The Passing Wisdom of Birds (1985) Summary and Analysis

In the first part of this essay, the author describes the violent military actions of Spanish explorer / conqueror Cortes against the advanced Mexican civilization of the early 1500's, focusing particularly on the conqueror's destruction of the civilization's cherished bird sanctuaries. He then uses the incident as a trigger to explore the exploitive actions humanity has taken against nature, and to comment on the necessity for humanity to somehow find its way to a new, evolved relationship. He suggests that this need is first and foremost practical (in that the world's natural resources are finite, and being used up at an increasing pace), but also philosophical (in that humanity's ultimate and overall well-being depends on doing so). He suggests that one way into developing this new relationship is to study the actions and behaviors...