Haley Conroy - 2/7/23 - Guest Speaker Day - Charlie Kloppenburg

So today in class, Dr. Redick had his friend and colleague Charlie as a guest speaker. He is from Wisconsin & his wife Shannon live in New Mexico on the Pueblo. Charlie gave a presentation titled “Water in the West” which relates the complete reengineering of western water. It is important to acknowledge that when we are talking about energy or water we are talking about different nexuses that contribute to better options - wind turbines (1888), electrical cars (1839), solar panels, etc. The easy way to understand this is you need to heat up water, which turns to steam, which then turns into energy. In developing the west, hydroelectricity became the main source of energy which completely re-engineered western water. Charlie pondered the question of mutuality between landscapes and cultures and how they are both scaled and influenced. ~15,000 years ago (13,000 BCE) to present focused on biocentrism and ecocentrism. Both biocentric and ecocentric perspectives placed an emphasis on the values of other forms of life (bio) and the systems that support them (eco). While bio-eco values are gaining momentum in American society today, anthropocentric values are more prominent. How do we as a culture view ourselves within the context of nature? 1400’s ~ mid 1800’s - EuroAmerican settlers’ colonization and territorial expansion led to discovery of new lands and freedoms (manifest destiny). Then, there was an increased focus on anthropocentric perspectives who placed an emphasis on human values, practical, utilitarian, materialistic, and religious, and divine destiny (as previously acknowledged). Mid 1800’s-now focused on the transcendentalism movement (~1830’s-1880’s). Some additional important information that stood out to me was about Beavers. Beavers and native americans impacted the environment (ie: clearing, burning, hunting), it was a matter of scale & culture - not overhunting or trophy hunting (seasonally migrating), and southwest tribes often believed that water was female because it brings forth life. On the other hand, Europeans viewed ownership and land differently. The pueblos were not seasonally migratory, they didn’t own their land but they were rather stewarding it. Europeans saw this opportunity as endless wilderness and endless resources. The indigenous groups of NA evolved within and in response to their environment. When the Europeans arrived in the east, the beaver became the edge of the frontier and was viewed as the most efficient animal. Basically, each of these cultures had common and shared values although some of them varied.