What is the value of unaltered nature?

August 05, 2013 Posted by: Dylan Stuntz

This week, we built a trail. This got me thinking about accessibility, and the point of nature itself. Just because something is beautiful, such as a serene vista, a spectacular valley, or a majestic mountain, does it really need to be made so that people can see it? Whenever crowds and tourists try to observe a place, ultimately a little bit of that majestic beauty and nature is lost, the unspoiled part of it.                

Now, what we were doing was very important, altering an existing trail so that more people could walk from the base of Faulkner Park. What I'm talking about though, is our almost insatiable desire to visit and see the unspoiled places.                

Unaltered nature is becoming harder and harder to find, and it will continue to be so in the future. Land is not a renewable resource, there is only so much of it, and our population continues to grow. I'm just wondering if the correct response in finding a beautiful mountain is wondering how long it will take to build a hiking trail.                

We have developed incredible photographic technology; can't we instead just be satisfied by looking at pictures of a beautiful area? I just don't think that we should all try to disrupt nature, because it is so easy to do so.                

Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't appreciate nature, we most definitely should. What I'm suggesting is that we look at how much unspoiled nature we have left in the world, and try to figure out how to keep it that way. By all means, people should continue to visit our national parks and to hike on trails; I'm just wondering how many more trails we should build. Because after all, when does it all stop?