BIOL 3130 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Puritans
22 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Early americans viewed wilderness with an unfavourable aitude: earliest setlers set the stage for haing wilderness and viewing advance of civilizaion as the greatest of blessings, wilderness condiion. The necessity of living in close proximity to wild country. Engendered strong feelings of dislike and aversion: bias against wilderness was set by 2 components. Safety, comfort and necessiies depended on overcoming wilderness. Acquired western tradiion as viewing it as a moral vacuum, a cursed and chaoic wasteland. Free of european law the new world allowed for men to behave in a savage and besial manner: wild country was viewed through uilitarian spectacles. Tree became lumber, prairies farms, canyons sites of hydroelectric dams. Wild country had value as potenial civilizaion: puritans in perfecionism oten led to the wilderness from a corrupt civilizaion, but wilderness was never the goal. The sought to carve a garden out of the wild: it was always seen as god"s will to turn wilderness into fruifulness.
