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English II (ENG 122)

June 1, 2014

“Abbey was one of the most prominent nature writers of the twentieth century. Although he resisted characterization as a “nature writer,” preferring to think of himself as a novelist, he is best remembered for his impassioned and often irreverent defense of American wilderness areas, particularly in the Southwest. Anarchistic and outspoken, he was called everything from America's crankiest citizen to the godfather of modern environmental activism. His nonfiction work Desert Solitaire (1968) is credited as being a key source of inspiration for the environmental movement, and his comic novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), which follows the misadventures of four environmentalist terrorists, became an underground classic.” (Schoenberg and Trudeau)

“Abbey was born January 29, 1927, in the small Appalachian town of Indiana, Pennsylvania, though he often claimed he was born in the nearby town of Home, a name he found more evocative. The eldest of five children, he inherited some of his political concerns from his father, Paul Abbey, who was a registered socialist and an organizer for the International Workers of the World labor union. His mother, Mildred Postlewaite Abbey, was a teacher. Abbey learned his appreciation of nature from both his parents, who, during Abbey's early years maintained an itinerant lifestyle, moving the family frequently and, for a time in the early 1930s, living in a series of campsites. After graduating from high school in 1944, Abbey traveled to the West for the first time by walking, hitchhiking, and riding in boxcars. The trip left a lifelong impression. In 1945 Abbey was drafted into the Army and served for two years in Italy during World War II. Abbey later remarked that the experience turned him into an anarchist. After an honorable discharge he briefly attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania before moving to New Mexico to attend the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, where in 1951 he earned a degree in philosophy. Abbey spent the next two decades traveling abroad and living in New York while working as a seasonal park ranger and fire lookout for the National Park Service at several different national parks and monuments. In 1954 he published his first novel, Jonathan Troy, about a Pennsylvania youth who dreams of escaping to the West. His second novel, The Brave Cowboy (1956) was very successful, and in 1962 it was adapted into the movie Lonely Are the Brave. In 1968 Abbey published Desert Solitaire, which is considered his best work and the book on which his critical reputation rests. In 1987 Abbey was offered an award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, but he declined to accept. Abbey was married five times and suffered from intermittent periods of depression and physical ailments. Upon his death on March 14, 1989, his body was, upon his written instructions and against Arizona state law, placed inside his favorite sleeping bag, taken to a secret place in the desert, and covered with rocks.” (Schoenberg and Trudeau)

“Environment is the precious gift given to us by nature. It is the basic necessity of humans to survive. It includes all of the forests, oceans, rivers, atmosphere, land, etc. As it is precious, there are a lot of people that are trying to destroy it. The American wilderness is under huge assault especially the trees. Edward Abbey wrote Eco-Defense to address the threats to the environment and suggesting taking steps to protect it from being depleted. He uses ethos, pathos, and logos by addressing the various threats to the environment and asks us to protect it from the assault by the big corporations and the rich people. The people have an obligation to defend the wilderness. The government is corrupt and does not listen to the majority. The right to defend one’s own life is a natural born right of every citizen. If a stranger comes to your home and kicks your door down, threatens your family and yourself with a deadly weapon, and proceed to loot your home or do whatever he/she likes, they are committing a crime. In this situation, the owner of the house has both the right to protect their family and the obligation to defend himself, family, property, etc. You have to protect yourself by any means necessary regardless of what happens to the other person. Abbey’s reaction to those big corporations who are cutting down the forests and destroying the wildlife. It is making a huge impact on our ecosystem and in unsecure for our coming generation. Abbey is using pathos in relation to human emotions by putting them in the situation and making them think about what they have done. The usage of pathos is effective because someone who is reading can relate this to their own life and property and think about what he or she can do to defend himself or herself. The big corporations are destroying the Mother Nature by cutting forests, mining, polluting for their short term profit. Abbey blames them for the deletion of natural resources and changing the environment.” (abbeyweb)

While reading the short story Eco-Defense, Abbey was talking about a technique that people used to try to prevent loggers from cutting trees down. That technique is called tree spiking. Tree spiking involves hammering a metal rod, nail, or other material (commonly ceramic) into a tree trunk, strategically inserting it at the base of the trunk where a logger might be expected to cut into the tree. It is a tactic used to discourage logging by creating a mantrap which may injure or kill lumberjacks who attempt to cut down the tree, or mill workers who process the wood. Tree spiking is also highly effect at sabotaging sawmill equipment. Commonly spikes are placed in areas above the base in order to bypass initial spike inspections. This form of tree spiking is not intended to harm loggers, it is designed to slow down sawmill production. Furthermore, the presence of the spike reduces the commercial value of the wood, thereby reducing the economic viability of logging in the long term, while not threatening the life of the tree.

People say that tree spiking is hurting the wilderness but what about voluntarily cutting down the trees. Is that not destroying the environment? Why would anyone want to cut down the trees? It is illegal to spike to the trees, but it’s not illegal to chop them down. I think they have it backwards.

Abbey says that Eco-defense means fighting back. Eco-defense means sabotage. Eco-defense is risky but sporting; unauthorized but fun illegal but ethically imperative. Abbey is wanting you to violate the law but he is also protecting the environment. (Abbey) I think anyone would do what they needed to do in order to protect their environment or their household. What would you do in a situation like this? I think that it is a great idea to spike the trees. There are companies that practice and advocate civil obedience. Laws are meant to be broke. If they weren’t, then there wouldn’t be jails or prisons. Those are places that hold the criminals who commit crimes or break the law. There is nothing wrong with protesting or going against the government to protect the trees. Yes we use trees as a resource, but we should also protect them. People don’t tree spike to hurt the loggers, they do it to protect the trees. Why is everyone making a big deal of tree spiking? We use pesticides and different chemicals to kill insects, weeds and other organisms or rodents. Is that illegal too? That is not considered illegal. But why??? You would think that killing something would be more illegal than saving something. I understand that we don’t use rodents or weeds to do anything or make things out of them but they still have life and they provide food to some animal or another. It’s not fair to the activists or the people.

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