Repeating--and diverging from--the Past

In AP US History, we began the year by talking about the Native Americans and how they transformed the land we live on today by burning forests and exhausting the soil through farming. Native American groups, like the Iroquois, that lived in the Eastern Woodlands, would stay in one place until the soil they used was damaged and out of nutrients for their crops. They would get the majority of their diet from agriculture, so they used a lot of the nutrients from the soil. Also, they would burn forests because they wanted to modify the landscape patches across the continent for pathways and flat land for people to live on. By doing this, they were able to create a better living environment and see outsiders who were about to come into their villages.  

 Today, we are doing the same thing that the Native Americans did, but we are destroying America’s last wild forests. We are ruining these forests for more land to build factories and residential areas. Even though we have the same goal as the Native Americans did when they burned the forests, we are ruining the last of America’s wilderness where giant, centuries-old trees grow and where wildlife can live. We are also ruining the stability of our climate and fresh air for us to breath. Without these forests, earth cannot sustain life. 

Archana Yarlagadda, 11th