Wilderness (Environment)

Wilderness, Wasteland and Homeland: Comments on Drenthen

by Nathan Kowalsky

published in 'Ethical Perspectives,' 2007

Judging a place as wasteland or homeland is not a matter of objective fact, but a matter of perspective: presupposed... more Judging a place as wasteland or homeland is not a matter of objective fact, but a matter of perspective: presupposed values, knowledge through acquaintance, and comportment. Therefore, contra Martin Drenthen, the value of wilderness is a judgement call, not a conceptual necessity. I show this by first distinguishing wilderness from “wildness,” then culture from civilization, and finally, by situating Nietzsche’s teachings of the will to power in the context of a devalued world-view. Nevertheless, I agree with Drenthen that some understandings of wilderness are more appropriate than others. When wild nature is understood to be “good” in an axiologically transcendent sense, morality and humanness per se are not undermined, and the transcendence of wildness is still sufficiently immanent to avoid the drive to devalue it. Even thought such conceptualisation can be attained by civilized urbanites, it seems to be optimally actualised in life by non-civilised cultures. This leads to implications that are not easy for us to accept, but deserve our serious consideration nonetheless.

Mammals of Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Malaysian Borneo. 2011

by M.T. Abdullah, PhD

Some important species observed during the expedition.

We observed some species of small mammals  of Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Malaysian Borneo.
2011.... more We observed some species of small mammals  of Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Malaysian Borneo.
2011. Malaysian Academy of Science

Environmental History: A New Discipline with Long Traditions

by Timo Myllyntaus

Timo Myllyntaus & Mikko Saikku, “Environmental History, A New Discipline with Long Traditions,” In: Encountering the Past in Nature, Essays in Environmental History, Ed. by Timo Myllyntaus and Mikko Saikku, 1st edition, Helsinki: Helsinki University Press 1999, pp. 17-26, 2nd edition, Athens, OH: Ohio University Press 2001, pp. 1-28.

Pristine wilderness, participatory archaeology, and the custodianship of heritage in Mursiland

by Marcus Brittain

2012 (co-authored with T. Clack)

In Mol, L. & T. Sternberg (eds.), Changing Deserts: Integrating People and Their Environment, 192-212. Strond: The White Horse Press

This chapter explores the the notion of a pristine wilderness in conservation policy making and the value of... more This chapter explores the the notion of a pristine wilderness in conservation policy making and the value of archaeology for an understanding of cultural heritage in these processes.

Through the looking glass: What value will we see in wilderness in 2064?

by Jeff Rose

Making wilderness: Tourism and the history of the wilderness idea in Iceland

by C. Michael Hall

Sæþórsdóttir, A.D., Hall, C.M. & Saarinen, J. 2011, Making wilderness: Tourism and the history of the wilderness idea in Iceland. Polar Geography, 34(4), 249-273 <10.1080/1088937X.2011.643928>. (copy provided here is the uncorrected page proof)

The notion of wilderness is often associated with high latitudes. This paper focuses on the historical and cultural... more The notion of wilderness is often associated with high latitudes. This paper focuses on the historical and cultural processes that construct the wilderness idea in Iceland.Throughout the centuries histories have mirrored the feelings and opinions toward the wild and dangerous. These include the sagas and folktales about outlaws and supernatural beings in the Icelandic Highlands. Despite its harsh nature occasionally travelers did visit. However, in early times few knew the wilderness from personal experience but all had heard stories about it and contributed to its social construction. Later when more scientific knowledge was collected,the stories changed and a new meaning was created for the Highlands. Tourism led to a new commodified image that attracted more and more travelers to the Highlands, both Icelandic and foreign visitors. However, present contestation between different forms of wilderness use as well as new sets of visitor demands are leading to the construction of new understanding of the nature of the Icelandic wilderness.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2011.643928

Wisdom from the Wilderness

by Martin Milton

Milton, M. (2008) Wisdom from the Wilderness, Special Issue of Counselling Psychology Review, (23.2) May 2008

The End of Wilderness: Conflict and Defeat in the Grand Canyon

by Peter Jacques

Co-authored with David Ostergren in Review of Policy Research 2006

In the early 1970s, Grand Canyon National Park intended to designate its land to “Wilderness,” including
the... more In the early 1970s, Grand Canyon National Park intended to designate its land to “Wilderness,” including
the controversial Colorado River corridor. However, by the end of the 1970s the potential for Wilderness
designation was off the table, and would never seriously return for genuine consideration. Using
Schattschneider’s model of conflict, we explain how the organization of this conflict privileges the “causal
story” of Wilderness opponents, and therefore why the canyon is not designated. It is our contention that
members of Congress will not stand forward to support Wilderness designations without simultaneously
providing benefits for extractive land use because (1) congressional representatives are more penalized
for supporting than opposing Wilderness designations, (2) Wilderness advocacy groups do not pressure
congressional delegates as firmly as opposition groups, and (3) key local congressional members are not
likely to see Wilderness as a salient issue worth the risk of negative exposure. If these findings hold, the
implication is that we may have reached the end of significant Wilderness designations in highly visible
areas, unless critical aspects in land use conflict change.

Wilderness Beauty: A Means to Resolve Volitional Doubt

by Brian Scalise

Desert Solitaire and the Literary Memory of an Imagined Place

by Jared Farmer

Glen Canyon according to Edward Abbey, with postscript about Bert Loper.

Undiscovered to Undiscoverable: Gregory Natural Bridge

by Jared Farmer

One of the ghosts of Glen Canyon: the largest natural bridge or arch submerged by Lake Powell.

De apen zijn weer terug in de natuur.

by Nathan Kowalsky

Published in 'The Trumpeter' 27, no. 1 (2011):  23-24.

There's a small editorial error on the first page.  The last sentence of the third paragraph should rather read "Trying to sense something that's not insensible" (the double-negative got 'corrected,' but I was saying that both the goat and I were trying to sense something that could sense us in return).

Just a short two-page reflection (in the "narratives and stories" section of the journal) on a visit I paid... more Just a short two-page reflection (in the "narratives and stories" section of the journal) on a visit I paid to a zoo in what passes for rural Belgium.

UK Mountain Rescue Casualties: 2002-2006

by Alasdair Mort

Co-authored with Professor Dave Godden. Published in the Emergency Medicine Journal 2010;27(4):309-312

Objective: To profile casualties of UK remote and rural sport and recreation rescued by Mountain Rescue Teams... more Objective: To profile casualties of UK remote and rural sport and recreation rescued by Mountain Rescue Teams (MRTs).

Methods: Anonymised data regarding non-fatal casualties recorded from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2006 were retrieved from the Mountain Rescue Committees of Scotland and England and Wales.

Results: Across the UK there were 6814 incidents involving 7995 people, including 550 fatal incidents. 3398 injured or ill casualties were assisted by rescue teams. Half of those rescued (50.7%) had no medical problems. 3152 casualty reports were available for analysis (Scotland 743, England and Wales 2409). The ages of those assisted ranged from 3 to 104 years, with a male predominance (60.8%). Hillwalking accounted for 75% of mountain rescues. More casualties were injured than ill (77.2% vs 10.4%). The injury reported most often was fracture (58.6%) and the lower extremity was most commonly injured (53%). Multiple injuries were relatively uncommon. The rescue scenarios in England and Wales and in Scotland were broadly similar. MRTs administered medication to more casualties in England and Wales (39.4% vs 14.5%). Helicopters assisted a greater proportion of casualties in Scotland (56.9% vs 40.5%).

Conclusions: Volunteer rescue teams assisted a wide range of casualties including some with serious multiple injuries. The nature of casualty rescues undertaken in Scotland was similar to that in England and Wales. The results have implications for UK-wide rescue team training, medical professionals receiving casualties and for outdoor education safety initiatives.

Positive Deviance, Edgework, and Wilderness Survival

by Daniel Harrison

This paper addresses the sociology of positive deviance, edgework and wilderness survival.  Positive deviance has... more This paper addresses the sociology of positive deviance, edgework and wilderness survival.  Positive deviance has emerged over the last three decades as a viable, if contentious, research paradigm.  This paper attempts to make positive deviance more intellectually robust, in part by relating the concept to the notion of edgework.  It claims that we should speak of positive deviance when, and only when, people engage in risky, rare, positive action that exceeds social expectations.  The utility of the argument is demonstrated by examining studies of wilderness survivors and the conditions under which they may be viewed as positive deviants.

The culture that constrains: Experience of "nature" as part of a wilderness trip

by Randolph Haluza-DeLay

Journal of Experiential Education (1999).

An ethnography of a teen wilderness trip. Focus is on cultural domains by which "nature" is understood. The... more An ethnography of a teen wilderness trip. Focus is on cultural domains by which "nature" is understood. The social group took preemince such that a potentially powerful wilderness expereince became 'merely' the backdrop for the social encounter.

Doing art and doing cultural geography

by Perdita Phillips

published in Australian Geographer, 35(2), 151-159, 2004. This was written in early 2003. The link is to original designed piece.

Accompanying examples of initial visual experimentation from the fieldwork/field walking PhD project the paper... more Accompanying examples of initial visual experimentation from the fieldwork/field walking PhD project the paper outlines some of the challenges being an artist and using systems of understanding from science, the new ethnography and cultural geography as a framework for making contemporary art. The PhD project is in its preliminary stages and is designed to explore the area of walking and fieldwork in art, and as art. Some of the challenges are the ambiguous role of the artist as scientist, ethnographer and researcher, the role of reflexivity in art practice; and the pitfalls of ‘academic art’. While cultural geographers have used artworks as texts to explain places, this project endeavours to work with issues of place, landscapes, power, identity and representation in the art, to feed back into this dialogue. The bulk of the project will take place in the Kimberley region of Western Australia where the concepts of wilderness and wildness are most relevant. The research question of fieldwork/field walking is, within the discourse between Art and Science what is the connection between fieldwork and walking in the field?

Keywords

walking; fieldwork; the field; contemporary art; artist as ethnographer; site specific art; Kimberley region; art and science; reflexivity; wilderness; wildness; nature; interdisciplinary; poetics

The changing cultural geography of the frontier: national parks and wilderness as frontier remnant

by C. Michael Hall

Hall, C.M. 2002, The changing cultural geography of the frontier: national parks and wilderness as frontier remnant, pp.283-98 in Tourism in Frontier Areas, eds. S. Krakover & Y. Gradus, Lexington Books, Lanham.

Seven Months of Solitude

by Steve Edwards

A review of Breaking into the Backcountry in High Country News. A review of Breaking into the Backcountry in High Country News.

Wolf Land

by Morten Tønnessen

Biosemiotics (2010) 3:289–297
DOI 10.1007/s12304-010-9077-x

Wolf land is in the context of the present article to be considered as an ambiguous term referring to “the land of the... more Wolf land is in the context of the present article to be considered as an ambiguous term referring to “the land of the wolf” from the wolf’s perspective as well as from a human perspective. I start out by presenting the general circumstances of the Scandinavian wolf population, then turn to the Norwegian wolf controversy in particular. The latter half of the article consists of an elucidation of current wolf ecology related to what is here termed wolf land, and a concluding comment to the now controversial notion of wilderness. The final section of this article further includes identification of changing factors in current Scandinavian wolf ecology in terms of its semiotic niche, and ontological niche, respectively.

Wildness as Critical Border Concept; Nietzsche and the Debate on Wilderness Restoration

by Martin Drenthen

published in  Environmental Values, vol. 14, nr. 3 (August 2005), p.317-337

How can environmental philosophy benefit from Friedrich Nietzsche's radical critique of morality? In this paper, it is... more How can environmental philosophy benefit from Friedrich Nietzsche's radical critique of morality? In this paper, it is argued that Nietzsche's account of nature provides us with a challenging diagnosis of the modern crisis in our relationship with nature. Moreover, his interpretation of wildness can elucidate our concern with the value of wilderness as a place of value beyond the sphere of human intervention. For Nietzsche, wild nature is a realm where moral valuations are out of order. In his work, however, we can discern a paradoxical moral concern with this wildness. Wildness is a critical moral concept that reminds us of the fact that our moral world of human meanings and goals ultimately rests on a much grander, all-encompassing natural world. Nietzsche's concept of wildness acknowledges the value of that which cannot be morally appropriated. Wild nature confronts us with the limits of human valuing. Wildness as a concept thus introduces the 'beyond' of culture into the cultural arena of values.