Nature Ebbing Out

Abstract

Some people grasp a great new thought quickly and completely, but most of us take somewhat longer. I am one of those who has finally understood that ours is perhaps the last century in a very important respect. The spectacular, free, beautiful, and ``dangerous'' nature is about to disappear. Our children will live in a domesticated world in which everywhere they go, they will see human faces instead of the overwhelming face of nature. Even the giants of the Himalayas are being tamed. Helicopters buzz along the flanks of Daulagiri; soon technology will enable them to buzz around the highest summits.