Society and wilderness
by Gordon Steinhoff
Interdisciplinary Environmental Review (IER), Vol. 11, No. 1, 2010

Abstract: In a recent book, Mark Sagoff argues that humans are an essential part of nature. According to Sagoff, an area is 'natural' (part of nature) only if humans have cultivated the area through activities such as farming, hunting, trapping, and fishing. Humans must ''come to terms with nature'', he writes. Wilderness is apparently an exception to this view, however. By law, many human activities are excluded from wilderness, for example, farming and commercial logging. These and other cultivating activities are considered 'non-conforming'. In this paper, I will argue that wilderness supports Sagoff's view, at least in part. Wilderness has in fact been cultivated for specific uses, not farming, logging, or mining, but certain recreational uses highly valued within our society. Wilderness has been brought into our society as we have extended aspects of our culture into wilderness, moulding this part of nature to fit perceived human needs.

Online publication date: Thu, 12-Aug-2010

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Review (IER):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com