Koyaanisqatsi and the Pristine

One of my all-time favorite movies is the 1983 documentary Koyaanisqatsi, beautifully scored by Philip Glass. It is a wordless depiction of the beauties of pristine nature in the American southwest, contrasted with the ugliness and pollution of western materialistic culture in the area. The film explains that the term “koyaanisqatsi” is Hopi for “life out of balance”. And its message is clearly that things have gotten quite out of hand with the prevailing philosophy of mankind trying to dominate nature, instead of coexisting with it in a symbiotic relationship (which the Hopis were implicitly able to do).

The first few minutes of Koyaanisqatsi depict the awe-inspiring procession of a day in the southwestern wilderness. Everything seems pristine, untouched by human hands. But just as the viewer begins to expect more of the same, the camera shots shift to construction vehicles and high-tension power lines strung along the heretofore “natural” landscape. And it gave me pause for some reflection.

I remember pretty vividly a few years ago when Florida Senator Bill Nelson stood up on the Senate floor and announced his intention to hold up any bill that authorized oil drilling off Florida’s “pristine” shores, as he put it. His contention was that the natural beauty of Florida’s beaches was an important element of the state’s economy, drawing in much tourist revenue from out-of-state. And the presence of visible oil platforms and equipment would somehow make things “un-pristine”, I suppose. Well, I concur with Senator Nelson with his objection to oil exploration and drilling close to our shores. But just who is he trying to fool with his (repeated) invocation of the term “pristine”? I’ve been to quite a few Florida beaches, and even on the most remote of them, there is a noticeable LACK of anything “pristine”.

In like manner, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander complained that the pristine beauty of Tennessee’s landscapes would be ruined if windmills were set up to harness the clean energy of wind power there. Hypocritically, Senator Alexander had no trouble opposing Senator Nelson’s desire to protect his state’s “pristine” beauty. But is there really anything pristine left, anyway?

We’re used to seeing photographs of natural wonders, unencumbered by the mark of civilization. But weren’t many of these specially shot at angles and locations designed to eliminate from view the close presence of that civilization? How many times have you seen breath-taking photographs of the Grand Canyon or some other national park? But you know, if you go there in person, you’re liable to have to search out places to recreate that same sense of natural isolation.

I live close to a natural sinkhole named Devil’s Millhopper. It isn’t pristine by any stretch of the imagination, nor was it ever intended to be. There is a wooden path winding down into the hole to its bottom. And circling around it is a dirt walking path. The park is bordered by a busy state highway, a housing development, and a very tall radio tower. A Publix grocery store and its shopping plaza are about a half mile down the road. But given the circumstances, this park does give the urban dweller a feeling of being out in nature. So I don’t think you have to eliminate all traces of human presence to accomplish this effect.

I think that setting large amounts of land aside for publicly-accessible parks can be a good thing. And in some cases, there may be a good reason to restrict the public’s access, especially if the ecosystem there is very fragile and/or contains endangered species. Also, sometimes there may be a particular vista that the area provides which would be ruined by development. But for the most part, we need to apply some reason here, recognizing that while we want to avoid destroying or polluting an area, we also may need to obtain natural resources from it or use it for people to live in. It is here that our federal and state governments, which we as a people have entrusted to protect our environment through regulations and their enforcement, must be independent of outside pressure to “tweak” things in the favor of one interested group or another. No, decisions like this need to be made deliberately and completely out in the open. Hopefully, the new administration will move in this direction.