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Purdy believes that everyone living on this planet today is involved in the Anthropocene. It does not matter intentionally or imaginatively. In “Ecological Imperialism,” Crosby states that “The human invaders and their descendants have consulted their egos, rather than ecologists, for explanations of their triumphs. But the human victims, the aborigines of the Lands of the Demographic Takeover, knew better, knew they were only one of many species being displaced and replaced; knew they were victims of something more irresistible and awesome than the spread of capitalism or Christianity. One Maori, at the nadir of the history of his race, knew these things when he said, “As the clover killed off the fern, and the European dog the Maori dog- as the Maori rat was destroyed by the Pakeha (European) rat-so our people, also, will be gradually supplanted and exterminated by the Europeans. The future was not quite so grim as he prophesied, but we must admire his grasp of the complexity and magnitude of the threat looming over his people and over the ecosystem of which they were part”. When Europeans colonized North America, they sure thing they did not consider ecology while taking over the land. The damage was irreversible. Many egologists were denouncing the Europeans, however, thinking it the other way. When the indigenous first come to their land, were they indigenous to the land as well? No, they made changes to the land in the way of living. Therefore, what is the difference between the Europeans and the indigenous? Humans have their hands and power on top of nature; it is how they make nature look. Humans and nature are invisible. What is the balance between humans and nature? Alternatively, is there a balance between humans and nature since humans are so dominated by nature? That will be a question that needs an answer.

Crosby, A. W. (1988). Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of Western Europeans as a Biological Phenomenon. In The ends of the earth: Perspectives on modern environmental history (pp. 103-117). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Humanity has indeed been really dominated in the relationship with nature. However, I believe that the balance in this relationship is paying human respect to nature. That is the last thing humans can do. Nobody can escape the fact that human civilizations are developing over the years, and that cannot avoid nature's interaction. Humans try their best to respect and protect the natural species that share their living space on the planet. Getting educated on the natural environment, the ecologists, and the general public, will make the community care about the environment they live in and take the best care of it.

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Purdy believes that everyone living on this planet today is involved in the Anthropocene. It does not matter intentionally or imaginatively. In “Ecological Imperialism,” Crosby states that “The human invaders and their descendants have consulted their egos, rather than ecologists, for explanations of their triumphs. But the human victims, the aborigines of the Lands of the Demographic Takeover, knew better, knew they were only one of many species being displaced and replaced; knew they were victims of something more irresistible and awesome than the spread of capitalism or Christianity. One Maori, at the nadir of the history of his race, knew these things when he said, “As the clover killed off the fern, and the European dog the Maori dog- as the Maori rat was destroyed by the Pakeha (European) rat-so our people, also, will be gradually supplanted and exterminated by the Europeans. The future was not quite so grim as he prophesied, but we must admire his grasp of the complexity and magnitude of the threat looming over his people and over the ecosystem of which they were part”. When Europeans colonized North America, they sure thing they did not consider ecology while taking over the land. The damage was irreversible. Many egologists were denouncing the Europeans, however, thinking it the other way. When the indigenous first come to their land, were they indigenous to the land as well? No, they made changes to the land in the way of living. Therefore, what is the difference between the Europeans and the indigenous? Humans have their hands and power on top of nature; it is how they make nature look. Humans and nature are invisible. What is the balance between humans and nature? Alternatively, is there a balance between humans and nature since humans are so dominated by nature? That will be a question that needs an answer.

Crosby, A. W. (1988). Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of Western Europeans as a Biological Phenomenon. In The ends of the earth: Perspectives on modern environmental history (pp. 103-117). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Introducing exotic plants to a natural landscape can bring a different texture level to the site and bring an unexpected habitat to the existing landscape. This habitat may be useful or harmful to the existing condition, human has a plan to it but no power to control. One crucial element to remember when bringing in exotic plant species to the natural landscape is respecting the natural landscape and species. In the article, Wilde, Gandhi, and Colson state that “Recent ecological studies have found that landscaping with exotic plant species can reduce biodiversity on multiple trophic levels. To support biodiversity in urbanized areas, the increased use of native landscaping plants has been advocated by conservation groups and US federal and state agencies. A major challenge to scaling up the use of native species in landscaping is providing ornamental plants that are both ecologically functional and economically viable. Depending on ecological and economic constraints, accelerated breeding approaches could be applied to ornamental trait development in native plants. This review examines the impact of landscaping choices on biodiversity, the current status of breeding and selection of native ornamental plants, and the interdisciplinary research needed to scale up landscaping plants that can support native biodiversity”. There are chances of having negative impacts on the natural landscape when bringing in exotic species. Paying respect to the natural landscape is one of the keys to work on landscape design.

Wilde, H., Gandhi, K., & Colson, G. (2015, January 28). State of the science and challenges of breeding landscape plants with ecological function. Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.nature.com/articles/hortres201469

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Marx believes that humans need to respect nature during landscape design because there are so many uncertainties when bringing in exotic plant species into an environment. That is the right way to consider the relationship between the natural environment and outcoming plants. However, as a landscape architect, they should think about what the role of landscape architecture is? How does it communicate with the general public? What is the value of it? There are a handful of elements that landscape architects need to consider on the design to lead to the question: is it necessary to bring exotic plant species? After researching, studying, and discovering about the area site and alien plant species, whether bring in exotic plant species will be an easy decision to make. Also, evaluated the risk of exotic plant species is necessary. Ferrell It is hard to identify the line Cooper described between human development and nature. Only humans can learn and discover through it to figure out what the line is? How are we balance out the relation with nature? Getting human, educated, and informed is something fundamental to do. Therefore, enough knowledge could help humans to figure out the balance and have respect for nature.

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Cooper believes that the American landscape has been improved by man carefully and believes that good stewardship can sustain human civilization without damaging natural resources. All that has to base on humans know the natural landscape they live in. In the article “Susan Fenimore Cooper, Forgotten Naturalist,” the author states that, “According to Johnson, Cooper, an astute observer and illustrator of the natural world, had a more expansive twist on this notion. Cooper ‘hoped to refine Americans ‘naturally,’ that is, by cultivating their knowledge of and appreciation for American nature.’ Cooper included the non-human life forms in this vision. Where Downing argued for fine architecture and cultivated landscapes, Cooper pointed out that ‘knowledge of natural history should also be a quality possessed by a cultivated person, and that the conservation and preservation of rural landscapes was perhaps even more crucial to refining America than improving the current fashion in landscape design.’” It does not matter how carefully humans are creating architecture art in nature. As long as they do not know about nature, it will not be sustained. The right balance between nature and the human-made landscape is necessary and essential.

Susan Fenimore Cooper, Forgotten Naturalist. (2002). Retrieved from https://daily.jstor.org/susan-fenimore-cooper-forgotten-naturalist/

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Cooper wanted technological development and simple life with nature simultaneously. She also believes that man has to have a place in the world eventually, but there is a line. I do agree with her argument, there is no way to avoid human civilization developing with nature together, but the question is, how we identify the line? What is the balance the human development and nature? There is no physical line there, but some actions can help us to understand the line. First of all, getting human educated and knowing the land's nature is the first and the most important thing to do. Many human populations out there do not care about the natural landscape environment because it does not directly impact them; therefore, they think it has nothing to do with them. Getting them educated means at least they can understand the land they live and rely on to put attention on it. Second, when humans have the right amount of knowledge about the natural environment, they will know how to treat it and respect it.

When colonial powers come into a new land, they do not care about the environment. All they care about is what can benefit themselves by taking over space. Education is essential to humans. When they do not know how important nature is, they think all the environmental issues are far from them. Educating will know the right thing to do when facing a new landscape without causing significant damage to it.

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Colonialism brings in many unexpected changes, “Environmental colonialism has both obvious and unexpected impacts on Indigenous peoples and native lands in both the short and long term.” Maybe those impacts are not made internationally, but the negative results were much more severe than humans expected. “Colonists exposed native societies to foreign markets as well as exotic invasive species, restricting Indigenous peoples’ abilities to defend themselves against both economic and biological invaders. Recovery from the damage done to native ecosystems proved difficult for native populations. Colonial powers exacerbated the problem by creating a global infrastructure that encouraged wealthier countries to extract natural resources from poorer peripheral countries, while simultaneously destabilizing what were often sustainable native cultures (Stoll)”. Getting to understand a non-native species is essential; at the same time, knowing the native nature is equally important. Having a fair amount of knowledge on both of these can decrease some level of the damage caused by uneducated movements caused by humans. Think the other way around the damage done by a human; in the end, humans rely on the natural ecosystem in daily life, causing negative impacts on the human population.

Fun, S. (2020, September 13). Science is Fun. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2020/01/21/environmental-colonialism/

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When colonial power comes into a new land, most of them do not even care about the present and the future of the colonial. Maybe some of the damage was not made intentionally, or would it be better to describe it as the colonial powers do not care. When it comes to that point, the only things human will take into consideration is themselves. All the decisions and actions that come out are anthropocentric. Education has a significant position when it comes to an understanding of nature. Get educated would help humans to get to know nature well. Due to that, any actions that humans want it to do to nature will be limited to it. Not only get educated to the native nature surrounding, but also any land that human gets to know because the same methods will not work in all landscapes. Educated ourselves is the most important and the least respect human can give to nature.

Contextualize

It is not about how many years humans can live; it is about the quality of life. “He cherished the precarious: ‘The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.’ He proposed a civilized aesthetic: ‘Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth.’ Perfection is banal. Better asymmetry and irregularity.” The unsure gives space for humans to imagine and grow. Humans tend to forget that there are many meaningful and exciting fortune in life than striving for endless enjoyment. They only see the happiness at the front but never slow down to think about how enjoyable the wealth they already have in hand. Just like he said, time passing is a beautiful thing. Time will change many things naturally. Let it happen. It is a lovely mark done by time.

Morrow, L. (2011, June 01). The Timeless Wisdom of Kenko. Retrieved October 22, 2020, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-timeless-wisdom-of-kenko-159972347/

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Kenko believes that humans should be contentment with life. At some point, I agree with Kenko’s belief. Sometimes, people tended to forget how beautiful and treasures they have and always keep looking for better things in their thoughts. Does this consider as greedy? Maybe there is no firm answer to that. At Kenko’s understanding, obviously yes, let time passing naturally, time will change objects, and enjoy nature in life. For many people in modern days, Kenko believes it does not work for it. Most people today believe that there always will be a better choice if they work harder. That is the education most people have got since young. Many people are not willing to concession to the life they have it right now because nobody ever knows what will happen if they try a little more. I believe that none of those believes are wrong. It all depends on where and when these people need to make a choice. There is no firm answer to it.

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It is a shock to have a big transition from Chomei recounts his decision to withdraw from all the world matters to lives in the little hut as a hermit to Kenko displays his fascination with all the earthly affairs. However, to understand the different ways Chomei and Kenko lifestyles, it is essential to know how they had different time backgrounds in their lifetime. “Kamo no Chomei (1155-1216) was no emperor, but he witnessed a chaotic and violent era in Japan. He applied his insight to an understanding of his times in the Hojoki, an account of his times and of his last dwelling-place. The rarified Buddhism of his day Chomei transformed to a tragic sense of life, lyrical and reflective. The opening phrases strike this note beautifully: The flow of the river is ceaseless and its water is never the same. The bubbles that float in the pools, now vanishing, now forming, are not of long duration; so in the world are men and their dwellings”. Different backgrounds and experiences with time passing can make the lifestyles different, just like the article said, “The flow of the river is ceaseless and its water is never the same.” Both Chomei and Kenko are talking about the beauty of time passing. Time will make changes on an object, which is the natural beauty of it. Like a landscape, natural beauty will leave a fantastic mark on it by time passing besides human-made design.

Hojoki: Kamo no Chomei's Account of His Hut - Articles - House of Hermits. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2020, from https://www.hermitary.com/articles/hojoki.html

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Human civilization is heavily dependent on nature, and for a long time, humans have not realized that. Humans, everything nature, have they can control and rule it for their own needs. However, is it like that? The answer is no. The river has played a significant role in human civilization. It is almost impossible to have it developed without a river. Cunha state that in the reading, "All this is to say that rivers are taken to be constituents of the earth and not products of human enterprise" (pp.4). Many civilizations are developed next to the river. For example, the Egyptians developed their civilization next to the Nile River. Without it, this civilization may not be existing at all. In "Ancient Egyptian civilization," the author states, "This annual flooding was vital to agriculture because it deposited a new layer of nutrient-rich soil each year. In years when the Nile did not flood, the nutrient level in the soil was seriously depleted, and the chance of food shortages increased greatly. Food supplies had political effects, as well, and periods of drought probably contributed to the decline of Egyptian political unity at the ends of both the Old and Middle Kingdoms". Agriculture is one of the essential elements for human civilization to be continued, and the river is the crucial element for it to happen. At some point time, I think humans have underestimated the power of the river. Like Cunha, the river is not the human enterprise's product, but it is the earth's constituents.

Cunha, D. D. (2019). Ocean of Rain. In The invention of rivers: Alexander’s eye and Ganga’s descent (pp.1-19). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Ancient Egyptian civilization (article). (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/ancient-egypt-hittites/a/egypt-article

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There has always been this argument: the river constructed by man or it was naturally existing. Many conservationists believe that river was naturally living, and human civilization has been highly dependent on it. We have been underestimating the power of the river. Many other people believe that humans are the one that brought in value to the river. Without human constructions, the river will be a river.

However, there is a balance between these two extremes believes. It is not only about the physical phenomenon but also about how we use or act it. We cannot underestimate the value and power of the river, but we also have to do the right construction to maximize the value. Gain useful knowledge of the river before we take in human action is the right way to do.

Contextualize

Human civilization is heavily dependent on nature, and for a long time, humans have not realized that. Humans, everything nature, have they can control and rule it for their own needs. However, is it like that? The answer is no. The river has played a significant role in human civilization. It is almost impossible to have it developed without a river. Cunha state that in the reading, "All this is to say that rivers are taken to be constituents of the earth and not products of human enterprise" (pp.4). Many civilizations are developed next to the river. For example, the Egyptians developed their civilization next to the Nile River. Without it, this civilization may not be existing at all. In "Ancient Egyptian civilization," the author states, "This annual flooding was vital to agriculture because it deposited a new layer of nutrient-rich soil each year. In years when the Nile did not flood, the nutrient level in the soil was seriously depleted, and the chance of food shortages increased greatly. Food supplies had political effects, as well, and periods of drought probably contributed to the decline of Egyptian political unity at the ends of both the Old and Middle Kingdoms". Agriculture is one of the essential elements for human civilization to be continued, and the river is the crucial element for it to happen. At some point time, I think humans have underestimated the power of the river. Like Cunha, the river is not the human enterprise's product, but it is the earth's constituents.

Cunha, D. D. (2019). Ocean of Rain. In The invention of rivers: Alexander’s eye and Ganga’s descent (pp.1-19). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Ancient Egyptian civilization (article). (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/ancient-egypt-hittites/a/egypt-article

Contextualize

When I read, “In South Asia, where the history of scientific forestry has perhaps been most fully documented, the forest department quickly became a reviled arm of the colonial state”. It reminds me that “Ecological Imperialism” from previous reading. The majority of those Asian countries that colonized by Europeans are following their way of environmentalism. However, is this the right way to apply one method to all the occupied lands? In “Ecological Imperialism,” Crosby states that “The human invaders and their descendants have consulted their egos, rather than ecologists, for explanations of their triumphs. But the human victims, the aborigines of the Lands of the Demographic Takeover, knew better, knew they were only one of many species being displaced and replaced; knew they were victims of something more irresistible and awesome than the spread of capitalism or Christianity”. Human has always been arrogant concerning nature. Humans did not realize the importance of nature for a long time and how we cannot live without nature. We must have enough knowledge of the landscape we are about to take action before doing our work. The experience we have can limit the negative impacts that we may do on the environment surrounding.

Crosby, A. W. (1988). Ecological Imperialism: The Overseas Migration of Western Europeans as a Biological Phenomenon. In The ends of the earth: Perspectives on modern environmental history (pp. 103-117). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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There are many examples of humans taking advantage of nature in the colonized period and modern times due to the anthropocentric. That results in most of the natural ecosystem was damages during those human actions. For example, the Longleaf Pine ecosystem was once widely covered the southeastern region in the United States. Due to the fire burning and the timber industry's needs, the whole Longleaf Pine ecosystem was sharp decreasing in very short. Therefore, one of the most covered ecosystems became the most endangered ecosystem in the United States.

Ecology imperialism is apropos to describe the relation human and nature has, even though today many people have cared about nature's sustainability. However, humans have not found the right balance between us and nature, and it is imperative to figure that out. We are not the only living species existing on the earth. We are sharing it with thousands of other species. It is also essential to think the future generations, think it sustainably, what are we giving them if we take actions into nature with no control.

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Europeans in the temperate colonies had done the right amount of harness to the native environment. Crosby states that “The human invaders and their descendants have consulted their egos, rather than ecologists, for explanations of their triumphs” (pp.116). Not only in immigrants, humans, in general, did not consider the ecosystem surrounded them when they have movements. Like Bacon said, human has too much of notion to nature and often assume we know everything about nature. Instead, he thinks nature can be studied and discovered by humans use science as a tool, nature, and science are based on each other. When humans gained knowledge of nature, maybe there will be less harness when human action comes into nature.

Bacon, Francis. 2000. “The New Organon”, Jardine and Silverthorne, eds. Cambridge University Press.

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In human civilization development, human has always had too much notion to nature. Because of that, we have done quite an amount of damage to the natural environment during our anthropocentric actions. Such as the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem in the southeastern region of the United States, firing burning and timber industry, caused the sharp decrease of the ecosystem. As humans, we have to think about we are not the only lives in the universe. Humans, nature is all affecting each other. We must get more knowledge about nature before we do any human needs movements, which can harm nature.

Man’s power has been pretty dominating too many landscapes globally, and it has been affecting the natural landscape in many negative ways, such as the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem. I genuinely believe that human needs to find a balance between natural and human needs.

Contextualize

Bacon believed that nature is something that can be studied and understood by a human. Therefore, there must have interaction and experimentation for humankind to study and understand nature. He believes that everything is based on induction in his new logic system, not on the syllogism.<br> In his methods, he thinks that men's minds have to put too many notions on nature; instead, nature can be studied and solved as a problem that humans often face. Bacon understands the world as everything can be solved by humankind with help from science. In the article "Francis Bacon," the author states that "He strove to create a new outline for the sciences, with a focus on empirical scientific methods—methods that depended on tangible proof—while developing the basis of applied science. Unlike the doctrines of Aristotle and Plato, Bacon's approach placed an emphasis on experimentation and interaction, culminating in 'the commerce of the mind with things.' Bacon's new scientific method involved gathering data, prudently analyzing it and performing experiments to observe nature's truths in an organized way. He believed that when approached this way, science could become a tool for the betterment of humankind." (Editors, 2020). Bacon believes that humans should use science as a tool to solve unknowns in nature.

Francis Bacon. (2020, June 05). Retrieved September 24, 2020, from https://www.biography.com/scholar/francis-bacon

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Bacon thinks that nature as science and uses nature philosophy as a base for others. However, this makes human understandings build on top of everything, and once something is settled, most likely will affect other things. We should not put too much notion in nature, and we should also learn and discover nature. However, I do not think humankind has enough knowledge to say we can solve nature by using science as our tool.

Contextualize The chapter title of the reading is organizing the earth; in the reading is talking about the Chahar Bagh. The garden's kind is highly organized to be constructed with four axial walkways intersecting in the garden center. There are many different types of formal gardens beside the four-part plan, but overall, there are biases that think the formal gardens express the upper class's wealth and power.<br> However, the formal garden is only one type of garden out of all the categories. Not only the formal garden can bring enjoyment to the visitors, informal garden has the same function. According to the article "Informal Garden Styles," the author states, "Formal Gardens are an attempt to mimic the strong architectural lines of a building, Informal Garden Styles are an attempt to mimic nature… Informal Gardens offer a relaxed ambiance that provides a temporary sanctuary from day-to-day stresses. Instead of the hard-lined formal garden, the informal garden is structured with flowing lines and gentle contours. Hard surfaces are softened by plants spreading over the edges and plants intermingle in what appears to be a random order". Having different preposes in the garden design does not mean which of the garden is better or honorable. The variety of garden types brings in more exciting experiences to the visitors. Informal Garden Styles. (n.d.). Retrieved September 17, 2020, from http://www.landscape-america.com/gardens/informal_gardens.html

Relate From my cultural background, most of the populations are not fans of the messiness in the landscape architecture. I believe that informal gardens have beauty in messiness with all the flowing lines and gentle contour. However, we all like the human-made strong architecture line in China's garden or urban landscape design. Messiness counts as an "embarrassment" of nobody taking care of the plants, which I think our culture is missing out on the beauty of the closing to nature type of garden design.

Contextualize The chapter title of the reading is organizing the earth; in the reading is talking about the Chahar Bagh. The garden's kind is highly organized to be constructed with four axial walkways intersecting in the garden center. There are many different types of formal gardens beside the four-part plan, but overall, there are biases that think the formal gardens express the upper class's wealth and power.<br> However, the formal garden is only one type of garden out of all the categories. Not only the formal garden can bring enjoyment to the visitors, informal garden has the same function. According to the article "Informal Garden Styles," the author states, "Formal Gardens are an attempt to mimic the strong architectural lines of a building, Informal Garden Styles are an attempt to mimic nature… Informal Gardens offer a relaxed ambiance that provides a temporary sanctuary from day-to-day stresses. Instead of the hard-lined formal garden, the informal garden is structured with flowing lines and gentle contours. Hard surfaces are softened by plants spreading over the edges and plants intermingle in what appears to be a random order". Having different preposes in the garden design does not mean which of the garden is better or honorable. The variety of garden types brings in more exciting experiences to the visitors. Informal Garden Styles. (n.d.). Retrieved September 17, 2020, from http://www.landscape-america.com/gardens/informal_gardens.html

Relate From my cultural background, most of the populations are not fans of the messiness in the landscape architecture. I believe that informal gardens have beauty in messiness with all the flowing lines and gentle contour. However, we all like the human-made strong architecture line in China's garden or urban landscape design. Messiness counts as an "embarrassment" of nobody taking care of the plants, which I think our culture is missing out on the beauty of the closing to nature type of garden design.

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From my cultural background, most of the populations are not fans of the messiness in the landscape architecture. I believe that informal gardens have beauty in messiness with all the flowing lines and gentle contour. However, we all like the human-made strong architecture line in China's garden or urban landscape design. Messiness counts as an "embarrassment" of nobody taking care of the plants, which I think our culture is missing out on the beauty of the closing to nature type of garden design.

Contextualize

The chapter title of the reading is organizing the earth; in the reading is talking about the Chahar Bagh. The garden's kind is highly organized to be constructed with four axial walkways intersecting in the garden center. There are many different types of formal gardens beside the four-part plan, but overall, there are biases that think the formal gardens express the upper class's wealth and power.

However, the formal garden is only one type of garden out of all the categories. Not only the formal garden can bring enjoyment to the visitors, informal garden has the same function. According to the article "Informal Garden Styles," the author states, "Formal Gardens are an attempt to mimic the strong architectural lines of a building, Informal Garden Styles are an attempt to mimic nature… Informal Gardens offer a relaxed ambiance that provides a temporary sanctuary from day-to-day stresses. Instead of the hard-lined formal garden, the informal garden is structured with flowing lines and gentle contours. Hard surfaces are softened by plants spreading over the edges and plants intermingle in what appears to be a random order". Having different preposes in the garden design does not mean which of the garden is better or honorable. The variety of garden types brings in more exciting experiences to the visitors.

Informal Garden Styles. (n.d.). Retrieved September 17, 2020, from http://www.landscape-america.com/gardens/informal_gardens.html

Contextualize

Bacon believed that nature is something that can be studied and understood by a human. Therefore, there must have interaction and experimentation for humankind to study and understand nature. He believes that everything is based on induction in his new logic system, not on the syllogism.<br> In his methods, he thinks that men's minds have to put too many notions on nature; instead, nature can be studied and solved as a problem that humans often face. Bacon understands the world as everything can be solved by humankind with help from science. In the article "Francis Bacon," the author states that "He strove to create a new outline for the sciences, with a focus on empirical scientific methods—methods that depended on tangible proof—while developing the basis of applied science. Unlike the doctrines of Aristotle and Plato, Bacon's approach placed an emphasis on experimentation and interaction, culminating in 'the commerce of the mind with things.' Bacon's new scientific method involved gathering data, prudently analyzing it and performing experiments to observe nature's truths in an organized way. He believed that when approached this way, science could become a tool for the betterment of humankind." (Editors, 2020). Bacon believes that humans should use science as a tool to solve unknowns in nature.

Francis Bacon. (2020, June 05). Retrieved September 24, 2020, from https://www.biography.com/scholar/francis-bacon

There will always be different perspectives and thoughts for “paradise” in different cultural backgrounds. At the same time, the understanding between nature and design is different as well. Daoist creates a small space of the formal garden, which is different from Western cultural thinking. I believe it understands different cultural background is essential for us in the future design process.

All the Chinese garden (yuan) are has a purpose of delight and pleasure for enjoyment. However, they are always more meaning behind all the landscape construct of each yuan. Most likely, there always one pond three hills in a yuan to represent the steadiness of the country and the long-lived life for people. There are many particular about details in a yuan.

Relate In ancient Chinese philosophy, there is no transcendental concept. We are facing the universe and nature, which is where everything (wanwu) derives from. Water is essential in Daoist, and Dao originally means channel or waterway in Chinese, so in metaphors, water always finds its way to nourish wanwu. Moreover, in Daoist is different from Confucius, it mostly talks about the change in the water, and it advocates wuwei, which means nothing is doing everything. However, is that true? If anything happens in the universe, we do not do anything, is it work out the best way? In my understanding is like Confucius, respect the way nature does, and do the work we have to do for the best results. It might change the different qualities we want in different periods, but let it be the way it should be.

Contextualize Water has always been using a lot in the ancient Chinese thinkers’ philosophy; everything is called wanwu (万物) in Chinese is derived from water. However, according to the different philosophers in ancient China, there are always the various meaning of water. In the reading, Confucius said, “What passes is perhaps like this: day and night it never lets up.” (1997, Allan 11). It expresses the thoughts of how time changes frequently, even it did not mention water in the saying, but it is metaphors that time is just like water; when it flows past, it will not come back. When I finished the reading, it reminds me of a saying in Analects, “The Master said, ‘The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lived.” Back in high school, when I learned this, my Chinese teacher explained this saying to us that wise and virtuous are both excellent characters that gentleman should have. However, different in different periods, a gentleman is looking for different characters. When they are young, they are more active like water, and when the gentleman gets older, they are more mature like hills. Now think back to the saying “What passes is perhaps like this: day and night it never lets up.”, I have different thoughts, time will pass by and will not come back, but the process of the time is different; it is changing by the time.

C., & Lau, D. C. (1998). The Analects (Penguin Classics) (1st ed.). Penguin Classics.

I believe that the wild nature of the landscape of agriculture is a transition. Because when human beings found a new land which is the wild nature, we will start to grow, develop on it then it becomes the second nature which is the landscape of agriculture.

Relate

In the reading, the author mentioned that “Stewardship is caretaker ethic, but it is still anthropocentric inasmuch as nature is created for human use. Moreover, Nature is not an actor, but is rendered docile” (2003, Merchant 23). It does not matter to us as dominion or stewardship, what we have done is making nature working for us, it is all about us. We have always heard that certain kind of species is in danger and we need to take in action to protect it. But the point is, do we really have to wait until the natural environment is in danger than to take action to protect? The answer is no, there are many actions we can do during everyday life before it gets too late. Nature provided us a nice living environment, but if we all act like dominate and think we are in charge of it, nature won’t always be there for us. We have to think about how to take care of it for future generations.

Merchant, C. (2003). Stewardship Versus Dominion. In Reinventing Eden(p. 23). Routledge.

Contextulaize

The “Reinventing Eden” reading reminded me that a conversation I heard when I was in middle schools between two elderships about the environment. One of them believes that without human actions to develop the environment we would be still living in a primitive time and human is one that in making it happened, it’s the one who is in charge. The other one believes that if nature not providing the environment for us human, we cannot do any of the actions on it, we are taking care it making it better, we are not the one who is in charge and need to be thankful for what we have. I don’t think I had much of opinions back at that time, but nowadays I much agree with the second eldership, we need to think about how to take care of what we have to pass down to the next generation.

Conextalize

The walled garden is not a randomly chose landscape to build a square or rectangular garden there. The builder carefully seeing the proportion of the square or rectangular space that they are about to construct on it. There are many elements that needs to be looking into, in the reading the author states, “ It is the product of close attention to local topography, consisting of a carefully levelled area of soil, and plants and trees spaced according to an overall geometry derived from the first irrigation…”(Girot 2016, 30). It is amazing how they’ve already known how to carefully landscape back in the days, human already known who they are and distinguish them from the nature.

Girot, C., 2016. The Course Of Landscape Architecture.

Relate

It is fascinating to me to see how the walled garden constructor are noting only seeing this as a construction but see it as a relationship to the nature, in the reading Girot mentioned that, “…reflect a strong transformative attitude towards nature, as humans began to distinguish themselves from their natural surrounding” (Girot 2016, 19). By that time, human knows that there is difference between them and nature but using nature into their landscape to keep the nice relationship with nature. They know that the garden they are building is not about the food patch but also the beauty of the world, they also know that is not only a pace to live but also for their ruler’s comfort. Until this point, all the beautiful, elegant, landscaping of the walled garden is all about the ruler, all the constructed made this enjoyment for their rulers, what about them? Until which point all the people can equally enjoy the landscape?

Girot, z., 2016. The Course Of Landscape Architecture.

I agree with you on what you were talking about how a superiority complex of control over nature. However, with today’s high-speed development, should we think that how much we can interference nature? At which point we should stop and how can we have a nice relationship with nature?