Cronon's History Bares Fruit, but its not all Roses

First, I echo many of the sentiments that this was an exceptionally readable book, and it made me want to rush out and hike Old Rag, where upon I could look across the spreading vista and declare..."boy, the Europeans really screwed this place up!"

I only say this half jokingly.  While it is great to romanticize about just how wonderful and pristine the environment would be without the interference of European colonists and their social and agricultural systems...isn't it equally impressive to think just how productive and useful man has made the resources available to us?  As Cronon points out, the native population the region was able to support through the natives transient subsistence with the flow of the seasons was only 100,000 people.  By 1800 the region was supporting a population of more than 1.2 million, not to mention the millions more lives it helped sustain through trade.

I know that wasn't the point of the book, but I think we some try to look at history with too idealistic of a perspective.

I really enjoyed reading the blog entries this week, perhaps more than any other week.  I really liked this bit by Nick S.:

Prescott, in chapter one, starts with an in-depth exploration of the Mexican environment. While reading, I found this to be very intriguing. In my mind, it was as if Prescott was painting a picture of a ripe fruit, one fit for the picking. Mexico is highly valuable in terms of natural resources and reading his first chapter, one can’t help but get the feeling that his painting of the terrain make one want to live there. Right from the start, it begins by creating a sense of want that defends conquest.

I like the way Nick presents the environment as a lure to justify the motives the "great man".

Jack, in addition to introducing us to Emmet Otter's Jugtown Christmas Band concisely presents the distinctly different role of the environment as a tool in (Prescott and Bloch) and the environment as an actor (Cronon):

Prescott and Bloch, like Cronon, describe the environment in detail, sometimes excruciating detail.  For Prescott and Bloch, natural arrangements are important and have an impact on what people do.  The earlier authors describe the landscape of the environment, much as one might describe how a person uses a chair or walks through a building - the environment is more static and maybe even a tool to be used by man.  With Cronon and the idea of ecology, man is but one living thing among many, with all of them interacting and having an impact on each other.  The environment, in Cronon’s book, is practically a character in the story of history, one that can help or hinder mankind, depending on how man treats and relates with the environment.

Anyways, all this talk makes me want to go hug a tree, but then I'm going to come back in and enjoy me some all natural processed SPAM!