Humans in the Landscape

Based off Chapter 4 of Humans in the Landscape


Over two sections in chapter 4, the principles of disproportionality and interdependence are covered. The disproportionality aspect mainly lies with the fact that the ratio of consumption to waste in America is 1:35 pounds. Even omitting the disproportionality factor of worldwide distribution of wealth and resources this is a ridiculous number. The other primary topic covered is that of dependence, independence, and interdependence. The life highlights of three different historical figures are used to illustrate the idea of “a world without edges” and the “stationary man”: Gilbert White, Henry David Thoreau, and Don Gifford. They all stood out in the fact that they contrasted with the societal trend of interdependence on technologies and the crossing of borders and scales.

Reading through this chapter, I expected to be presented with possible remedies to the issue of blurry borders and the amount of waste produced because of them, but was not. However, there is one movement that I had previous knowledge of that seems to check many of the boxes that represent what is needed to counter this institutionalized problem; the Locavore movement. The locavore movement has gained recognition and popularity over recent years, especially in the environmentalist and vegan community. Locavores, as they call themselves, strive to eat only food that has been locally grown or sourced. On a large scale, adoption of this practice would work to dramatically reduce the 1:35 consumption-to-waste ratio, as an extremely significant portion of that waste comes from the transport required to move food and supplies across borders.

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