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What Do Landscapes Tell Us About Our Culture? | Linnea Sando | TEDxHelena

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    >> I'm a cultural
    geographer.
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    I often get asked
    what that means.
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    Do I study rocks?
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    No, that's geologists.
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    Do I like maps?
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    I do. But there is more to
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    cultural geography
    than just maps.
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    In fact, as cultural
    geographers,
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    there are pretty
    varied bunch in
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    study of variety
    of phenomena.
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    From city planning,
    to social issues,
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    to the cultural
    traditions of places
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    our country is enemies
    or allies with.
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    One avenue for
    exploration that
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    many cultural geographers
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    utilize is the landscape.
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    Landscape can tell us
    a lot about a culture.
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    It can reveal
    aspects of the past,
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    where we're from, how
    culture has changed,
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    and it can also reveal
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    contemporary circumstances,
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    and the values that we
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    hold today as a society.
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    The beauty of reading
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    the landscape is
    that is available to
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    each and every one of us to
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    read and to learn from.
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    Have we just know a few
    things to look for?
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    But first, what's the value
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    of reading the landscape?
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    Well, one, we live
    in it, right?
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    The big box store,
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    it's a small locally
    owned store,
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    it's the suburbs,
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    the sidewalks, the streets,
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    they are all part of
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    the landscape and guide us
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    in our day-to-day living.
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    Two, simply a deeper
    appreciation for
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    places and the
    processes that
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    go into creating
    those places,
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    the people who
    are involved,
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    the labor that's involved,
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    and then knowing
    that there are
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    individual and
    community stories
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    that surround each
    and every landscape.
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    If we take a look at
    this building here,
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    the Wool Warehouse,
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    this is in Big
    Timber, Montana.
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    It might not look like
    much of a building,
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    but it stands as
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    a reflection of
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    the communities
    heritage in Big Timber,
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    and that it's
    historical foundation
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    with the sheep industry.
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    The really neat
    thing is, if you
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    step inside that building,
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    and it's brick walls
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    all around, and what
    you'll see here,
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    you'll see dates
    and signatures,
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    some over a 100 years old.
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    From anybody who had
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    anything to do
    with the industry,
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    whether they are
    wall stamper,
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    sheers, herders, ranchers.
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    You have this building
    that's a reflection
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    of the communities
    heritage in the industry,
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    but then attached
    to that building,
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    you have individual
    stories of family,
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    of friendship, of labor,
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    and of that hard work.
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    When we know more
    about the landscape
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    and the meanings
    behind them,
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    we tend to take
    better care of them,
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    and we appreciate
    them more,
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    whether that's
    a building that
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    makes your
    community unique,
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    or say, public lands that
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    surround your community.
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    What else can we learn
    from the landscape?
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    What can we look for?
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    Well, we can learn
    about the past.
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    We can learn about
    who people are,
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    where they came from.
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    One way to do
    that is look at
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    ethnic signatures
    on the landscape,
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    and ask the question, Why?
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    Why did a
    particular group of
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    people settle in a
    particular landscape?
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    Then in turn, how did they
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    shape that landscape,
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    and how did the traditions
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    that they brought
    with them,
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    how is it
    continuing to shape
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    that place identity today?
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    An example of
    this would be,
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    if we go to Elko, Nevada,
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    North East of
    Nevada, and we
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    have the star hotel here,
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    you can see it
    says Basque food.
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    Going back to the why,
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    why did the Basques from
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    France and Spain
    come to Elko Nevada?
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    That goes back to the
    sheep industry also.
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    They came in
    the late 1800s,
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    first half of the 1900s
    to work as herders.
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    Then other Basques
    came and they
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    built these Basque
    boarding houses,
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    which is a combination of
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    a restaurant and a hotel,
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    and they were used
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    to accommodate the herders,
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    and offered them
    a home away
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    from home where their
    languages were spoken,
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    customs and traditions
    could be carried on.
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    Today, this one,
    the star hotel
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    built in 1910 remains.
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    Although it's not
    a boarding house
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    or it is just not
    a hotel anymore,
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    it is still a restaurant
    and those traditions
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    then are still carried
    on within those walls,
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    and also within the
    greater Elko community.
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    When we have these
    ethnic signatures,
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    whether it is a
    restaurant or say,
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    finished sun as
    on the landscape,
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    is a reminder of the
    culture's heritage,
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    although that heritage
    might be reimagined
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    in slight or big ways,
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    it's still a connection
    to the past,
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    and showing that
    traditions are carried on,
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    and is still shapes
    those places then today.
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    What else can we learn?
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    We can learn about how
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    culture has evolved
    and how it's changed.
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    If we just meander west
    of here towards say,
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    the Avon area,
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    I'm sure many of you have
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    driven that road before.
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    You maybe even
    seen these type of
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    landscapes with the big,
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    huge haystacks, and
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    the strange
    contraptions that
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    are next to them.
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    The picture has to be sure.
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    But they also tell us how
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    culture has evolved,
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    how the scale of ranching
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    and farming has evolved,
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    how families and
    labor have changed.
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    This used to be a common
    way to put up hay,
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    but it was also very
    labor-intensive.
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    It took a lot
    of people which
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    wasn't always
    necessarily a problem.
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    Families were
    larger, so you could
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    find the labor pool
    within your own family,
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    within the community,
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    even itinerant labor
    you could find.
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    Well, then technology
    evolves, scale evolves,
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    and so families
    are smaller,
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    and now you can just
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    have one or two people on
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    a tractor in hay baler
    to put up your hay.
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    We can think of
    our landscape
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    as of layers, right?
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    There's going to be
    aspects of the past,
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    but then there's
    also the present in
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    our contemporary values.
    What do we value?
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    How is that differ
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    from community
    to community,
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    and how is that reflected
    on the landscape?
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    Let's take a look at
    our local example
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    here in Helena.
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    We have our trails, right?
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    You have your signs in
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    Mount Helena City
    Park this way.
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    You follow the signs,
    and you go up there,
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    you see a large
    parking lot,
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    many times it's
    filled with cars,
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    so it is being used.
    You can see that.
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    Part of reading
    landscape is also seeing
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    how people interact
    with the landscape.
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    You go on the
    trails and you see
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    the runners,
    and the bikers,
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    the hikers, the toddlers,
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    the organized
    groups, they're all
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    utilizing the landscape.
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    That's all part of this
    landscape and part of
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    Helena's place identity as
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    a community that's invested
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    in its local trails.
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    Then when you're
    out on the trails,
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    be sure to look out.
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    There's a lot of
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    different things
    that you can see,
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    but one thing to take note
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    of, is the street patterns.
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    We see, are nice
    straight streets
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    to make that nice grid.
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    There's a connection
    there that goes all the
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    way back to 1682 in
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    William Penn when he
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    laid out the city
    of Philadelphia.
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    He wanted that
    grid pattern,
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    and real estate
    sellers and buyers
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    loved it too because it
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    made the selling of lots,
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    nice and easy,
    and convenient.
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    We're in Helena, we
    have our local trails,
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    but we're also Westerners,
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    so we're surrounded
    by public lands from
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    national parks to
    national forests.
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    There's a couple of
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    different ways
    we could look at
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    the national forests and
    read that landscape,
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    but I want to focus on is,
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    how they're managed as
    lands of many uses.
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    This isn't a new
    idea either.
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    This goes back to
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    the late 1800s,
    early 1900s,
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    so much of the public
    stewardship of
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    the forested mountain
    areas fell into place.
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    We have our lands
    of many uses,
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    and that's going to
    differ depending
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    on which forest you are in.
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    In this one here, this is
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    in Pioneer Mountains.
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    On one side, you
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    have your grazing
    allotments.
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    You have cattle grazing,
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    fence separating that
    from the campgrounds.
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    Others you're going to
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    see like commercial
    logging,
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    and logged areas,
    and receded forests.
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    Going back to
    the recreation,
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    just the trails
    themselves are
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    signs for hunting
    regulations.
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    When we see these
    signs of many uses,
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    what's that saying
    about our culture?
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    What do we value,
    whether that's
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    economic values,
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    or cultural values,
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    or traditions
    being carried on,
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    or just what we like to
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    do in our leisure time,
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    especially as Westerners
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    and being outdoor
    enthusiasts.
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    Enthusiast is part of
    our Western identity.
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    We have our
    landscape and we can
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    read it from
    different scales.
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    We can look at it
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    from the
    international impact
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    on local landscapes through
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    such things as immigration,
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    both the past and in
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    the present that's
    still happening today.
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    We can also look at
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    national policies
    on landscape,
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    and how that's
    impacted places
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    through such things
    as the public lands.
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    Then we can really zoom in
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    to the community level,
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    and just look at how people
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    interact with their
    everyday local landscape.
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    Scholars have said
    that our landscape
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    is our autobiography,
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    that it reflects our
    values, our tastes,
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    our preferences, and that
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    all human landscapes
    reveals something.
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    With that can be
    overwhelming, right?
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    We can't know all of
    those answers when we
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    go out and read
    the landscape,
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    but what we can
    do is just try to
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    ask questions
    about what we see.
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    What do we see out
    there and what
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    does that say
    about our culture?
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    What does that say
    about our values?
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    Really looking at
    just the everyday,
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    seemingly mundane features
    in the landscape.
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    For example, our suburbs,
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    what does that
    say about us?
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    Are they workable
    or they not?
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    Do we have friend porches,
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    or people out
    there visiting,
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    or do we evaluate privacy
    and all activities
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    take place and backpack
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    you with our
    privacy fences?
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    Going back to the
    recreational landscapes,
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    again,
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    we're at West
    and so there's
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    plenty of our playgrounds,
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    from the campgrounds to
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    the hot springs resorts,
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    or the dude ranches,
    or the ski resorts.
  • 8:05 - 8:06
    What does that
    say about what we
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    like to do in our
    leisure time,
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    how we like to
    spend our money,
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    and so then
    these landscapes
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    of consumption even?
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    If you're curious
    about a place,
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    or a building in a place,
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    any the other type of
    landscape feature,
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    invite you to
    simply ask a local.
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    Most people are
    so thrilled to
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    talk about their hometown,
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    and stories about it,
    and what makes it
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    unique and special to them.
  • 8:27 - 8:28
    The next time you're going
  • 8:28 - 8:29
    through a small town,
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    and you grab a
    cup of coffee,
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    or you're eating at
    a local restaurant,
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    simply open up
    the conversation
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    with a question
    about the place.
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    Then soon I hope
    that we can all
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    appreciate road trips
    and walks more,
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    and see that all
    places are filled
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    with history and
    significance,
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    and that we're
    just surrounded by
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    a storied landscape.
    Thank you.
Title:
What Do Landscapes Tell Us About Our Culture? | Linnea Sando | TEDxHelena
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
08:54

English subtitles

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