One of my "Dad" aphorisms that I share with the kids is:
"Farmers like to say they love the land but most of them don't. They love their machinery and they love shaping the land to serve their machinery through things like draining, clearing and burning etc."
I have been pondering an essay on the topic-which I could never publish under my own name-but my mind is moving along those lines.
I have been searching and thinking about terms to describe the behavior in my aphorism. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
"Terra-forming" comes close-but it is not exactly what I want.
As mentioned in a post awhile back-I am currently reading (among other books) a book on Tolkein's environmental viewpoint and I found the following.
Treebeard (my favorite character in LOTR) describes Saruman as having a "mind of metal and wheels who ... does not care for growing things except as they serve him for the moment."
It breaks my heart-but I have never seen a better description of the modern agricultural mindset.
FTR-by no means, do I mean to imply that I am perfect.
But, we have some very special natural places on our farm that would be drained, cleared and burned ASAP if most other farmers got their hands on them.
I am currently doing a deep dive into reading Wendell Berry as he is what I need at this time.
I first read LOTR in 6th Grade and I am afraid that I got very little out it-but I do remember liking Legolas and Treebeard and the Ents.