Aldo Leopold (1887 - 1948) is the author of a number of profound and thought-provoking essays. High among my favorites is Thinking Like a Mountain. It includes a sentence that I hope never to forget: "Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf." Wolves are native to much of North American, although they have been extirpated from many places they where they once were indigenous. One of the reasons I consider myself fortunate to live in Minnesota is that it is a state that has wolves. There were few, if any, known instances of live wolves in New England while I was growing up there.
Do Minnesota's Sawtooth Mountains listen objectively to wolf howls?
Photo by J. Harrington
When yesterday we considered some thoughts on the themes of native - nonnative and indigenous - invasive, we hoped to raise questions more than provide answers. We haven't lived as long as a mountain and often find it difficult to be objective when listening to our local pack of coyotes, never mind the howl of a wolf. To again quote Leopold: “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” I count myself among those who cannot live satisfactorily without wild things.
deer and pines think differently about wolves
Photo by J. Harrington
I also find myself wondering if our focus on eradicating invasive species, or attempting to, is because we have been taught so little about how the world really works and that consequences won't happen to us (just our children?). The last time I checked:
- We were in the process of creating potential problems for ourselves and future generations by trying to eradicate many kinds of bacteria in many places and, in the process, creating antibiotic resistant superbugs.
- Some of us are busy building, expanding, or trying to get permitted new oil pipelines when we can't even effectively and safely operate the ones we have, even in critically important habitats.
- A majority of the United States Senate recently voted against the idea that human activity significantly contributes to climate change.
- Invasive species can serve some beneficial purposes that native species aren't as suited for. We aren't likely to be able to have a global economy and avoid invasive species.
I think in previous postings I've suggested the Sorcerer's Apprentice seems to be a model we have adopted for a national economic development strategy. Leopold I think would want us to learn that there are no simple solutions. Wolves (predator) and deer (prey) and their habitat need to be in balance. Monoculture is a very difficult model to sustain. Diversity and equity usually help create balance in complex systems.
Most of these thoughts aren't original with me. Unfortunately, they seem lost on congress and state legislatures more interested in playing one-upmanship games than in trying to find reasonable and realistic strategies and tactics to follow regardless of which side is "right."
First Grade
Until then, every foresthad wolves in it, we thoughtit would be fun to wear snowshoesall the time, and we could talk to water.So who is this woman with the graybreath calling out names and pointingto the little desks we will occupyfor the rest of our lives?
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This is a terrific poem, thanks. And somehow, your ruminations on wolves makes me think of a poem you mayhap are already familiar with--the economist Kenneth Boulding's 2-part "A Conservationist's Lament"
ReplyDeleteThanks for your blog work; I discovered you this October, and applaud your range of topics and your fine writing.
Here's the poem if you don't know it--you can find it in several blogs, and in the proceedings of a NASA conference if you search for it.
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A Conservationist’s Lament
The world is finite, resources are scarce,
Things are bad and will be worse.
Coal is burned and gas exploded,
Forests cut and soils eroded.
Wells are dry and air’s polluted,
Dust is blowing, trees uprooted,
Oil is going, ores depleted,
Drains receive what is excreted.
Land is sinking, seas are rising,
Man is far too enterprising.
Fire will rage with Man to fan it,
Soon we’ll have a plundered planet.
People breed like fertile rabbits,
People have disgusting habits.
Moral:
The evolutionary plan
Went astray by evolving Man.
The Technologist’s Reply
Man’s potential is quite terrific,
You can’t go back to the Neolithic.
The cream is there for us to skim it,
Knowledge is power, and the sky’s the limit.
Every mouth has hands to feed it,
Food is found when people need it.
All we need is found in granite
Once we have the men to plan it.
Yeast and algae give us meat,
Soil is almost obsolete.
Men can grow to pastures greener
Till all the earth is Pasadena.
Moral:
Man’s a nuisance, Man’s a crackpot.
But only Man can hit the jackpot.
by Kenneth E. Boulding