Caroline Dillard Class Reading 4: 4/17/23 (Invisible Present)

 In chapter 2 of Humans in the Landscape Lee et al. (2013) discusses the Invisible Present. There is more to life than space and time. Humans view the world as static and do not think about the processes and changes that are occurring over long periods of time. The invisible present is not really a present at all. It is a gradual change that has led to something big. In our time the invisible present is global warming. Gradually as humans have industrialized and thrived, climate change has come about. We don't notice this present because it is either arriving very slowly or is outside the human realm of thinking. We like to think the natural world is not changing a bit. We can look to the Grand Canyon to see that much. This concept is interesting. I agree that there are invisible presents but the way the book speaks of it seems slightly off. I would think humans know the natural world is changing, but just would not be looking in the right places. New information and data is always being presented, so new “invisible presents” are unwrapped. Can we chalk it up to human ignorance? Or is it more complex ? I wonder what obvious signs of change or doom we are ignoring or just don’t know about. 


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