--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Now, wilderness can be seen as a useful…" description: "\"“Now, wilderness can be seen as a useful fiction, a fiction constructed by John Muir and his heirs and deployed to keep places from being destroyed by ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/rebecca-solnit-569_landscape_now-wilderness-can-be-seen-as-a-useful-f_467550.png" --- # Now, wilderness can be seen as a useful fiction, a fiction… ![“Now, wilderness can be seen as a useful fiction, a fiction constructed by John Muir and his heirs and deployed to keep places from being destroyed by resource extraction and wholesale development.” quote by Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/rebecca-solnit-569_landscape_now-wilderness-can-be-seen-as-a-useful-f_467550.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/rebecca-solnit-569_landscape_now-wilderness-can-be-seen-as-a-useful-f_467550.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/rebecca-solnit-569_landscape_now-wilderness-can-be-seen-as-a-useful-f_467550.png) > ““Now, wilderness can be seen as a useful fiction, a fiction constructed by John Muir and his heirs and deployed to keep places from being destroyed by resource extraction and wholesale development.”” [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Nature is framed as a story that protects it from exploitation, shaping public perception and policy. **In simple terms:** Wilderness is a protective story. Key Takeaway Recognize how narratives shape environmental policy. Themes environment conservation storytelling politics culture Mood reflective critical Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - activism - policy making - media campaigns - community education Key Concepts Narrative framing environmental ethics public perception Questions to Reflect On - How do narratives influence your view of nature? - What stories could better protect ecosystems? A Different Perspective Stories can be co-opted to serve economic interests, limiting true protection. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Landscape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/landscape/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Wilderness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wilderness/) ## Related quotes > [The training of a journalist, of working with words for thousands of hours, is extraordinarily useful for a fiction writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-rachman/the-training-of-a-journalist-of-working-with-words-for-thousands-of/) [Tom Rachman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-rachman/) > [John Muir, Earth-planet, Universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/john-muir-earth-planet-universe/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [I remember when an editor at the National Geographic promised to run about a dozen of my landscape pictures from a story on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-remember-when-an-editor-at-the-national-geographic-promised-to-run/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Inspired by John Muir's A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, John Davis walks, bikes, and kayaks on a 'voyage of recovery' from the Florida…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-brune/inspired-by-john-muir-s-a-thousand-mile-walk-to-the-gulf-john-davis/) [Michael Brune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-brune/) > [“His treatment of mechanical problems wasn't divorced from the worldly situations in which they arise, and as a result \[John Muir's service manual on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-b-crawford/his-treatment-of-mechanical-problems-wasn-t-divorced-from-the-worldly/) [Matthew B. Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-b-crawford/) > [“I explored the literature of tree-climbing, not extensive, but so exciting. John Muir had swarmed up a hundred-foot Douglas Spruce during a Californian windstorm,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-macfarlane/i-explored-the-literature-of-tree-climbing-not-extensive-but-so/) [Robert Macfarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-macfarlane/) > [“Chastity and moral purity were qualities McCandless mulled over long and often. Indeed, one of the books found in the bus with his remains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-krakauer/chastity-and-moral-purity-were-qualities-mccandless-mulled-over-long/) [Jon Krakauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-krakauer/) > [ There are instances: \[Henry David\] Thoreau read \[John\] Wordsworth, \[John\] Muir read Thoreau, Teddy Roosevelt read Muir, and you got national parks. 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Brower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-r-brower/) > [I would say Gary Snyder, who is from my part of the world as a poet and environmental thinker, will be read just as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-would-say-gary-snyder-who-is-from-my-part-of-the-world-as-a-poet/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/when-we-try-to-pick-out-anything-by-itself-we-find-it-hitched-to-3/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) ## More by Rebecca Solnit > [“Georgia O’Keeffe moved to rural New Mexico, from which she would sign her letters to the people she loved, “from the faraway nearby.” It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/georgia-o-keeffe-moved-to-rural-new-mexico-from-which-she-would-sign/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism. 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It seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforeseen, of keeping your balance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/how-do-you-calculate-upon-the-unforeseen-it-seems-to-be-an-art-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/walking-shares-with-making-and-working-that-crucial-element-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Marriage equality is a threat: to inequality. It’s a boon to everyone who values and benefits from equality. It’s for all of us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/marriage-equality-is-a-threat-to-inequality-it-s-a-boon-to-everyone/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Mountaineering is always spoken of as though summiting is conquest, but as you get higher, the world gets bigger, and you feel smaller in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/mountaineering-is-always-spoken-of-as-though-summiting-is-conquest/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“A procession is a participants' journey, while a parade is a performance with an audience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/a-procession-is-a-participants-journey-while-a-parade-is-a/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Explore all 469 Rebecca Solnit quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) ## More Landscape quotes > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [After 20 years of painting wildlife subjects in acrylic, I felt the need for a change and began to explore portraiture and landscape in oils.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-parker/after-20-years-of-painting-wildlife-subjects-in-acrylic-i-felt-the/) Ron Parker > [In Africa, animals and the natural landscape allow local communities to support themselves, as there is a constant source of money from tourism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lidington/in-africa-animals-and-the-natural-landscape-allow-local-communities/) [David Lidington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lidington/) > [I know when I'm not dancing, and I go home, I usually work with my dad, who's an electrician. So I do stuff like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tristan-macmanus/i-know-when-i-m-not-dancing-and-i-go-home-i-usually-work-with-my-dad/) [Tristan MacManus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tristan-macmanus/) > [Smell is a strange sight. It evokes sentimental landscapes through a sudden sketching of the subconscious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/smell-is-a-strange-sight-it-evokes-sentimental-landscapes-through-a/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [What I did for my last act as a painter, if you call me a painter, was to photograph the weave of the canvas,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-denes/what-i-did-for-my-last-act-as-a-painter-if-you-call-me-a-painter-was/) [Agnes Denes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-denes/) > [In a way Australia is like Catholicism. The company is sometimes questionable and the landscape is grotesque. But you always come back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-keneally/in-a-way-australia-is-like-catholicism-the-company-is-sometimes/) [Thomas Keneally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-keneally/) > [Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/grief-is-like-a-long-valley-a-winding-valley-where-any-bend-may/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [As for critical writing about modernism, its moments of lucidity are but fulgurations illuminating the dark and incomprehensible landscape of its subject's unabashed difficulty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/as-for-critical-writing-about-modernism-its-moments-of-lucidity-are/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death. 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