Kelley Brown- "The Regional Motive"

The urbanization of the country and farming land has drastically increased within the last couple of decades. Most people, according to Wendell Berry, do not care about the land anymore and all they are concerned about is building up and making money. He expresses his great concern for nature and its preservation while, he believes, no one else feels the same way. Berry says that he is pursuing in the fight to keep the land sacred and that it is needed for survival. "For, as the history of agriculture in the Orient very strongly suggests, it is not the life that is fittest (by which we have meant the most violent) that survives, but rather the life that is most decent--the life that is most generous and wise in its relation to the earth" (pg.67).

The quote talks about "the fittest" which is considered to be the most violent--in this case urbanization. The "decent life" is showing those who care and try to protect the land, because they are the ones who are most generous and wise in relation to the earth. Nature has a great impact and is sacred. We need people, such as Wendell Berry, to step up and protect and speak out about urbanization taking over our country and nature lands. As we have discussed throughout the entire class, nature is sacred and speaks out to different people in ways that touch their hearts specifically. Therefore, if we were to urbanize throughout the entire country and take over all of the natural settings and wilderness, then how could people be spoken to through nature or find it sacred? We need to preserve what we have been given and take care of it. When someone has a baby, they are required to care and nurture it and try to provide the best for it. You can think of the land as a baby-- its something given to you--it is a life that you need to protect and take care of.