Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
jagged peaks of the Olympics, his last rays lighting up a golden path across Puget
Sound to the shores that Seattle rests upon. To the south the vista holds Rainier's
hoary peak rising majestically above all other heights in any of our states. To the
north is the peaceful pathway of water that brings the fl eets of all the world to lay
commerce on Seattle docks. The climate is a peaceful one, given to no excesses and
but scant indulgence in snow or frost. All the year around our lawns are green.
34
The innate beauty of Seattle and the Pacifi c Northwest was not to be
admired from a distance. The lush, green landscape was understood to
be full of inexhaustible natural resources ripe for extraction by indus-
trious settlers. As such, nature served double duty, fi rst as an aesthetic
amenity for pleasure and wonder, and second as a source of employment
and profi t.
35
Early fur-trapping activities gave way to timber and fi shing
industries, and these economic activities attracted a population that was
largely Anglo and male. The demographics of the region at times fueled an
environmental determinist argument familiar to Northern Europeans and
Scandinavians that promoted the climate as ideal for Anglos to prosper in-
tellectually and spiritually.
36
Today, the regional demographics continue to
be skewed toward Anglos, with the cities of the Pacifi c Northwest having
some of the lowest populations of African Americans in the United States,
although there are signifi cant numbers of Asian Americans and Latinos.
37
Although the population of the Pacifi c Northwest tends to be relatively
homogenous, the region is heavily infl uenced by Asian and European
cultures as well as the region's original inhabitants, the various Native
American tribes.
38
Refl ecting on the importance of Native American cul-
ture to the region, Raban argues that “its Indian . . . past lies very close
to the surface, and native American conceptions of landscape and land
use remain live political issues here.”
39
The Native American heritage of
Seattle has a strong infl uence on its international reputation, particularly
the city's namesake, Chief Seattle or Sealth. Chief Seattle was the leader of
the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes and is known throughout the world
for his famous speech from 1854, a part of which reads:
The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth.
This we know.
All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
40
The speech of Chief Seattle glorifi es the harmonious relationship be-
tween Native Americans and nature and refl ects an ecological ethic that
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