[at-l] Grand Unification Theory - WAS:Survival was Trail Etiquette

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> I'd put it this way - are we in our cities any
> different from the first beaver that succeeded in
> damming up a big creek and building a large
> family of beaver dens there?

Yes, and I think a large reason for this is electric light.
In the cities we are ISOLATED from the natural world.  A
beaver in his den, no matter how large, is not.  For
example, a hiker who has been on the trail for a few months
is likely to be able to tell you when the sun will rise,
when the sun will set, when the moon will rise, when the
moon will set, what phase of the moon will appear, what the
weather will be like later today and probably tomorrow, and
many other things 'connected' to the natural world.  The
average city dweller, however, will know none of these
things unless they watch the weather man on TV because they
are isolated from such events and their effects.

When I lived in rural Louisiana, my roommate and I used to
use very little electricity.  No lights except lanterns or
candles.  No TV, AC, heat, radio, or other distractions for
what sometimes became weeks at a time.  Living like that you
reconnect to the seasons, the turn of the day, and the
phases of the night.  Out the front door, you could step
barefoot out into cool grass and wander off into the woods,
as I often did late at night -  totally connected.  (Don't
take me for an anti-technology nut, 'cause I ain't.
Computers are my main living...)

In the city, however, and even in the 'burbs, we are
isolated from the day, the night, the heat, the cold, the
seasons, etc.  In such places we have an artificial - which
isn't necessarily to say unnatural - environment.  WE
control when the sun sets by the flick of a switch.  WE
control the temperature.  WE control when the sun rises.  We
even control the natural rhythm of our own biological clocks
with alarm clocks that scream in our ears and tell us to get
the hell up and go to work, and I don't care if it IS
Saturday... I always found it more pleasant to awaken slowly
and naturally...

At some point, like living in a space station eating
food-paste-goo, man HAS created an un-natural environment,
even if man is a natural animal.  To argue otherwise is
simply an argument of semantics.  Like arguing that cocaine
is natural.  Sure, it's natural, and snorting it causes a
natural biological response.  You have, however, altered
your body chemistry un-naturally...

There are subtle semantic differences between ecology,
environment, and habitat as well.

Thanks for taking the time to think about this with me...

Shane