Mia Soviero (04/20/26) The Illusion of Wilderness (American Camino)

This section of American Camino emphasizes how the idea of “untouched” wilderness is a myth. Dr. Redick explains that many landscapes we view as natural actually have long histories of human interaction. What interested me the most was the way this challenges the normal ideas of nature. People always think of wilderness as something separate from humanity, but reading this opened me up to the idea that humans have always been and will always be involved in shaping ecosystems. This idea can connect to debates in environmental ethics about whether humans should be involved in ecosystems. But if wilderness is a partly human-created idea, how should that change the way we approach conservation?


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