148 Our Need of Breathing Space 



among the piles of steel and stone. Children especially need this con- 

 tact, for they have not as yet been weaned from the primal needs of 

 the race. We need, in addition to such places, some areas large 

 enough to be set aside as wilderness, where there is no design, no 

 planning whatsoever, no management of plants or animals, where 

 people may sense what this planet was like before man achieved the 

 power of revamping it for his needs. Such regions, while they might 

 seem to have no economic use, would act as buffers to a civilization 

 that might destroy man's equilibrium and sanity. It is perhaps not 

 without reason that Thoreau said, "In wildness is the preservation 

 of the world." 



In John Kenneth Galbraith's discussion of the economics of natu- 

 ral resources he implied that conservationists were so concerned with 

 preserving isolated wilderness regions that they could not see the im- 

 portance of controlling such blights as billboards along our highways. 

 His statement indicated a lack of understanding of what conservation 

 as a movement really means. While the control of billboards is a 

 challenge to "Keeping America Beautiful," it cannot be considered 

 in the same category with the broad aspects of soil, water, forests, 

 and wildlife, the preservation of recreational areas, or unrenewable 

 resources which can never be replaced — matters that have to do with 

 the very basis of our culture and richness of living. While economics 

 are important, it must be remembered that unless resources are pre- 

 served there will be nothing for economists to work with. With re- 

 spect to urban developments, if planning does not now result in the 

 setting aside of breathing spaces, planners of the future will be con- 

 fronted with a frozen, crystallized situation where human needs can 

 be satisfied only through enormous expense and physical difficulty. 



Dr. Gulick says, "It may be found that a combination of govern- 

 mental, economic, and cultural institutions will lead to an adjust- 

 ment of population to fit consumption and space use levels in con- 

 formity with the fiow-of-nature policy." 



Such a Utopia is highly desired and I do not say it cannot be 

 achieved, but in the light of our attitude, our preoccupation with 

 material things, the character of our mushrooming civilization, it is 

 highly improbable that it can come about early enough to save the 

 situation before we are forced to face the problems that determined 



