The End of the Wild

It is hard to pinpoint the absolute most thrilling or magical engagement I've had with the non-human world. If I could just lump them all together, it would certainly be the year that I spent in the Philippines, but to pick just one of my experiences while there would be to leave out some of the other amazing things I got to see while there. If I absolutely had to, I could narrow it down to three. First would be my experience ziplining through the Macahambus Gorge. After walking across a narrow bridge through the tops of the trees, I was able to take a flying ride back to where I started. It was amazing to look down over all of the trees and beautiful plants on the forest floor. Second would be the rafting trip down the Cagayan de Oro river; this river, which ran through my host city, it the only river in the Philippines to have natural rapids. During some of the calmer parts of the journey, we were able to see native birds and animals on the riverbanks and see many beautiful rock formations and plants. The third and final item I would point out is when I went to the island of Boracay, a famed tourist island in the central Philippines. The eastern coast of the island with a 3 km long pristine white beach is very developed, with many resorts. There are options, however, to explore the significantly less developed western side of the island. It was absolutely beautiful to be on a secluded road which suddenly let out to a gorgeous beach with its crystal clear water.

As great as all of these things are, however, I am not sure that saving random species of plants and animals should be our most important concern. Obviously everything in the environment is connected and you can't simply consider on thing and completely forget about the rest. I am simply saying that some of the examples that Meyer used in his book seemed almost pointless to try to save. He wrote about one species of grass that is only in one county in California. Has this grass proven to be of any sort of benefit to the area or to humans? He didn't specifically say so. In my opinion, then, we should not focus our time, energy, and (arguably most importantly) money, on saving this one tiny species of grass. I don't agree with the vast destruction of yet untouched areas. I think that we should try to keep what we have and try to make it better and to use our time and energy preserving what isn't destined to disappear within the next few years. Nature is important and everyone, today and in the future, should get to enjoy it. Without creating some form of regulation, the natural world will certainly fall into even more of a decline than is already present.