Cronon Discussion Questions

Question 1: What question did Thoreau ask that Cronon is dealing with?

In his journal, Thoreau muses upon twenty years of changes in New England’s land and beasts. He lists the differences in plants and animals, comparing them to past accounts and descriptions. He questions if the growing human presence has resulted in “a maimed and imperfect nature.” Cronon believes that this is an important question to consider. He points out that although changes do happen in nature, it is not so easy to determine how they changed. He is also not sure if Thoreau’s description of “a maimed and imperfect nature” is the correct way to refer to ecology, since it is by its essence, a fluid system of changes and reactions. Cronon does not deny the impact of

It would be inaccurate to say that all of the changes to the environment were caused by European settlement. Cronon mentions this when discussing the difficulties in finding environmental evidence. Some of the changes might have happened whether the area was settled by Europeans or not. He also points out that some of the changes may have been unconnected to any behaviors on the part of the Colonials. Some of the changes might have been ongoing or just random happenstance. The rate of change should also be heeded but also comes with its own problems since concrete proof is scarce. While it is easy to agree that some changes did occur, it is not quite so easy to find evidence that answers why or how those changes happened. It is in Cronon’s opinion that changes in the environment should not be blamed upon a people without first garnering

On one hand some say Native Indians in New England had ritual practices that created a stable self-regulating system. It balanced the human impact upon the surrounding ecology. On the opposite hand, one could say there is no stable way to interact with the environment. An unstable reaction can always be found. The riddle compels the reader to explore both the differences between Native Indians and Colonials way of living and how they impacted the land and its ecology. Through this study one can determine not only what exactly happened, but also how the land was before such changes