Beavers

“One has but to observe a community of beavers at work in a stream to understand the loss in his sagacity, balance, co-operation, competence, and purpose which Man has suffered since he rose up on his hind legs. He began to chatter and he developed Reason, Thought, and Imagination, qualities which would get the smartest group of rabbits or orioles in the world into inextricable trouble overnight.”

-James Thurber

This quote is particularly interesting after the facilitation lead by Erin and Tattiana focused on the connections between beavers and humans. In our discussion we decided that there were many similarities between these two species. The strongest connection for me was that they are the only true ecological engineers. I came to this same thinking point last night as I read through Wessels- what other species changes a landscape to produce a new ecosystem? I didn't think of humans on my own and was struck be the number of connections between these two animals: we are both deliberate in our development techniques, alter our environments, and abandon an area when the resources are depleted.

During this discussion the idea of language and wasteful humans were quietly mentioned in our small groups. Interestingly, the quote above suggests that human language has lead to our ability to reason which has precipitated the conflicts that we are facing with nature. The power of language is certainly unique to the human species however their is scientific evidence that supports that many species have specific forms of communication. I would argue that our reasoning and creativity has industrialized us beyond our basic needs and this is the distinction between us and our wild relatives. As mentioned in the discussion we unlike the beaver have found ways to bring our resources to our homes when the resources are depleted, the beaver must still move on as survival is their main concern.

Overall, the beaver chapter reminded me the power of perspective and how revisiting places is important to gaining a deeper understanding of our surroundings and self.