Order 1381350: Executive Summary

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Andrew Pelayo

ENGL 1310.101

Professor Kristen Jackson

September 30, 2018

Argument Description of "Cesar E. Chavez National Monument,

California, and the Future" in The Hour of Land

Published in _____, the article “Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, California, and the

Future" in The Hour of Land was written by Terry Tempest Williams Williams (“Williams”).

Williams uses historical and current events in an effort to validate why an individual would feel a

connection to “utopian based” group and celebrate their successes. She focuses and argues the

effects of political motivation based on conservation and the reasons why conversation is over-

looked when industrial and monetary values take precedence. She also makes reference to the

importance of human beings collaborating as a whole to better society, and overlooking cultural

differences, can achieve equality and conserve the earth.

Summary and Organization

Williams begins with a personal story of her and a friend visiting the Cesar Chavez

National monument, which leads to her bringing forth her argument(s) as to why it is important

for people to participate movements, conversation, and why others may choose not to participate.

Williams highlights Cesar Chavez’s achievements and quotes, “Together with Dolores Huerta, he

founded the National Farm Workers Association” (351). This ultimately developed the United

Farm Workers Association (UFW). Williams seems to be directing her comments toward possible

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students, individuals who care about equality, also individuals who are active in politics and could

possibly be conservationists or naturalists. Williams is ultimately appealing to anyone that is open

to the preservation of the earth and has a passion for preserving equality.

Williams entices readers starting with, “What if our national parks and monuments

became places of conscience instead of places of consumption? How many more T-shirts can we

buy, let alone wear, that advertise where we’ve been? How many different forms of recreation

must we create to assuage our adrenaline addictions, from wing suits to pack rafts to rollerblades?

Is it not enough to return home with a fresh idea gleaned while walking in new territory? As I

have been visiting our national parks, I keep asking myself: Who are we becoming?” (Williams

384). She guides the reader with a brief history of Cesar Chavez’s movement and then follows

with an ideal mentality on perseveration. While she is not necessarily making an argument, she

is appealing to a reader’s human side by making reference to the idea that humans are focused on

their own wealth that they have a tendency to be destructive when it pertains to the environment.

“If our national parks are to remain viable in the future, they must become sites of transformation

where the paradigm of domination and manipulation ends, and a vision of unison begins”

(Williams 355). Williams worries about the high rate of consumption of the earth’s resources and

humans’ needs to seek more resources in order to feel satisfied. As evidence, Williams touches

on the fact that numerous Native American tribes view the planet as a revered resource and are

tied to the land by their ancestors. Oil production has encroached on these tribes’ land and has

threatened their way of life. “Robert Thompson, an Inupiat guide and hunter in the village of

Kak-tovik, Alaska, on the border of the Arctic Refuge testified before the United States Senate on

March 4, 2005:

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I am honored to be part of this movement to save our land, our ocean and our

culture . . . We are attempting to use the democratic process to save our culture.

Before this it could be said and often was, that we wanted all that oil money.

You are now facing a group of people who are saying that no amount of money

is worth exchanging our culture for oil. However this goes, future generations

of Inupiat can look back and say, those people who signed this petition to

protect our lands tried to do the right thing. Somehow, I feel that it will be

important to them to know that someone cared” (Williams 355).

Williams is appealing to readers citing to the fact that certain tribes have hunted particular

types of animals for survival and unfortunately, with the need for more oil production, more land

consumption is required in order to keep up with the demand of the population. The consumption

of land is driving away animals and/or destroying their environment, which can eventually cause

the species to become extinct. This is why the author emphasizes how important it is for us to be

involved in these humanitarian and environmental groups.

Argument and Description

Williams’ argument(s) throughout the article are personal, emotional, and passionate.

Williams cites to other scholars, activists, and industrialists whom have knowledge or experience

in advocating for conservation or give a bleak description of human consumption. When a prior

generation advocated opening up sections of land in an effort to expand on an industrial scale, they

more than likely could not fathom how heavy the consumption would be. Richard White, a history

professor, stated, “John Muir’s view that you can protect the mountains while everything else is

opened up to development . . . global warming has finished that . . . It’s all one world.” White goes

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on to say, “It’s not that I’m against wilderness areas, it’s not that I’m against national parks, but

essentially, we’ve now instituted a system of change that is going to take over— the entire planet”

(Williams 358). Williams was stressing to readers that when a population is open to the idea of

opening up resources for consumption, it is difficult to decipher who will decide what lands,

monuments, or national parks are still sacred. “The preeminent biologist E. O. Wilson is saying that

if we are to survive as a species, half the Earth must be set aside as wilderness.” “Something is

happening,” “A real movement is occurring. Conservation is the global response to the environmental

degradation we are witnessing. If we are to find ourselves on the other side of this bottleneck we are

in, it must be. The health of the land is the health of the people” (Williams 358). What makes

Williams’ argument a bit perplexing is that the idea/mentality of conservation is open to interpretation

across the globe. Who will determine what the standard for conversation should be? Williams cites

to the breakneck speed in which the population is moving toward modernizing all aspects of life,

including, eliminating customary verbiage from the Oxford Junior Dictionary.

“The following terms have been removed from the new version Oxford

Junior Dictionary: acorn, adder, almond, apricot, ash, ass, bacon, beaver,

beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, boar, bramble, bran,

bray, bridle, brook, budgerigar, bullock, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation,

catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, cheetah, colt,

corgi, cygnet, dandelion, diesel, doe, drake, fern, ferret, fungus, gerbil, goldfi sh,

gooseberry, gorse, guinea pig, hamster, hazel, hazelnut, heather, heron, herring,

holly, horse chestnut, ivy, kingfisher, lark, lavender, leek, leopard, liquorice,

lobster, magpie, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, mistletoe, monarch,

mussel, nectar, nectarine, newt, oats, otter, ox, oyster, pansy, panther, parsnip,

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pasture, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, poppy, porcupine, porpoise, porridge,

poultry, primrose, prune, radish, raven, rhubarb, sheaf, spaniel, spinach,

starling, stoat, stork, sycamore, terrapin, thrush, tulip, turnip, vine, violet,

walnut, weasel, willow, wren” (Williams 360).

Words that are eradicated from our past are robbing a future generation from researching

and understanding prior generations. You cannot know where you are going unless you know

where you have been.

After, assisting the poor and cultivating the (UFW) The Farm Workers Association, Cesar

Chavez said, “That the two greatest aspirations of humankind are equality and participation”

(Williams 363). She appeals to the fact that when one person, with so much gratitude and concern

for the earth and society can achieve. Williams provides a very compelling and intimate account

of how she and other scholars and activists have advocated for preservation and equality for the

earth and individuals. Williams is genuinely concerned about humanitarian and environmental

issues. This article appears to be a good reference for general readers, students, and those

interested in conversation and humanitarian efforts.

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Works Cited

Williams, Terry Tempest, "Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, California, and the Future" in The

Hour of Land, pp.351-367