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Satellites in the High Country: Searching for the Wild in the Age of Man

by Jason Mark

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2015

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Bjorn said: " Jason Mark’s new book belongs in the collection of anyone who cares about the environment or enjoys the wilderness, but whose language can’t seem keep up with the accelerating changes around us.

Today, we find ourselves in a near apocalyptic tautology Jason Mark’s new book belongs in the collection of anyone who cares about the environment or enjoys the wilderness, but whose language can’t seem keep up with the accelerating changes around us.

Today, we find ourselves in a near apocalyptic tautology: at what point of environmental degradation does wilderness become so tampered with by human activity and pollution that it ceases to be wild? At what point does wilderness stop being wild if – ironically – we are trying to intervene to save our current conception of wilderness? Mark helps the reader find her own way out of a wilderness of language that surrounds our concept of the wild. Yet, his style is more like the hands-off backcountry trip leader who says "time out everyone, take out your map and compass and figure out where we are and where we’re going."

In other words, I didn’t feel like Mark was forcing “The Answer” upon the reader, but rather was guiding the reader to think about the question of wilderness – and wildness – in a new (or maybe old) way. While so much environmental literature today is written with the heart of an insurance actuary or an economist at a corporate-sponsored think tank, Mark is obviously someone who enjoys the wilderness through his heart, and on his own two feet. He captures the numinous, the ineffable. He writes as someone who has been humbled by nature, and who would be a solid backpacking companion.

The narrative forces the reader to re-evaluate their idea of what constitutes wilderness. By the end of the book, Mark reveals his thoughts on wilderness in a more direct way: “A “post- wild” world would put human civilization into a kind of solitary confinement. There would be no Away, no frontier or edge to civilization. There would be no Other, nothing to contest our will. We would be left all alone.” Perhaps freeing the wild makes us free.

I do get the sense, however, that many who read the book who don’t already have the appreciation and deep emotional connection to the wild might not really “get it.” Mark captures this frustration when, for example, he laments that fewer younger people and minorities are in the wilderness. So on one hand, I was inspired by the awe, appreciation, and humility that can only come from spending a lot of time communing with the wild. On the other, I feel despair that without time in the wild, how do you value it fully, broadly, and deeply? Should we then be surprised that we increasingly base our decisions on conservation and environmental policy on utilitarian calculations?

I think Mark’s contribution to the literature here is to underscore that wilderness is a canvass where evolution can play out. “Wildness preserves evolution,” he writes. “The daily audacity of creation unfolding, keeps open the possibility of new forms of life.” Here, we are almost encouraged to “hug the beast” and embrace accelerating changes on the precipice of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is happening, so let’s make sure we preserve as much landscape that is free for evolution to do its thing.

There is a real tangible benefit to the human species for preserving landscapes for evolution to play out. Yet, Mark transcends the practical and really does capture the value of wilderness for its own sake. Here he puts the value of wilderness in a higher orbit that might just escape the gravity of our crass utilitarian calculations, our egos, and our desire for control. Perhaps it’s not just the satellite orbiting out there. ...more "

Oct 09, 2015 11:56AM · see review