Golf Courses or Savannas
My previous blog exploring humanity's preference for savannas, the landscape where humans first evolved into a distinctive species, has stimulated some further reflections.
Compare golf courses and savannas - which both offer park-like settings with short grass and scattered large trees. This is an intriguing comparison since the aesthetics of these settings are similar, but their growing patterns are different. One relies upon humans imposing chemical fertilizers/mowing/weeding/watering to provide divertisment for wealthy folks with leisure time. The other is created by, and thrives because of, the maintenance and reproduction regimens that animals perform to perpetuate their species. Does our evolutionary advantage include recognizing the artificiality of one and the natural vitality of the other?
Regarding the evolutionary origin of our landscape preferences, we can add ‘vistas’ which provide the viewer with two advantages: anticipating danger and acquiring resources. People who do not defend themselves or gather their own resources are still willing to pay extra for premium properties the come with a view!Then, there are many who feel most atuned to the ocean. They may be recalling life’s first emergence from the teeming caustic waters that encircled the Earth in primeval times!