Environment, History, and Culture as Influences on Perceptions of Glacier Dynamics

Darkening Peaks: Glacial Retreat, Science and Society, p. 49, Ben Orlove, Ellen Wiegandt and Brian H. Luckman, eds., University of California Press, 2004

Posted: 28 Mar 2013

Date Written: 2004

Abstract

Mt. Shasta offers an interesting case for considering the factors that shape human perceptions of glacial processes. The mountain is unusual in many ways. It is distinctive as a natural feature. A tall, free-standing volcano in the far northern part of California, it contains the largest glaciers in the state. These glaciers, moreover, have demonstrated dynamics different from those in many other parts of the world, most notably a pattern of advance rather than retreat in the second half of the twentieth century.

The mountain is also distinctive for the resources it affords and the risks that it presents to the human populations that live near it. It contains abundant forests and contributes significantly to surface streams and to groundwater. It also is the site of avalanches, mudslides, debris flows, floods, and volcanic eruptions. In addition, its location close to the largest north-south valley in the mountainous western United States favored its early integration into regional transportation networks. These resources, risks, and location have shaped its involvement in resource extraction economies; its forests, snows, and rugged formations have also favored recreation-oriented tourism and settlement.

Moreover, the mountain is distinctive for the ways in which it is perceived by human populations. The economic activities associated with its physical nature influence perceptions but do not wholly determine them. The people in the region give the mountain cultural meanings, often of an aesthetic, religious, and spiritual nature, that also affect their perceptions of it and their views of the different forms of human activity it supports. Glaciers contribute to the mountain’s resources and risks, and human perceptions of the mountain involve glaciers, though they include other elements as well. Indeed, the difficulty of disentangling the specific contribution of glaciers to the resources, risks, and perceptions is the final and perhaps the most striking of the ways in which Mt. Shasta is distinctive.

Suggested Citation

Orlove, Ben, Environment, History, and Culture as Influences on Perceptions of Glacier Dynamics (2004). Darkening Peaks: Glacial Retreat, Science and Society, p. 49, Ben Orlove, Ellen Wiegandt and Brian H. Luckman, eds., University of California Press, 2004, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2240430

Ben Orlove (Contact Author)

Columbia University ( email )

420 West 118th Street, room 833
New York, NY 10027
United States
+1 (212) 854 1543 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
330
PlumX Metrics