Xtra Credit Blog on The Idea of a Man-Made World
When I read the article "The Idea of a Man-Made World" I knew I had to give my opinion since I just got back from the most obivious habitat change in the world. Spending time in Phoenix, Arizona gave me kind of a stomache ache because everything was man-made and nature only seemed to exsist in the far off distant mountains. I went golfing the other day and the grass was as green as it is in the middle of the summer in Minnesota. So when John Locke talked about how the mind is like a Tabule Rasae I tended to agree with him because golf originated out on the green lands of Scotland and when it was brought to the United States the idea of having that lush green land came along with it. The cultural ideas motivate how we treat our land. As the article talks about the crisis that we are having with the environment it really hit a nerve because I wished that Architects in Arizona used the land more accordingly and did not waist so much of the resources we have available to us. I remember walking down a major road in Tempe and saw this car dealership that had a little patch of grass in the front. Otherwise there was no grass to be seen anywhere. Everytime I walked by they were vigorously watering that little patch of grass. It really ticked me off to see that because when I was reading the paper they had an article talking about the shortage of water in the area and how they would like to build a pipeline to the great lakes and take our water. This idea definitely would not fly with me and I am sure I am not alone with that feeling. Environmental Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright would like to work with the environment instead of against it. As Crowe talked about the idea of us and nature harmoniously working together, we should take the ideas of environment Architects and push for more sustainable Architecture before we run out of all our resources.
