Team Members:

• Decklan M. Fox

  Chin-Chung Tsai

  LaDonna C. Garrett

Pointing's view of the world -- our environment -- became crystal clear at the beginning of this chapter. He listed a sequence of events channelled by the arrival of Europeans. A consistent pattern of spreading European culture, opening of new territories, building of global empires and exploitation of land and indigenous people followed.

He then focused on the ecosystem of northern and western Europe to provide a basis for the discussion of various destructions of natural forests and people. The addition of sketches or graphic representations of the before and after European arrival on other continents would have enhanced the readability and interest level of this particular point. The graphics at the beginning (the before) and the end (the after) of our summary capture original unspoiled beauty, and the potential devastation to the environment described by Ponting.

Poignant quotes from influencial settlers were given to illustrate their views as it relates to the environment and the human beings discovered during their conquests. Any of the Christopher Columbus movies could be used to illustrate the mood and attitude of the colonists. This was the abbot of Fellarich's (one of the new German settlements) view on the land,

"I believe that the forest which adjoins Fellarich covers the land to no pupose, and hold this to be an unbearable harm."(p.123)

With this attitude, the settlers drained marches and fens while destroying natural forests.

Every continuent suffered losses due to European influence. For example, an early commentator on the pattern of behavior of Portuguese immigrants in Africa and the Americas in the mid-sixteenth century wrote:

"The first thing they try to obtain is slaves to work the farms. Anyone who succeeds in obtaining two pairs of half a dozen of thme has the means to sustain his family i a respectable way, even though he may have no other earthly possessions. For one fishes for him another hunts and the rest cultivate and till the fields."

This process, according to Pointing, occurred on a regular basis all over the world.

Pointing's question was, "are humans an integral part of nature or are they separate from it and in some way superior to it?" He traced responses to this question to philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome and the ideas that the Cristian church inherited from its Jewish origins.

As in the other chapters, Pointing's use of quotations was very successful in providing the viewpoints of thought. Although not enough pictures or visual representations were utilized in his book, graphically expressed opinions like this one by the Jewish thinker Maimonides capture the mood and exceptions to the mode of thought during this time period:

"It should not be believed that all other beings exist for the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all other beings, too, have been intended for their own sakes, and not for the sake of something else."(p.145)

This view was definitely an exception to popular thinking at the time.

Pointing showed differences of thinking between religions. He explained that Chinese Taoist, Buddhism, Jainism and Upanishads emphasized a philosophy of balance between humans and nature. Chief Seattle of the Squamish native American tribe wrote to the President of the United States saying the following:

"...The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strad in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."(p.153)

The central theme of these two chapters was explained this way by Pointing: "Europeans came to see humans as being placed in a special position, above and beyond a separate natural world which they could exploit with impunity."(p.159)

Humans were considered superior and separate from the environment.

This led to exploitation and misuse of natural resources.

A comparison was made between nature and "soft wax", which in the hands of man can be shaped into whatever he pleases.

If this view continues, The Don is Dead (Taps) will be an appropriate theme song for mankind's future on this planet.