The Big Hole in The Earth

(Photo Taken By EWG and Nogwater via flickr)


Dawn rises over the dry desert of the western United States. The clouds are few and far between as the sun rises above the horizon. The shadows are deep and bottomless as the sun continues to creep upwards. As the animals awake for a new dawn, a caravan of cars buzzes down the highway. As each car stops, the sun creeps a little higher, revealing the bottomless river that is the Grand Canyon. From early morning to noon the animals own this land; it is their domain. They own the land as if it is their own, only to have to relinquish it to man once tourism thrives. Geckos, lizards, and other types of desert creatures run around the corners of the canyon as if it is nothing new to them, just another part of their home. A buzz then fills the air, a humming sound that feels like its approaching: a coach bus, followed closely by three more. Footsteps follow as hundreds of people flow out of the narrow opening of each bus. They flock to the edge of the road each with their disposable cameras to take pictures to commemorate the day. As each finger pushes down and each camera flashes people thrive to see the full picture of the Grand Canyon. But no matter what type of camera, whether disposable or a Nikon, it is impossible to capture the whole picture of the huge part of the Earth that is apparently absent.

Day after day hundreds of people venture to the canyon to hope that they better understand the gap. Over millions of years the canyon has been forged from erosion of the Colorado River. Millions of years ago, man and creature would arise in the morning and use this massive river for everyday things. It was the provider of life for an area of North America that was not conducive to life. Now the canyon provides a financial boost to an area not conducive for tourism. The canyon is the backbone for an area of the southwestern United States. Everyday people are drawn to the area to see what earth’s natural powers can do. The air is filled is smog and black clouds from the fast import of human life. As each bus leaves with its tour and people start to clear out the air clears, the natural dew reenters the atmosphere and the animals come back out to reclaim their land. Every morning the canyon smells of fresh, clean mountain air but by noon the area is contaminated by the human touch but by night the air is as fresh as the morning.

Beer cans, soda cans, and food wrappers all douse the rim of the South Edge of the canyon, the most visited tourist spot. Cigarette buds and cigars have helped taint the air as the animals are left to feel the wrath of what the humans have left. Every day in the canyon is different, some days the land is barely visited leaving the animals to live as though the humans knew nothing of this great tear in the Earth’s crust. Other days the canyon is overrun with human interaction. As each human steps forward to drink in the canyon, in turn they are pouring contaminates into the air. If you can fathom the number of people that venture the Grand Canyon in a day, and then extrapolate that to a month, a year, two years, you can imagine the damage we are doing to the atmosphere and the land. It is another perfect example of Leopold’s nature paradox. Each day man goes to a place, created by nature, to better understand the environment, and by in turn does his or her part to further destroy the environment they wish to understand.

As the day winds down and the sun starts to set, the natural beauty of the canyon is at its greatest. The sunset of the canyon is a sight unmatched by another of natural beauty on the earth. The irony of this situation is that sunset is when the least amount of people are visiting the canyon. As the sun continues it’s decent and night approaches the canyon starts its endeavor back to normalcy. The tourists leave, their cars pull away onto the buzzing highway and the canyon again belongs to the animals. A strong statement can be made here about the impact of man. No matter how many people visit this place and hope to understand it, every night the land belongs to the animals, until the next morning and the cycle starts over.