from Desert Solitaire
Edward Abbey
pages 385-390
Summary: The Polemic written by Edward Abbey expresses his view point on the National Parks system in America. He feels that the parks are catering to tourists and their wants more than they are focusing on what they should really stand for, the nature to be observed. He thinks that parks should be kept as natural as they can and that people should have to cater to the parks rather than vice versa.
Argument/Main Idea: National parks should be preserved and kept the way they are rather than altered and destroyed by human developments to make it easier for people. Abbey believed that humans were ignoring nature, putting their own wants in front of the Earth's needs. He believed that if people wanted to enjoy natural beauty, they should enjoy it the way nature presents it rather than alter things to make it easier for themselves.
Evidence:
"It is the primary responsibility of the National Park system to preserve intact and undiminished what little still remains." (page 387)
"... that their primary duty is to serve the public, not preserve the wilds ..." (page 388) Here, Abbey is expressing what he feels National Park rangers duties now entail. Their duty seems to be to please to people, the visitors of the park, rather than to please the park itself.
"I now feel entitled to make some constructive, practical, sensible proposals for the salvation of both parks and people." (page 389-390) After this statement, Abbey proposes a list of rules he feels the National Parks should instate in order to preserve them while also serving the visitors coming to see them.
"If we could learn to love space as deeply as we are now obsessed with time, we might discover a new meaning in the phrase live like men." (page 390)
Response: I think that while Abbey comes across somewhat extreme, he still has a strong and valid point when it comes to man's responsibility to preserving the land. As humans, we need to leave behind our greedy desires to have things handed to us and accept that we must sometimes actually work for what we want. As crazy as it sounds, it needs to be done.
