“That is to say, once people moved into the sprawl, they considered it to be damaged habitat, no longer natural and thus less worthy of protection. Europeans, on the other hand, viewed the places they lived as natural ecosystems that required intensive human management, however heavily populated. Living spaces in Europe were thought of as “in a sense, human created nature or natural systems.” In North America, in contrast, the primary policy goal was the protection of nature that was as pristine as possible–meaning the largely peopleless nature over the horizon, up north or out west” (Nature Wars 217)

Harks back on what we classify as nature/wilderness. The view in US of nature as something untouched by man makes integration impossible and may have resulted in an unnecessary degradation of nature in suburban communities.

” The spell of human and livestock waste was part of farm life. On a good, hot summer day wehn the wind was right, we smelled manure from our neighbor’s farm down the road. These everyday smells have gone missing from the lives of most americans…They expected a kind of quiet landscaped outdoor museum in which their views never change and the smells were all pleasant. The concept of a working landscape didnt occur to them” (Nature Wars 196).

Also similar to discussions of nature as something picturesque, that people don’t actually interact with. Reminded me of walden in bemoaning the way that lifestyle has changed in favor of older ways of living.

” However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not as bad as you are. It looks porest when you are richest. The fault- finder will find faults even in paradice. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house” (Walden 356)

Thoreau has a far more positive and inspiring message here than was present in the rest of the text to the everyday man. When earlier in the book Thoreau had told the common man to reject their everyday lives of toiling in pointless jobs, he has now shifted his tune and is telling them to appreciate what they have.