“Satan’s home had become God’s own temple” (Cronon 9). Cronon outlines the transition from wilderness being seen as a dangerous and unloveable place to becoming a cherished land for Americans to visit. I think it’s interesting how Cronon highlights the change from wilderness being a place that the poor were forced to be into a place that the wealthy sought out. In my experience with the wilderness, I have certainly sought it out as a haven from the urban world. This transition from most of the world being wilderness to most of the world we see being developed and covered in concrete has certainly contributed to this desire to travel into nature.

Thoreau’s book about a simple life in the natural world is one of the drivers for this craze to seek a simple life outside the confines of society. This lifestyle and the gifts of the wilderness are referred to as the “sacred sublime” by Cronon.

I like that he is challenging the arguments of deep ecologists that environmental destruction started as soon as agriculture began. Cronon claims that it is silly because we would essentially be reversing society back into becoming hunter-gatherers if we wanted to reverse environmental destruction and become one with nature again. I agree that this is unlikely because humans are constantly driven to progress in science and technology. On the other hand, there is a major connection between the early agricultural areas in the Middle East / Mesopotamia and the disconnect from nature. I would say that Cronon’s arguments are a little far-fetched because the anthropological standpoint is that the agricultural societies consumed way more than the hunter-gatherers. I think that it is impossible to achieve this, but in hunter-gatherer societies, there was no wealth and no belongings. Without trade and merchandising, a separation between classes was impossible. Communities were based on sharing and helping each other. The disconnect we have from transactions we make every day is what drives the continuous environmental degradation. If I cannot directly see the consequences of my consumption, or feel them right away, then I will not change my behavior.