Henry David Thoreaus Walden and Aldo Leopolds A Sand County Almanac E

heat content David Thoreaus Walden and Aldo Leopolds A Sand County AlmanacWhile discussing Henry David Thoreaus Walden and Aldo Leopolds A Sand County Almanac, we attempted to address an important challenge -- Is the dear observation and description of nature merely an untamed thing for passel in todays world? It could be suggested that nature writing and the close delight of natural environments is merely recreational and non intellectually, economically, or politically fitting of our efforts. Perhaps this activity has spiritual value or gives us a sense of peace. But does it really have anything to do with the way we animated in the world today? It seems to me that this question is central to the whole melodic phrase of study and that we need to be able to answer it convincingly and in some detail. In my view, there can be no discredit to the correct answer. The close observation and description of nature is no idle thing. It is an act of world-making, or founding ones w orld view. Since behavior is determined by the ways in which one sees the world (reality), it is the groundwork of ones behavior. It is this act in which we find both Thoreau and Leopold engaged. Thoreau himself comments on its significance in the essay, Where I Lived and What I live ond For. By closely observing, entirely especially by describing (by using language) we cause our lives within the whole natural world. We express our desire and commitment to live within that world. Now, perhaps this sounds trivial and trite in todays world, but it is no trivial commitment for a citizen of today. Modern human life is prepare so firmly within a human-built world and dwells so soundly on human issues only that it is normal for us all to build up up and live out our lives... ... goal of that acculturation is to keep us outside of our human selves, located firmly within its agendas and serving its purposes. That culture does not want to acknowledge another world, a natural world. T o do that would be allowing human liberation, for that would present people with a true get wind of who they are and offer them a station that is not dominated by the established political/economic agenda of today. This is no idle thing it is a powerful political issue, in fact. The established culture does not really want its citizens to live in any world but the specific one that it provides, that it has defined, and that it controls to its advantage. When we read Thoreaus Walden closely, we see this same cultural tenseness even one hundred and fifty years ago. Thoreau was well sensitive of the fact that his life at Walden Pond was a liberating counter-cultural experience.