Catherine Vo-Nguyen

Human Nature
Boesch
Journal 3

Understanding the Ecological and Cultural Consequences of the Act

The topic for this journal brought two ideas for me on how to respond and dive into; the
first consequence I feel of the act, is the related more to the main story of the book, in other
words the direct consequence of Hadwin cutting down the golden spruce. The second act is in a
general sense, something outside the story of the book, and that refers to the act of the logging
industry and the consequences it brought, along with the repercussions to the Earth and
environment.
Firstly, the act of Hadwin cutting down the golden spruce effects not only one group of
people, but several. We have discussed this in class so Ill only briefly talk about this. The most
dramatic effect is obviously for the Haida people. The tree is not just something that holds
spiritual, cultural and historic importance, but to them the tree is a living member thats part of
their family. The act is viewed to them as a murder of someone dear. For Hadwin the
consequence is obviously that he had to deal with the law and the system, which resulted in his
disappearance or possibly his death.
The second part for the consequence of the act is the damage that logging and
deforestation has done on the landscape of the Earth. The pace in deforestation increases through
time as technology advances. A tree weighing 200 tons can be taken down by three men in under
one hour. Where in the 1930 it wouldve taken about a dozen men a whole day to achieve this
same thing. This progress is a measure to humanity advancing and our vast capabilities. However
this comes at a cost of course.
Oregon, Washington and Northern California has collectively lost more than 90% of
their old growth coastal forest (page 221). This is a shocking fact that the Pacific Northwest
where lush, thick forests are known to be abundant, has decreased in such a dramatic amount.
Out here, the empty spaces still look like wounds, like violations of the natural order (page
215). Our landscape has been scarred throughout the decades as trees are being plucked from the
Earth. The problem is that for the amount of trees being killed, there is not enough being
replanted. The Earth is not left with enough time for the trees to grow back and heal itself from
the wounds. In a few years well just have guts and feathers left (page 221). This is the
description for old growth forests that have been stripped almost bare. Something I feel is strange
and contradictory is that these loggers and people in this industry claim they have such a special
connection with nature, and feel at one with it, however they continue to commit to these acts.
This brings me back to the concept of having a certain level of moral cognitive dissonance to
behave against your own morals. The text has a quote from a faller describing this act an
oxymoron; loving something so much but then going out and killing it. Its such a struggle
because its not that people dont realize how important and majestic trees and forests are, but for
value and gain in the growing world of needing goods produced from trees we continue to
murder it even knowing, that one day it might be almost nearly all gone.
In my other journal I asked for myself what the identity of a tree is. And for different
people there are different meanings they hold for it. Trees represent aspiration and ambition in
their purest forms (page 191). As for myself I find this very true. This is similar to humans as
we constantly strive for growth and finding new ways to better ourselves. We are perseverant
creatures that are driven with ambition. Another parallel to humans is mentioned in the book,
beneath its leaves or needles, a tree is really a series of concentric tubes, each of which performs
a specific function-defensive, vascular, or structural (page 192). How is this not like the human
body, with each of our organ serving a purpose for our survival? People find peace and
tranquility within forests, which the book says is deceptive because we cant see it but these trees
are in ruthless battles for survival against each other. The correlation with this to human lives is
really cool to me. However trees are noble because they produce oxygen for us to live, our lives
literally depend on them. We share so much in common with trees and are so subconsciously
unaware of our dependence on it, that we dont realize that one day if there are no trees, we
might cease to exist too.
In the end of the book the producing of clone golden spruce trees are being grown and its
progress still unknown. I interpreted this as a hint or subtle metaphor for the future. There is still
hope. Whether these cloned baby golden spruce trees will grow to be the legend like the mother
tree is not sure, however there is a chance. There are slim chances that it will grow to be mighty
golden spruces. And this possibility for growth in something that basically needs a miracle
shows that despite the tremendous amount of damage we have created, it might not be permanent
and can possibly be reversed. I know for sure that it is not something that will happen in the near
future, or even my whole lifetime since it takes hundred of years for trees to grow back and
forests to be regrown. But for the future generations this is good, because they will realize the
importance of trees and value it and conserve it and not take advantage of it like the past and
current generations have.