Bryce Dawkins
Question 1:
Like all places the BitterRoot Valley has its problems, yes these may not be huge life threatening problems but problems nonetheless. These issues consist of common issues seen around the world such as a spike in population growth, immigration along with seasonally poor air quality, forest deterioration, toxic waste and an increase in the possibility of wildfires. I didn’t want to name them all because the list is quite long as you know but these some of the problems that stuck out to me. For every problem there has to be a reason and with these problems we are looking at whether or not they are caused just by simple mother nature. I believe that for the problems I pointed out that nature has little to do with it at all. We as people have a continuous record of just taking as we please without thinking of the problems that will come along with what we take. I do not believe mother nature is the reason why we have increased population problems, immigration problems or poor seasonal air quality. This is clearly an us problems we, the people living on the planet in this world are the issue. Nature historically does not cause immigration problems, or toxic waste issues. The people who live here do these things, we are the reason why wildfires are more common and happen seasonally. It is easy to try and blame the issue on the world we live in and try and act like we aren’t the problem, but the hard reality is that we are the issue.
Question 2:
Montana and the BitterRoot Valley have something that most places (America) don’t. What I mean when I say this is that Montana is not like California, New York or Texas. With big bustling cities, skyscrapers and endless amounts of people flowing in and out. Montana to me is old school, it is in some ways and areas still the same. It is in some ways exactly how the world used to be before cars or electricity. Wide open spaces, endless woods in all directions and mountains that seem to just jump out of the ground. I believe we could learn alot from these places BitterRoot Valley or other places in Montana. The areas that aren’t touched by humans as much and still have fertile soil and game to hunt along with untouched creeks and rivers free or pollution and trash. It’s a great place to help understand why wildfires happen as much, what seasons are driest and what we could do to help change. BitterRoot Valley helps to show us the issues with overpopulation in the areas not touched by humans as much, we have population issues in one of the biggest countries in the United States. Montana is the Big Sky, we are having problems with air quality and its then affecting our crops seasonally. We have much to learn from areas like these, they are almost preserved by the people but also by mother nature. We must do everything to keep Montana, BitterRoot Valley and many others safe we we can learn observe and save our world.
Hi Bryce! I’ve just read your post and I totally agree with your idea regarding nature has nothing to do with those problems you mention. I believe we people try to excuse our errors by blaming another person or in your case, nature, for doing that.
According to the second question, I love the way you focus Montana as the “old school”. I think it is a very tricky and curious point of view, that is why I like it. Montana could be like travelling back in time, when apparently, there weren’t as many problems as nowadays. I see your point when you comment on the areas that are untouched by the human beings, which stay unspoiled.
Hey Bryce! I like your view on the second question on how others can “learn” from Montana’s environment. I have noticed a lot of people on this blog disagreeing that its a good model because it’s so unlike everywhere else. But I think that’s what makes it such a great place to learn from. Just like you said it’s comparatively untouched to other places and that creates a great baseline. And you need a good baseline to see how far along these problems have progressed It also allows us to judge which issues are manmade and which are more historical in nature.
Hi Bryce, I strongly agree with a lot of the points you made on your blog such as Humans taking as we please and not thinking about the after math or caring about the planet that we call home. I also agree that humans are the main cause for immigration and overpopulation. I also love the way you talk about how Montana is “old school” and that we can learn a lot about a lot by studying the sensitive BitterRoot valley.
I also disagree on some of what you have written, the first would be poor seasonal air quality, over the summer, even it times before humans had done so much damage with pollution and iditotism, there were still forest fires which would depending on the season (usually summer), would cause a poor air quality.