"Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf."
Have you ever thought about the impact of killing wolves? Or the impact of deer upon land? Strange as it may seem, these two issues are connected. The quote above is from an article we recently read in school, Thinking Like a Mountain. This article sparked a question for me to think about. What is the true impact of animals upon land and how are we all connected?
Thinking Like a Mountain was a stirring article about a man who, after killing a wolf, realized what this will truly do to our Earth. Every living being has its place, and each is part off a cycle. When you kill the wolves, the deer overpopulate the land. To all of the hunters out there, you may think this is good for hunting. In actuality, more deer means less vegetation for the land. The deer need more to eat, so they demolish up the land seeking for it. This creates more open space for erosion. Now exposed water will dry up quicker, rains will wash away the land, mountains will deteriorate. Now ask yourself, "is more deer really a benefit to life?
I found this article really interesting because this was something I never thought about. I didn't think about the chain reaction this type of thing causes, and I certainly wasn't worrying about the land. I moved to Colorado only a few years ago, and just assumed the land was always this dry and desolate. Despite my previous ignorance, I was not actually that surprised. Humans as a species tend to see things the way they want to and never stop to think about impact. This is extremely detrimental to the rest of the world, and we cannot continue for much longer.
