My years of youth have painted vivid memories of the quaint town Alta Loma, located 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Nestled against the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains the creeks and canyons offered unlimited exploration and solitude, and the landscape to the south was an of wine vineyards, eucalyptus trees, and coastal sage scrub intermittent with neighborhoods. In my childhood, we would spend whole days playing in fields surrounding my neighborhood and walking through the orange groves eating from the trees and throwing fallen fruits at each other with my friends. In my first year at Vineyard Jr. High, after school one day, I had a heavy realization that the place I have grown with was about to radically change. Looking through the fence, I could see that the Highland Ave. had been decommissioned and an enormous Caltrans sign had been erected reading “Your tax dollars at work! Future 210 freeway project.”, this freeway was going to connect my quiet town to the “progress” driven Los Angeles. Reading a Tamale Traditions, by Amy Coplen explains “..there was no trace of the neighborhood’s former network of irrigation canals. Over time, development had transformed an ancient agricultural landscape into an aging subdivision with parched dirt and yellow lawns.” Her reflection of the human/landscape disconnect mirrors my relation with my hometown and the realization of the implications of development upon landscape and culture.
“Do you feel like you’re coming of age at the end of nature?
“First off what does “coming of age” and “end of nature” means to me...
—Coming of Age—
When defining the meaning of “coming of age” I perceive it as one's moment in maturity where they become self-aware of themselves and surroundings. In addition, it could relate to the point where one begins to assume responsibility and make conscious decisions that manifest change within the self and the world around them. This connotation of “coming of age” is my own based off my experiences, but I do acknowledge that it does not function the same in all communities globally and that each culture has its own method of rites of passage into adulthood; with that said, the meaning and experience of “coming of age” will differ with each individual and community.
—End of Nature—
The idea of the end of nature could be regarded as the recognition of anthropocentric caused ecosystem derogation and collapse. In the macro sense the “end of nature” could be seen as the onset of global climate change and the impacts it has on nature. In another sense, it could mean the decay of society's relationships to “nature”, due to the development of urban environments, industrialism, degraded social values and connection it.
—2 Cents—
When I think of the meaning of “coming of age at the end of nature” I perceive it to relate to an individual's moment of development where they become self-aware of humanities relation with the “natural” environment, and feels utmost despair for the present turbulence and the lack of hope due to the dysfunctional political discourse in unjust environmental realities and the unyielding power of corporate oligarch. Within our reading of Joyful Militancy, Montgomery and Bergman state the empire must frequently repress transformation from occurring within society, in order to maintain of rule over the masses. Such suppression is maintained through “...propagating feelings of shame, impotence, feat, and dependence.” in effect it allows capitalism to feel “inevitable and desirable” (51 Montgomery). Generations of this era are beginning to gaze upon the stark reality of climate change and the uncertainty which the future beholds for humanity, it might seem that nature is ending due to the despair evoked by the empire and a culmination of multigenerational trauma that has occurred due to the forced divorce in the name of capitalism. In light of looming uncertainty of global climate change and the despair in the social air, a whole generation is becoming aware of the historical anthropocentric values humankind acted upon the natural environment and deciding to assume responsibility for themselves and reaching out to members with the community to establish resiliency. Lastly, important to realize that we are a part of the natural system, “Nature is not a wilderness “out there.” Nature is embedded in everything we do. Nature is us, and we are nature.” (87 Copen), and resist the power of the empire to assure that the next generation does ask “Am I coming of age at the end of nature?”
Epic Journeys,
Rye
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The planet isn’t goin’ anywhere, folks. We are! We’re goin’ away. Pack your shit, we’re goin’ away. And we won’t leave much of a trace. Thank God for that. Nothing left. Maybe a little Styrofoam. The planet will be here, and we’ll be gone. Another failed mutation; another closed-end biological mistake. The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas. And it will heal itself because that’s what the planet does; it’s a self-correcting system.
- George Carlin
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