--but rather what we ourselves mean when we use the label”(10). By focusing solely on environmental problems, we forget the other important aspects of our world. We leave out the parts of the world that have already been touched by humans, because we feel that it is too late to fix them.  Cronon writes, “If we set too high a stock on wilderness, too many other corners of the earth become less natural and too many other people become less than human, thereby giving us permission not to care much about their suffering or their fate”(13). We need to find a common middle ground by finding a way to blend and connect humans into nature. This can easily start by simply reflecting and recognizing that all the elements of our world hold a purpose. Afterall, we all share one home.