Reece's argument in Lost Mountain for the preservation of contiguous forest is that, without it, many species who call the forest home die out. His prime example of this is the cerulean warbler which has seen a 70% population decrease in the past 50 years. He also notes how other species like the wood rat depend on the forest for their home. Strip mining is destroying enormous chunks of the Appalachian mountains and forests which negatively affects hundreds of native species. Supporters on the other hand would rather the activists stop worrying about the animals so much and worry about creating jobs through strip mining.
Reece also describes the mountains and forests in a reverential manner. He describes the Appalachian ecosystem as maintained by "intelligence". Intelligent in the sense that every organism has its role in life, how ever insignificant or small. Some humans, including the advocates of strip mining dont comprehend this and thus justify the use of harmful environmental practices. He says that the forests know what they're doing and how to maintain their life, its humans that are destroying this balance.
From my perspective, the conservation of forests and mountains is more important than the coal industry. It is true that coal is a necessity but the damages caused by the mining are lager than the benefit of using coal cheaply. Reece makes a great point on pointing out the discrepancy between what eastern Kentuckians are giving to the coal industry and what they are actually getting from it. Eastern Kentuckians are basically just exploited for their land and given nothing in return and its killing both people and the environment.
I come from a family that enjoys a pretty active lifestyle especially in the summers when we visit family in both Virginia and New York., Often we we will camp out and enjoy the outdoors. To me forests and mountains have always been a place of sanctuary and peace to get away from class/work etc. So, the descriptions that Reece gives of the "intelligence of nature" and the importance of conservation ring very true to me.
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While having a mind to conservation, we must also place a certain value to the necessity of, I regret using this word, survival. It is in our interest as a species to use whatever we need to use in order to further ensure our existence.
ReplyDeleteWhile we do abuse the resources that we have and we must, no doubt, attempt to discover new ways of providing more efficient and less costly avenues of power generation, I feel as though the aesthetic beauty of nature must sometimes be trumped.
My favorite part of your post was the last paragraph where you comment on your personal experiences and talk about the "intelligence of nature" and what it means to you. In my opinion that's a pretty powerful piece of imagery and it highlights Reece as a writer.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your points on how Kentuckians and individuals using electricity produced from coal in general ultimately get less than what they put into it in the end. This is hard to see for people though as Reece describes we are more focused on the short term (surviving) than on the long term (a clean, safe future). It would be difficult to immediately stop using coal. If it were to happen, it would be a slow transition.
ReplyDeleteThe intelligence of nature point also hit me hard as it did with you.