A) It is without question that Cronon is a gifted and widely recognized scholar and researcher. He attended many prestigious schools, including the University of Wisconsin, Yale University, and Oxford University and his work has yielded him impressive decorations. As the Fredrick Jackson Turner Chair of history, geography, and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, Cronon has certainly done his fair share of research and studied the research of others to become increasingly educated on the topic of wilderness. This research has been gathered over many years of work in the field and has led him to a belief that the wilderness must be looked at realistically rather than romantically. He refers to the work of Fredrick Jackson Turner in his paper, who suggested that wilderness became a sanctuary and a place where Americans could go to feel what it meant to be from our nation. Cronon agrees with Turner in that our view of wilderness is polarized and limited to only rural and unpopulated areas. Cronon argues that our perception of wilderness should be inclusive of all environments, both urban and wild. If we recognize that wilderness is all around us no matter where we are, we can “get on with the unending task of struggling to live rightly in the world.”
B) Cronon uses both logos and pathos to support his argument in a few subtle ways. He mentions the difference in perception between wilderness in the wilderness and controlled environments. “We get into trouble only if we see the tree in the garden as wholly artificial and the tree in the wilderness as wholly natural.” Cronon points out that a tree is a tree, no matter where it stands. He takes this point and sends a call to action, urging that we must treat all nature, both urban and rural, as one and the same. We must be aware of our destruction of nature for personal use and note how sustainable the path we are on is. By thinking that wilderness is only in places such as national parks and forests, we turn a blind eye to the destruction of nature outside of these areas. The Earth as a whole is our home, and Cronon urges us to think this to prevent the destruction of the wilderness that we depend on.
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