Island Civilization

               Island Civilization: A Vision for Human Occupancy of Earth by Roderick Frazier Nash is a trip into the past and what could happen in the future through Nash’s eyes.  The concept of the “millennium” came into existence around 1582, when Christian officials determined the date of Christ’s birth.  People tend to set goals that benefit them as an individual rather than what benefits the environment.  The idea of wilderness is considered anything wild, beastly, or domesticated.  For centuries people have been separating themselves from nature through the use of buildings, fences, and other barriers. Humans have also taken the best of resources Earth has to offer with little to no regard of the less advanced species that need the resources also.  Humans have polluted the water, air, and land causing many plants and animals to become extinct.  Evolution is no longer shaped on natural selection but is determined by what humans have done to the Earth. How they have forced species that would not naturally interact to come together in an area that is completely out of their element.  Towards the end of the second millennium (around the nineteenth and twentieth centuries) American’s opened their eyes to the self-destructive, counterproductive behavior that was shaping the future of the planet for the worst and that the protection of the wilderness was not for the human race.  In correspondence with theories of conservation and preservation, American’s passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972 and the Endangered Species Act in 1973.  Due to the continuous breaking down and disturb the natural pattern of nature in the Third Millennium leads many biologists to believe in Sixth Great Extinction Theory.  Questions of where human civilization will lead the planet in the future also make their way into the conscience of society.  Nash suggests four outlooks for the future based on the current conditions in which mankind aided.  The wasteland scenario, the first world, depicts a world where the planet is out of resources and is littered with trash and toxins. Only a small number of species can survive in this environment and humans have left it behind in search of a new place to call home. The second world is the garden scenario, where everything in nature is controlled by human and has now turned into a positive versus a negative. The world becomes centered around humans, they have control over everything on the planet and have cut down on much of the diversity of species around them.  The third, called the future primitive, where small groups of humans decide to return to a simpler time, before technology and resume the hunting and gathering ways of their ancestors.  The downside to this future is that the extraordinary things that humans achieved are lost.  The fourth scenario, Island Civilization, Nash describes as a vision a dream fulfilled.  Through the use of technology humans are able to only impact a small percentage of the planet and let the rest of the planet do exactly what it pleases without interference.  The human population would have to be greatly reduced and freedoms would have to be restricted.  Humans would not be bound to just the ground for living arrangements, but they would indeed be able to move up into the air and farther distance themselves from other species.

            Nash made many good points and had many details to support the main theme of his argument.  His attention to the historical details was amazing and facts were all important no matter how insignificant they seemed at the time. This selection is able to open one’s eyes to different perspectives. Something must be done to lessen human impact on the environment because the way that things are going now the first scenario seems like a very likely look into the future.  The fourth scenario is outlandish because it is important for humans to interact with the world around them.  The reduction in the human population is slightly disturbing because Nash wants to preserve certain species while greatly reducing his own. I would have liked to see an option that was not so extreme, one that didn’t end with humans having to be separated from the rest of nature or one that resulted in the complete destruction of the Earth. There has to be a grey area between the black and white of the possible scenarios for the future.  Overall it was a wonderful selection that opens people’s eyes to the current problems facing the human race as well as how the future may look if something is not done to change our effect on the environment.