Comments on: The view that changed the world and its gardens: what Petrarch saw from Mount Ventoux

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 04:24:57 +0000

According to anthropologists the myths and cave paintings of the Wanniyala-aetto tell of the colonisation of their island 2000 years ago (so 10BCE). Predating both the Sinhalese and the Tamals in Sri Lanka with another colonising group.

In the mid-1950s the Sri Lankan government flooded their hunting and gathering grounds and cave dwellings in order to construct a hydro-electric dam (completed in 1983) and now part of the Maduru Oya National Park. It is now a criminal offence to hunt or forage in the park.

The Wanniyala-aetto are one group considered to have experienced language shift as a result of contact with other language groups.

Click languages are spoken mostly by hunter gatherers.

The Damin (speech register of Lardil, TANGKIC) northern Australia speak with clicks (17%) as a phonemic speech sound. It is claimed that the language was developed in Dreamtime. Linguists say that the click in the Damin register is a rare example of a click arising as an independent language innovation.

“This is a fully functional speech form used in an Australian Aboriginal group by second degree male initiates to ritually related community members….Lardil and the initiate register Damin are mutually unintelligible so the latter can be considered to a certain extent to be a separate language.”

Tom Guldemann, ‘Clicks, Genetics and ProtoWorld from a Linguistic Perspective’.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:21:57 +0000

I did not know of them. The Wiki entry states plainly that ‘Animism is the original religion of Veddas’ and since this is also true of the Hindus (and therefore Buddhists) I think it is sufficient to say that the veneration of forests comes from ‘ancient Asia’ and ‘the Americas’ and probably from Africa. So forestphilia is probably in all our psyches – and should be in our laws.

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 03:08:19 +0000

I suppose the best way to distinguish the modern national park movement from Sri Lankian ideas is the difference in purpose – conservation v resource management.

The Sinhalese (Buddhist) and Tamals (Hindu) are predated in Sri Lanka by the ‘Wanniyala-aetto’ self-described ‘forest beings’.
[ http://exploresrilankacom.blogspot.com/2007/08/sri-lankan-vedda.html ]

In 2006 there were said to be 2000 Wanniyala-aetto. (There is archaeological evidence for the existence of the ancestors of the Wanniyala-aetto in Sri Lanka over 31,000 years ago. The Sinhalese in the ‘Dipavamsa’ (4th cent) and ‘Mahavamsa’ (6th cent) justified conquest on religious grounds.

Perhaps this places Sri Lankan forest laws in a very different context from conservation? Are there parallels with the experiences of Indigenous populations in North America? Perhaps.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:15:00 +0000

I prefer the term Natural Reserve to National Park – because ‘park’ (meaning ‘imparked’) has the strong overtone of ‘for the use and enjoyment of humans’. The result is that National Parks come to look like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnchamilton/3604887161/ . The Wiki entry on nature reserves gives a Buddhist origin (in Sri Lanka) but goes on to conflate the idea with National Parks. Since the US National Park idea was partly inspired by a landscape architect (
Frederick Law Olmsted) and partly by a desire to ‘compete’ with Europe’s cultural treasures, I much prefer the sacred origin and the term ‘reserve’. But I fear Petrarch, as a Christian humanist, would have supported the ‘park’ idea. Christianity is more man-centered than the older belief systems.
Note: Mount Ventoux is part of the Tour de France http://reno-rambler.blogspot.com/2009/07/petrarch-mont-ventoux-and-tour-de.html

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 04:30:10 +0000

Hmmm. Cultures of European origin? Perhaps a wider lens (which includes Europe) is needed when we look at what the world has to offer us all?

Yes, it is good to question ideas about development. [ http://www.thingvellir.is/english/national-park/ ] It seem the US has led the way in the national parks movement. Yellowstone is reputed to be the first national park in the world. [ http://www.nps.gov/yell ]

Vanautu is an extraordinary place. The views are also spectacular under the ocean. However it does not have world heritage protection is deserves.
[ http://www.flickr.com/photos/38504374@N02/3599973189/ ]

As the island of Surtsey demonstrates we can learn much about development from observing a pristine environment. [ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1267 ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:03:15 +0000

An extraordinary film and and an extraordinary story. Why can’t the ‘developing’ world learn that being a ‘developed’ country is not the be-all-and-end-all of life on earth? In India they admire Mahatma Gandhi but forget his comment that ‘I think it would be a good idea’ when asked what he thought of Western civilization.

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Yes bungy jumping originates in a yam blessing ritual in Vaunatu [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdmbkeJe6zo ] via Oxford University (and the Eiffel Tower) to New Zealand.
[ http://library.thinkquest.org/C0123122/historybungee.htm ]

I am not sure whether the Oxford crowd improved their yam harvest that year? Or was their only motivation “the wish to see what so great an elevation had to offer?”

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:14:36 +0000

I expect there a cultural chain from Mt Ventoux to the bungy jump. And I regret that Petrarch has led to so many of the world’s beautiful places being drowned in concrete hotels.

By: christine

christine — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:31:57 +0000

In New Zealand a fast moving view from the mountain is a popular way to change your perception of the world and what really matters.
[ http://www.queenstownadventure.com/ajhackett.asp ]

By: Adam Hodge

Adam Hodge — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:46:19 +0000

The Cotes de Ventoux will make a tremendous impression on your perception about your ..belly. After a few glasses you’ll realise it really doesnt matter so much ! Here is a link to a vigneron with a few medals to their name. http://www.champlong.com/