# were native americans really more in touch with nature?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-native-americans-really-more-in-touch-with-nature/77160>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 20, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-native-americans-really-more-in-touch-with-nature/77160 "2001-08-20T16:03:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-native-americans-really-more-in-touch-with-nature/77160/61 "2001-08-30T16:50:29Z")

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Just as a follow up, there’s a big debate among the Cherokee Nation right now. They’ve decided to plant a lobolly pine plantation on part of the reservation land, to bring in profit, and some people are protesting it.

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**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-native-americans-really-more-in-touch-with-nature/77160/62 "2001-08-30T16:53:36Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kingpengvin \*  
> \*\*I think treating each group of Natives as a whole is unfair in this discussion, as there were several nations, with their own level of civilization and population size. To say all Natives were this way or that way is oversimplifying the case. \*\*

I would say you made a very important point, here…

> [@](#):
>
> [A prime example was their crop rotation, and variety appraoch while the early European settles tended to plant single staple and burn out the land.\*\*

Not a good example. Crop rotation was universal and actually the only way to cultivate land without quickly exhausting it before fertilizers came into wide use (18th-19th century, if I’m not mistaken).

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**Author:** ![dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-native-americans-really-more-in-touch-with-nature/77160/63 "2001-08-31T18:33:10Z")

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There seems to be an acceptance that ‘being in touch with nature’ involves some kind of conservation type thing.

I can’t think of any species ( including humans ) that limit their number by choice, isn’t it usually a lack of resource or competition.

From what I have read most primitive cultures operated a ‘kill until gone’ policy on food as it was easier than farming.

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