William Dean
Donnell/Stogdill
City of Angels
September 17, 2015
Friday Roundup for September 18
I stepped out of the van, standing in awe in front of the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. Once handed the assignment sheet Jake and I sprinted up the trail, thrilled at the prospect of adventure. Within a few short turns onto alternate "trails" we found ourselves completely consumed by nature. Soon Conor and Annie caught up right before we came upon a scene of displaced concrete tattooed with explicit and vile graffiti. Within a few seconds medical marijuana containers were found among a variety of soda and alcoholic bottles. Stumbling over pipes and trash we attempted to run away from the poisons that suffocated that place. That idea of unbound exploration re-entered our minds as we ducked under trees, stepped over logs, and pushed through bushes, until we came upon a hill. Jake spotted deer tracks leading up a small dirt path, undisturbed by human foot. So we climbed up the hill which seemingly only grew steeper and steeper until we hear a shuffle nearby. I turned sharply to find a young deer nibbling at a bush. We saw a real living animal just feet away! It was incredible! Who knew that something besides humans could survive in such a contaminated wasteland? We continued on. After surviving miniature rock slides, swinging branches, and the uncomfortable climate we made it to the top of the foothill. After a deep breath I opened my eyes towards the mountains expecting a nice view of the mountains, but instead my gaze was blinded by endless telephone poles and wires streaming across the range. I turned around in panic only to find a beautiful cloud of smog covering a once luscious valley filled with houses and skyscrapers. After a while I found some peace, and began messing around on the hilltop. Looking back on it I now realize the freedom that that hill eventually provided me. As I ran around in the chaparral, my mind was completely cleared of all the thoughts of exams and assignments that corrupted it. The wild is no place for stress and anxiety, it is a place of relaxation and cleansing. I was freed mentally and physically. I finally wasn't caged inside a four walled classroom. And now as I reflect back on that amazing day, I wonder how we could let such a beautiful place of freedom and relief be continuously polluted by our own kind?
In class we discussed what we all felt as we wandered through the hills. Words like freeing and relaxing were mindlessly intertwined with words like polluted and contaminated. These foothills that used to be flourishing with life is being cut through by trails like daggers. Poles and stairs infect the once fertile soil beneath. The mediterranean plants that attempt to grow have been burned by the acid that floats through the air. Maybe in order to protect itself the mountain creates these disasters that we read of. The mountains embrace us still today, but are on the verge of collapse due to our betrayal. If we can see the suffering of the mountains, and the power that they hold, why don't we mend the wounds that we have created? Why do we continue to implant telephone poles and cables in the belly of the hills? Why do we continue to pile layers and layers of useless toxic cement over the nurturing soil? Why do we continue to litter in the very place that brings relief and joy to thousands of visitors? Why don't we remove our involvement and let this sanctuary be free of our pollution so that we can continue to feel free, and continue to have a place of joy and cleansing? Our job shouldn't be to create paths and stairs along the mountain, it should be protecting it from the very entities that try to cage these mountains. In order to free ourselves and our minds from the stresses and problems of our lives, we must free the mountains of the structured cell that we have surrounded it in.
After taking part in this journey that you have described Will, I too have done some reflecting. The part that troubles me most is doing all the great things you mentioned about returning nature back to the way it was are nearly impossible to do in reality. Things like trash and illegal goods can only be stopped by refusing people entrance to such areas. People will always do what they feel like doing, even if they know doing such activities are illegal. The only real way to stop people from taking advantage of the spot we visited would be to bar human traffic completely from those hills. Doing so would keep young teens like ourselves from having the realizations and experiences that we had just a couple days ago. I feel like we can only hope that our generation finds the things we saw just as disgusting and evil as we did and helps us put a stop to the abuse. Things like telephone poles and wires are ugly just as you say. But the cost to put them underground or to find an alternate path brings up new issues that honestly seem to be less pressing than just preserving as much of this untapped land and nature as we can. Money spent on alternative methods could instead be directly spent on conservation and things that have a direct impact. I really like what you are saying, but I feel as a whole that unless a land is preserved completely as a National Park, there is very little more that we can realistically do without exorbitant cost to further preserve the hills and places like it that we saw just a few days ago. Am I completely off in thinking this (eternal pessimist over here)? What do you all think?
ReplyDeleteI think the answer to your questions about human intrusion on nature is, because it is easy and we like being comfortable. Humans have a weird synergic yet intrusive relationship with nature. We have this beautiful thing that we can work in connection with but humans have this entitled feeling that we can do what we want to the Earth with no consequence. The only thing wrong with that assumption is that it is wrong. Only recently we have found that Earth is now rejecting its disease that is humanity. Too bad that we still disregard the messages that the Earth is sending us.
ReplyDeleteThough I do agree that it is tragic that humans have disrupted nature to the extent that we have, I believe there is deeper beauty that lays on the peaks of Mt. Echo. Though, I'm sure, the mountain would have been beautiful and innocent before human encounter, the fusion of the modern human with mother nature paves the way for other observations. It is key that we examine not only whether or not there is litter, but what kind of litter, and what that says about a place. Our group primarily found Cigarette butts, alcohol bottles, and other consumables that tend to act as distractions from everyday life for humans. This symbolizes Mt. Echo's contribution to society. It is an oasis in the busy city. A break from everyday life. Though it can be said that we should care to keep such a place untouched and as clean as possible, I disagree. This is a place for humans to relax. With such a restriction cast above their heads, the initial reason for escaping to Mt. Echo is diminished. It sounds odd, I agree, but I feel that Mt. Echo has a unique aspect that we can draw beauty from. It demonstrates a unique and powerful relationship between human and nature.
ReplyDeleteThis a difficult situation because I do think that we have to have preserve nature to the best of our ability, but I think that it will be unfeasible unless we find a way to remove ourselves from it. Although theoretically that sounds like the best solution, I agree with Conor that by removing ourselves from nature, we will essentially be depriving ourselves. That sounds selfish, but it's true. Being in nature is a powerful experience because it allows people to see the truest and most raw forms of life. I believe that everyone should be able to have an opportunity to escape from their hectic, everyday lives. That being said, though, we do need treat our surroundings with respect. What I saw at Echo Mountain was a complete lack of that. Maybe to combat this, we should put more care into educating people about the effects of their actions. Although most people today have an idea that problems exist, they don't care enough to make an active effort to stop it. We need to educate them in a way that puts an emphasis on the harm that can come from their actions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brenda that we should educated more people about how to maintain nature. I find it interesting that we go to a school that allows us to go on Outdoor Ed trips. These trips are meant to detach us from everyday life, to take a step back and reflect. Yet for some reason we never find time to reflect throughout the school year. During the school year I never think about the future, my mind is always set on when is the next test, when is next quiz, will I be able to go to sleep tonight? However, by going to Echo Mountain this trip allowed me to reflect. It gave me that luxury of taking a deep breath, without the fear of thinking of anything school related. I do not think that all the trash and beer bottles around Echo mountain is a contribution to society. We have bars and other places for people to drink or smoke. All the trash surrounding Echo Mountain is a statement that we are making, we do not care about our surroundings. We treat nature as garbage, not caring about the impact we make on it. I believe that nature should be kept as raw as possible not the world's trash can.
ReplyDeleteWhen my group was reflecting on the trash we found on the mountain, for some reason it didn't seem to bother us as much. Not because we think littering is good but because it was part of the character of the environment. In our certain location (a little lookout point furnished by a graffitied bench). My immediate reaction to being there was to let out a sigh of relief. Looking out at the view and being able to compartmentalize Pasadena as a tiny part of a big world took an enormous weight off my shoulders. Over the next hour or so, we were in a state of peace and complete liberation. However, we realized that we clearly were not the first people to find this location; it was not our discovery. Our time spent at the lookout was only a continuation of the history left by many before us. The cigarette butts, empty bottles, suspicious bags containing the remnants drugs (??), were all pieces of evidence that showed just what a place of respite the mountain was. It is where all stress disappears; however one chooses to enjoy their freedom is individual. The trash was specific: substances used for relaxation purposes. What others have left behind is only proof that it serves to provide a sanctuary from the stressful city. Of course, they should have picked up after themselves/respected their place of tranquility, but the meaning behind the litter did not cross my mind as being "hostile" or purposefully harmful.
ReplyDeleteAs I read your post, I realized that many of us in the class, at least in our group, had some of the exact same realizations and felt the same way about the situation. The thing that stuck out most to me as I trekked up the side of the mountain with Audrey was how much trash I saw on the trails, and the amount of degrading soil that was damaged from the numerous amount of shoe prints. As we reached the top of a peak and looked out upon the open, but foggy, city, I realized how beautiful the mountain was but also how degraded it had become due to humans that had imposed on the land. It made me sad to see how such a peaceful and mindful place could be so trashed by the very people who supposedly "admire" it. Neither of us needed our cell phones, social media, or emails while up on the mountain. We didn't worry about any school related deadlines or assignments, nor did we even worry about what we would be doing after school that day. All that we needed in that moment was right there, however it could never be perfect due to the saddening fact that it was taken care of and treated so badly. I wish that people could realize what a beautiful place we live in, and realize that it won't always be this beautiful if we don't begin to take care of it. The nature that still exists around us is crucial to different aspects of our lives that we don't always see on a daily basis, and in order to continue to enjoy these careless and freeing moments of peace in parts of our world that are as natural as can be, we need to start taking care of the world around us.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday our class was able to experience a very unique and valuable component Los Angeles has to offer, that many other places don’t. Being able to have such close and easy access to our surrounding natural world; the beaches, valleys and mountains is crucial in keeping residents of such a fast paced and high stress city and culture, sane. This defining feature of Los Angeles is something I know most of us will not fully be able to appreciate until we are no longer living in it. Of course I would never encourage humans to create harmful disturbances to the natural world, but I do believe the tangible human footprints, (specifically litter), that we observed on Echo Mountain gave us the opportunity to reflect on potential internal changes we may wish to make to destress our daily lives. And while human destruction to the natural world should not be undermined, we must remember that what we observed at the base of Echo Mountain is not universal, “purer” and more “untouched” parts of the natural world exist. If no serious damage is done, I believe it is important to have this buffer zone between Los Angeles and the unspoiled natural world.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there should be a higher degree of awareness about everyone participating in the extermination of trash and see the perspective you are introducing of people being ignorant and careless about this, but at the same time you have to take into account the hundreds of people who walk along the same trails we did day by day. Of course, there are bound to be the occasional litterers and we can't really hunt them down and reprimand them. And sadly, the people who leave the alcohol bottles and marijuana canisters were probably intending to bring those to the hills and purposefully dispose of them there (i.e it was a conscious choice). The most help we could provide would be picking up the pieces of indecomposable items and clean up the San Gabriel Mountains ourselves. I personally believe that the appreciation of nature is not taken away because of the few tainted square feet out of thousands of square feet of this land. Living in such a urban town, we still find the mountains way less polluted than our homes and believe it has enough of a change in environment for us to still admire the scenery and disregard the inconsequential amount of garbage.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to hear so many people make the connection between drugs and Echo Mountain in the sense that both are forms of escape. But, if Echo Mountain is to most the escape it was to me, why do we need the drugs as well? Doesn't it represent a healthier release, an alternative to the unnatural ways that we employ to free or relax ourselves? It should be noted hear that I am using we to describe our society, not the law-abiding population of Polytechnic School. It seems like the "more is better"/"overkill is underrated" philosophy has slipped into this dialogue as an assumption. Instead, I would argue that cramming as many forms of escapism into our daily lives is simply moving us farther from satisfaction, meaning that one who needs drugs and a beautiful view to placate them is further from an appreciation of their regular, sober, unexemplary routine than one who only requires the view. The profundity of the mountains lay in their ability to totally placate me. Others have problems bigger than mine, much so, and must require escape tactics to match, but the remnants of such techniques visibly undermines the mountains’ spiritual power. Maybe people would be reliant on/attracted to the release that alcohol and drugs provide if they were not presented with the canisters or containers that represent that “escape.” Maybe, if they were not distracted by the dangerously complete release from consciousness that many drugs evoke (the definition of a drug being a substance that skews the brain’s ability to function), they would find a healthy completeness in the mountains alone. Medical marijuana and whiskey, these are compounds synthesized by society for escape from society, and perhaps that logical misstep illustrates why they are never completely satisfying. The only escape from society is removal and a change in perspective, both of which Echo Mountain had in spades.
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