One of my favorite authors, Emma Marris, wrote:

After half a dozen years reporting on conservation,
mostly for Nature, I have learned that The Big Pristine
doesn’t exist. Doesn’t now; didn’t ever. Around the
world, prehistoric humans have had far greater impact
on ecosystems than we ever knew. Climate change also
means that every place, old growth and trash alike, is
now changed by humanity’s presence. Conservation
approaches that move beyond fealty to the Big Pristine
are starting to overtake older approaches centered on
putting walls around protected areas and keeping hands off.

My unscientific guess is that upwards of 80% of
ecologists and conservationists first learned to love
nature in places that weren’t pure, pristine or wild:
culverts in cul de sacs, empty lots, summer camps
on formerly logged land, hedgerows and the weedy
margins of agricultural fields. We loved them as
kids, and now we are learning to love them again
as scientists and environmentalists. It is a kind of homecoming.

from: Coming of Age in a Trash Forest

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html