Re[2]: [at-l] OT - Theoretical biology

[Bob C." <ellen@clinic.net (Bob C.)]

"...The
> trail is about PEOPLE GOING INTO THE WILDERNESS. " claims Shane.

Well, Shane is partly right, but I'm not sure he truly understands. The trail is
about  humans  yearning for the bits and pieces of wildness that still remain in
the  east, none of which qualify as wilderness in the conventional sense of that
word.  But  humans,  at  least  most  of  us,  yearn for wild areas. It is not a
yearning  that  can  be satisfied by rationing -- passes to prevent over use. By
definition, wildness can not be controlled, cannot be regulated.

As  wrong as they are -- and as destructive -- why else would people buy ATVs to
churn  through the woods, day after day. There are tarred roads that would allow
them to go faster, dirt roads that would allow them to bounce higher.

Most  seek  the  woods, hills and wild places for reasons they don't understand.
Most  walkers  prefer  the  woods,  mountains and trails over city sidewalks and
suburban  mall  corridors.  They  shun  wildness  only because sadly society has
preached  a  falsehood  --  that nature is dangerous, rather than healing to the
human  spirit. Wilderness is scarce in these early days of the 21st Century. But
humans  have a fundamental instinct to seek out the wild places that remain -- a
few of us in real life, most vicariously.

A  wise society would realize this fundamental human need and make protection of
the  wildness  that  remains  a  fundamental  priority.  The  natural world will
survive,  regardless  of  what  humans  do.  It is we who need to understand and
experience  natural  things. Wildness is neither good nor evil, it is just is, a
basic human need that we will discard or let slip away at our peril.

Weary