By studying the history of Native Americans we can understand some of their characteristics, qualities, and perspectives regarding America’s landscape. Many of these still persist today in the original form or mutated ways. The Native American quality of living unsustainably persists today in various forms because it is difficult to notice an unsustainable lifestyle at first as described by John Steinbeck, Barry Lopez, and Scott Momaday in The Log From the Sea of Cortez, The American Geographies, and The Way to Rainy Mountain, respectively.
It is easy to look back in time and see that Native Americans lived unsustainable lifestyles. The Micmac lived unsustainable lifestyles. Their economy revolved around trading small animals. Their desire …show more content…
First, by looking at John Steinbeck’s The Log From the Sea of Cortez we can see how unsustainable lifestyles persist today. In the middle of the Sea of Cortez Steinbeck wrote,” Fifty miles away the Japanese boats are dredging with overlapping scoops, bringing up tons of shrimps, rapidly destroying the species so that it may never come back, and with the species destroying the ecological balance of the whole region” (Steinbeck 468). He is describing the overfishing that was occurring in the Sea of Cortez. This situation has obvious parallels to Native American behavior. For example, the Great Plain Native Americans overhunted resulting in extreme declines in the population of Buffalo. Steinbeck also wrote, “Our curiosity was not limited, but was as wide and horizonless as that of Darwin or Agassiz or Linnaeus or Pliney. We wanted to see everything our eyes could accommodate…” (466). Steinbeck is referring to his belief that it is better to face science in a macro way, rather than micro. Steinbeck would argue that the Japanese boat and Native Americans would have an easier time noticing their unsustainability if they had macro scopes. For example, if the Micmac had used a macro scope instead of focusing on each trade they might have realized that the animal populations were going to be …show more content…
are interchangeable. However, Lopez disagreed strongly, “ The real American landscape is a face of almost incomprehensible depth and complexity” (Lopez 914). A problem with not understanding the complexity is that one will not be able to notice changes in the landscape, if one does not know the original landscape well enough. Therefore, not only will it will be difficult to notice an unsustainable lifestyle at first, but it will also be difficult to notice one at all if one does not know the original conditions of the landscape. For example, if someone did not understand the enormity of a Buffalo population originally, they would not be able to notice that the population was decreasing.
Finally, the Native American quality of living unsustainably is seen in Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain. Momaday is a Native American author of Kiowa descent. Momaday witnessed the unsustainability of the Native American lifestyle throughout his life. When he returned to where the Kiowa’s used to live the tribe was gone and there was no buffalo left (Momaday 740). The depletion of the Buffalo as a result of overpopulation is another example of not being able to recognize the unsustainability because it is too difficult at first
It is easy to look back in time and see that Native Americans lived unsustainable lifestyles. The Micmac lived unsustainable lifestyles. Their economy revolved around trading small animals. Their desire …show more content…
First, by looking at John Steinbeck’s The Log From the Sea of Cortez we can see how unsustainable lifestyles persist today. In the middle of the Sea of Cortez Steinbeck wrote,” Fifty miles away the Japanese boats are dredging with overlapping scoops, bringing up tons of shrimps, rapidly destroying the species so that it may never come back, and with the species destroying the ecological balance of the whole region” (Steinbeck 468). He is describing the overfishing that was occurring in the Sea of Cortez. This situation has obvious parallels to Native American behavior. For example, the Great Plain Native Americans overhunted resulting in extreme declines in the population of Buffalo. Steinbeck also wrote, “Our curiosity was not limited, but was as wide and horizonless as that of Darwin or Agassiz or Linnaeus or Pliney. We wanted to see everything our eyes could accommodate…” (466). Steinbeck is referring to his belief that it is better to face science in a macro way, rather than micro. Steinbeck would argue that the Japanese boat and Native Americans would have an easier time noticing their unsustainability if they had macro scopes. For example, if the Micmac had used a macro scope instead of focusing on each trade they might have realized that the animal populations were going to be …show more content…
are interchangeable. However, Lopez disagreed strongly, “ The real American landscape is a face of almost incomprehensible depth and complexity” (Lopez 914). A problem with not understanding the complexity is that one will not be able to notice changes in the landscape, if one does not know the original landscape well enough. Therefore, not only will it will be difficult to notice an unsustainable lifestyle at first, but it will also be difficult to notice one at all if one does not know the original conditions of the landscape. For example, if someone did not understand the enormity of a Buffalo population originally, they would not be able to notice that the population was decreasing.
Finally, the Native American quality of living unsustainably is seen in Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain. Momaday is a Native American author of Kiowa descent. Momaday witnessed the unsustainability of the Native American lifestyle throughout his life. When he returned to where the Kiowa’s used to live the tribe was gone and there was no buffalo left (Momaday 740). The depletion of the Buffalo as a result of overpopulation is another example of not being able to recognize the unsustainability because it is too difficult at first