City park Final Thoughts

During this project, I attempted to give readers a general idea of some of the history of the changes of the environment in City Park.  Throughout its history, the main area of the Park (the part with the museum) has gone from the home of local Native Americans, who once lived as part of the ecological mesh, to a sugar plantation, museum and golf courses. Today, when I think of City Park, I divide it into two areas:  the urban section of the Park, with the museum, and the de-urbanized section that includes Scout Island and two abandoned golf courses. When you examine the modern area of the Park and how it has shifted from the homes of Native Americans to the current urbanized setting, we see a trend of humans being part of the mesh to placing themselves above it, a trend that, unfortunately, is all too common in modern times. 

            When you compare the shifts in the modern section of the Park (e.g., from natural to urbanized) to the way Scout Island and the abandoned golf courses which have shifted from a man-made environment to a somewhat natural one, the contrast is evident.  In my opinion, this shift from constructed environments to natural ones is a step in the right direction.  However, many others disagree, whether they are golfers or pet owners who now have to deal with coyotes and alligators.  They feel that they are being infringed on by a hostile environment.  Unfortunately, this feeling in the conflict that surrounds the golf course section of the Park is an all too common one.  We hear numerous stories “problem” bears or wolves that are interacting with humans and being killed for it.  The fact of the matter is that, as long as urban areas continue to increase in size and infringe on natural habitat, these kinds of conflicts and stories will continue and become more frequent.  The degree to which modern society has become separated from the mesh is evident when one examines the common consensus on the conflict between progress and nature. 

            It seems that modern society has a sense of entitlement to the world around us, as seen in Herzog’s movie, The Wrath of God.  This sense of entitlement is viewed as unique to humans and is not extended to other organisms.  We have for the most part of history failed in our attempts to interact harmoniously with “the strange stranger” and continually place ourselves above them instead of on an equal plain.  In my opinion, it is impossible to be part of the mesh when we see ourselves above it.  This is a huge issue that has major global implications on the future of our planet’s biodiversity.  The debate about what to do with an old golf course is only a microcosm of the larger issue.  How as a global community can we deal with the conflicts between the needs of the human population and the rights of the environment?  As we have learned throughout the semester, while thinking small may be beneficial to local communities, this needs to be accompanied by a realization of the need to think big.  In my opinion, a shift in our current ideology is necessary for this realization to take place.  Our current belief centers around the idea that human needs have priority and fails to consider the implications of this way of thinking, both for the environment and ourselves. 

            In this project, I found that it only took a five minute car ride from the New Orleans Museum of Art to Scout Island to experience the contrast in environments.  Not only was Scout Island much quieter, but it contained far more communities of native species.   While keeping and enjoying a small natural part of City Park may be a small issue in the large picture, it is my hope that, in experiencing the contrast between what was and what is, people realize the implications of our actions and begin to see that this situation is far more common on the global scale than we realize.  Personally, my love of nature and being outdoors led me to care about the environments around me and to eventually realize how interconnected I was to the world around me.  This realization motivated many of the decisions that I have made in my life, including devoting my academic career to preserving the environment.  It is my hope that, as people experience what is left of the natural world, they too will learn to love it and see its significance as I have in my life.