Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
according to which concern and sympathy for our environment is immediate and natural,
and the desirability of protecting and preserving wilderness self-evident' (Godfrey-Smith
1979:316), rather than justified purely according to human needs.
We can, however, provide—and it is important that we do so—an answer to the
question: 'What is the use of wilderness?' We certainly ought to preserve and protect
wilderness areas as gymnasiums, as laboratories, as stockpiles of genetic diversity and as
cathedrals. Each of these reasons provides a powerful and sufficient instrumental
justification for their preservation. But note how the very posing of this question about
the utility of wilderness reflects an anthropocentric system of values. From a genuinely
ecocentric point of view the question, 'What is the use of wilderness?' would be as
absurd as the question, 'What is the use of happiness?' (Godfrey-Smith 1979:319).
Hendee et al. (1978) identified three consistent themes in the values associated with
wilderness: experiential, mental and moral restorational, and scientific. Experiential
values highlight the importance of the 'wilderness experience' for recreationists and
tourists (Scott 1974; Hamilton-Smith 1980; McKenry 1980). Several themes emerge in
an examination of the wilderness experience including the aesthetic, the spiritual and the
escapist (Table 7.2). Given its essentially personal nature, the wilderness experience is
extremely difficult to define (Scott 1974). Nevertheless, the values recorded from
writings on wilderness listed in Table 7.2 do point to the various aspects of the wilderness
experience that are realised in human contact with wild and primitive lands.
Associated with the values of the wilderness experience is the idea that wilderness can
provide mental and moral restoration for the individual in the face of modern civilisation
(Carhart 1920; Boy den and Harris 1978). This values wilderness as a 'reservoir for
renewal of mind and spirit' and in some cases offers 'an important sanctuary into which
one can withdraw, either temporarily or permanently, to find respite' (Hendee et al.
1978:12). This harks back to the biblical role of wilderness as a place of spiritual renewal
(Funk 1959) and the simple life of Thoreau's Walden Pond (Thoreau 1854 (1968)). The
encounter with wilderness is regarded as forcing the individual to rise to the physical
challenge of wilderness with corresponding improvements in feelings of self-reliance and
self-worth. As Ovington and Fox (1980) wrote: 'In the extreme', wilderness
generates a feeling of absolute aloneness, a feeling of sole dependence on
one's own capacities as new sights, smells and tastes are encountered….
The challenge and the refreshing and recreating power of the unknown are
provided by unadulterated natural wilderness large enough in space for us
to get 'lost' in. Here it is possible once again to depend upon our own
personal faculties and to hone our bodies and spirits.
(Ovington and Fox 1980:3)
The third major theme in the values associated with wilderness is that of the scientific
values of wilderness. Table 7.3 identifies the various ways in which wilderness is of
importance to science.
