"Home"

"American people, throughout the modern period have been ambivalent in their attachment to place... ...Americans have felt little awareness of being rooted to place or region, little sense of love for the land."
Lane, Belden. The Ephemeral Character of Place: Problems in Articulating an American Sense of Sacred Space. pp. 219

 I'm not sure I agree with this point.
At my high school, a boarding school called The Conserve School (which no longer has a four-year program), I felt an extreme love for the land. It was located in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, in a very small town called Land O' Lakes - not where they make the cheese and butter. Conserve is situated on 1200 acres, most of which is heavily forested with a few hiking/biking/ski trails and seven lakes. As the school had an environmental focus, we spent a lot of time outside the classroom and bonding with nature. Outside of class, we were encouraged (and sometimes forced) to explore the woods and our boundaries withing the wilderness. The trails, when no one was around, were a home for me - especially after a light rain in the sunset.

This leads me back to the very beginning of the article where the author quotes Aldo Leopold:
 "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"
 Aldo Leopold. Sand Country Almanac. 

Aldo Leopold himself enjoyed the wilderness of Wisconsin - granted, he did spend more time in the southern portion where it's dominantly prairie lands. I think the point is, though, is that through nature, it is much easier to connect and find a a real home.
 

Unfortunately, respect for nature is not as high anymore. Natural habitats are being destroyed for resources and space for growing urban centers. This, I believe is hurting many people's chances of finding a real home.
For example, another environmentalist, John Muir.

Muir agrees with Leopold that the wilderness is essential to developing a place to call home.
"It is impossible to overestimate the value of wild mountains and mountain temples as places for people to grow in, recreation grounds for soul and body."
John Muir. The Hetch Hetchy Valley

John Muir found a home in Hetch Hetchy Valley, which is located in the Yosemite National Park. He praised this valley as one of the last untouched places on the map. It wasn't long, though, before the head of the National Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, decided to dam the valley. Since then, it has been completely flooded, creating all sorts of environmental problems - but that's beside the point. The point is, that one of the most beautiful places in our country was destroyed.


I think what I'm trying to say is that without the wilderness, it's impossible to find a real home. In an urban setting, there's no space for silence, contemplation, and growth. In order to find a real home, one must return to nature.