"Refuge: An Unnatural History" by Terry Tempest Williams is a wonderful example of the complex relationship between humans and the environment they live in. The excerpt we read demonstrates how the environment can be intertwined with many aspects of our lives. The author does a great job of using different stories to show her deep connection to Utah, the place she has lived her whole life.
In the beginning of the excerpt Terry Tempest Williams focuses on the changing water level of Great Salt Lake due to climatic changes. Starting in September of 1982, Great Salt lake started to rise due to storms and continued to do so because of heavy snowfall and unseasonably cool weather. She explains that during the years that the water levels rose, people in Salt Lake City were anxious for many reasons. The airport would be underwater at a certain point, farmers were experiencing damaging flooding, and the Southern Pacific Railroad was working to keep tracks above ground. For Terry Tempest Williams, however, the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge flooding was her biggest concern.
After establishing the importance of the water levels, Terry Tempest Williams explains her relationship to the burrowing owls that she is worried about. On page 742 she says "there are those birds you gauge your life by. The burrowing owls five miles from the entrance to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge are mine." One day the author and her friend went to the refuge to see if the Great Salt Lake had flooded the owls home and what happened was, to me, the most important part of the excerpt. During the car ride there, they talked about the loss of intimacy with men and nature. Terry Tempest Williams said she was not sure she had ever felt rage, only powerless and sadness. When they arrived they saw that the mound was no longer there, but instead a Canadian Goose Gun Club building. It was then that Terry Tempest Williams wrote "restraint is the steel partition between a rational mind and a violent one. I knew rage. It was fire in my stomach with no place to go."
It was the connection to her environment that allowed her to care about something so deeply. The mound being destroyed showed that the world we live in has stopped appreciating the beauty of the environment. I enjoyed reading this because I thought it was an interesting way to see the environment. The environment is more than just where we live, it is also apart of who we are.
No comments:
Post a Comment