Ben Wiehl - Choice Topic #2

I can relate directly to Gary Snyder's comment on the burdgeoning numbers of people who have become nature illiterate over the years. When we talked in class about the person who absolutely hated being out in nature, I couldn't believe it. That and the example of the kids searching for an outlet to plug something into outside. I didn't think it was really possible to hate nature, how can you not appreciate what surrounds you. This world was here long before us -- and hopefully will continue on longer still after we perish. Who would want to spend their life hidden away in suburbia, not experiencing any of the natural world as we know it. I think that is is relatively sickening how many people in the world feel like that, although I feel that it might be a more prominent sentiment for residents in the United States due to our busy busy lifestyle where no one takes the time to slow down and grasp what is going on around them. The real question is then, how do we return the masses to a state of nature literacy? Do we force them to spend time in a time and place that they despise? What would that benefit anyone? Instead I propose that it would be better to integrate a more positive outlook on wilderness and nature into the everyday life of multitudes.