Discuss the similarities and/or differences between Leopold’s argument for not extirpating wolves in “Thinking Like a Mountain” and MacKinnon’s rationale for the various rewilding projects he discusses in “The Age of Rewilding.”
he following questions are based on the article “The Age of Rewilding” by J.B. MacKinnon and the essay “Thinking Like a Mountain” by Aldo Leopold. Choose any three of the following questions and respond to them in a reading response. Your response should be 500-700 words (in total). For further guidelines, please refer to the “Reading Response Guidelines.” Submit your response through this dropbox as a .docx or .pdf file. Questions 1) What does J.B. MacKinnon mean by “rewilding”? How does it differ from traditional conservation efforts? 2) Explain what MacKinnon means by the following: “An elephant is not a horse-and-buggy, made obsolete by technological progress. A hermit crab is not a rotary telephone. A rainforest is not a fashion that can be left behind by new tastes and ideas” (157). 3) Do you think it is acceptable to kill members of one species (goats) in order to save members of an endangered species (tortoises)? Explain why or why not. 4) How does MacKinnon define “habitecture”? What is one example of habitecture he provides? Can you think of any examples you have seen in Calgary or elsewhere? 5) Explain what you think Aldo Leopold means by the following: “Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf” (129). Support your answer with evidence from the essay. 6) Discuss the similarities and/or differences between Leopold’s argument for not extirpating wolves in “Thinking Like a Mountain” and MacKinnon’s rationale for the various rewilding projects he discusses in “The Age of Rewilding.” 7) Leopold wrote “Thinking Like a Mountain” in 1944, reflecting on an incident that occurred in 1909. MacKinnon published “The Age of Rewilding” in 2013, reflecting on conservation practices in the late 20th century and early 21st century. Based on these texts, what are some of the ways in which attitudes towards species and ecosystems have changed over the past century?
