North Dakota without Us
The papers have been abuzz with the recent article featuring western North Dakota in the most recent National Geographic. The article is titled The Emptied Prairie. The article is less reflective of North Dakota than the phenomenon of landscapes untended by humans. In 200 years, these untended human landscapes will give archaeologists something to do.
I thought that the article might have been used as an apt example for Alan Weisman’s much talked about book The World Without Us. Weisman describes what might happen to the products of civilization if humans ceased to exist. The inexorable process of nature reclaiming human endeavor is an all too common sight in North Dakota. Interestingly, Weisman doesn't mention North Dakota or the American central plains where population shift has been taking place for uncounted decades. Depopulation is sort of a crazy myth anyway, since population has stayed roughly the same since 1920.
Having spent my youth exploring abandoned farmsteads and graveyards of old rusty machinery, many of the processes described in Weisman's book are all too familiar.
We only need drive across the state to see the processes he describes being played out on a thousand empty farmsteads. We know National Geographic...thanks for the update. Many farmsteads that were around 30 years ago are nothing but black soil for soybeans. If you run a plow over the area where a farm used to be, invariably, you will dig up an artifact of a lost life. The new urbanized citizens of North Dakotan can drive across our state and envision "North Dakota without us" with little difficulty.
I thought that the article might have been used as an apt example for Alan Weisman’s much talked about book The World Without Us. Weisman describes what might happen to the products of civilization if humans ceased to exist. The inexorable process of nature reclaiming human endeavor is an all too common sight in North Dakota. Interestingly, Weisman doesn't mention North Dakota or the American central plains where population shift has been taking place for uncounted decades. Depopulation is sort of a crazy myth anyway, since population has stayed roughly the same since 1920.
Having spent my youth exploring abandoned farmsteads and graveyards of old rusty machinery, many of the processes described in Weisman's book are all too familiar.
We only need drive across the state to see the processes he describes being played out on a thousand empty farmsteads. We know National Geographic...thanks for the update. Many farmsteads that were around 30 years ago are nothing but black soil for soybeans. If you run a plow over the area where a farm used to be, invariably, you will dig up an artifact of a lost life. The new urbanized citizens of North Dakotan can drive across our state and envision "North Dakota without us" with little difficulty.
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