Let Us Not Abandon the Earth

[forestofglory]

I was recently reading something that featured a science fiction trope that I've seen a background detail in a bunch of things and that I really dislike: humans have abandoned the earth to let nature heal.

This feels like fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between humans and nature. Most ecosystems on Earth are fundamentally shaped by human actions. People set controlled fires, harvested wild plants, grazed animals, copiced woods, ect. Are modern humans doing a good job of maintaining these types of relationships? For the most part no. But that doesn't mean that I think the earth would be better off without us.

And we would certainly not be better off without the earth. Every time I read something where the earth has been destroyed or abandoned I feel deep sense of grief, even thought these works generally treat it like no big deal.

I'm frequently frustrated by by the careless way the concept of wilderness is propagated in popular culture. While the concept of wilderness is appealing it generally rests on false understanding of history. I want more fiction to engage with the idea that we can be good members of the community of nature, and that we don't have to either destroy or leave.

Comments

[davidgillon]

This is such a good point. Though there's a few stories from the Golden Age where the Earth is abandoned because "We've used this one up, what's next?"

I suspect this world without humans idea isn't simply an issue with some SF writers not thinking it through, but also with many of the mass of people who consider themselves ecologically minded, but haven't really thought things through - people who think of nature as fluffy, rather than inherently red in tooth and wildfire.

My very first thought on seeing the idea laid out here was "well the cows are screwed" ;)

[forestofglory]

Thanks. It does seem to be mostly show up as an unexamined background detail.