This paper explores the need to balance nature and culture in practice and theory.  Around the turn of the century, three landscapes in Southern California became unbalanced and collapsed:  Palmdale—which, it should be noted, is not the same as present-day Palmdale—the Garden of Eden, and the Cahuilla village Rincon.  A study of neither culture nor environment alone can explain what occurred in this region.  Rather, both elements must be integrated.  This paper offers a framework for understanding the failure of these landscapes, and similar failures throughout the American West.