Ishmael: Final Thoughts

"With Gorilla Gone, Will There Be Hope for Man."

The last final chapters of this text, bring everything full circle. Ishmael starts by asking the narrator to define culture, and we are able to see the differences between leaver and taker culture. We see that the leavers evolve just like other organisms and pass on the ways of life to next generations, While in taker culture, we take each lesson learned before and are always tweaking because, it is believed that there is only one way of living.

What I found interesting, is after learning the full story and how we got here, Ishmael's solution to the narrator is he too must be a teacher because it takes the changing of minds to change actions. It was in this point in the text, that I understood why he had said that was the point most people quit. I find myself suffering from the same frustration, when you are trying to help people see how trapped they are. I think its hard to just offer education as the solution, when many of us see how quickly time is running out and understanding in order to change someone's mind they must be willing to change.

Maybe that's Ishmael's point, to show that even though we are in a prison we don't know we are in,  there is a small part of us that knows something has to change. We just need to find the right teachers at the right time and we could have a thinking revolution.

I am reminded of a discussion, we had in class concerning environmental psychology. All the examples that were given of how learning about how people think could move us towards a more sustainable Earth. The truth is, that is the problem now is the language environmentalists use is either too alarming it is ignored. Or, its not said at the right time and again it is ignored. I read this research article focusing on pages 445-449. I found it helpful in understanding how to even communicate the things I'm learning in this class to other people so we can have smart dialogue.

I think, if we all adapt the stance of meeting people where they are, and understanding we were all once selfish or ignorant of the issues present today. There might be hope for man, with gorilla gone.

Ishmael Chapter 9 "Limitless Growth"

Tree of Knowledge

Growth seems like an enduring theme throughout our class discussions. In Eaarth, McKibben discusses how we need to change that mentality in order to save earth and be able to survive the new conditions.  Ishmael goes on to build on how our mentality of growth came to be, through a lot of mythology.

Summed up, Adam is the cultivator of our culture, tempted by Eve (life). He then eats from the tree of knowledge, which more than allows for his distinction between good and evil. The fruit gives Adam the power to deem what is given the opportunity to live and to die. He then has two sons, Cain ( the farmer) and Abel ( shepherd). Cain kills Abel, setting up the replication for takers to kill takers in order to expand.

Cattle

The above culture foundation, is what we continue to build on. Move farther out, grow more crops in order to keep ourselves growing. The other thing which Ishmael touched on was the idea of curbing our population and how we keep this on the agenda for tomorrow. Which I believe is a metaphor for how we respond to the urgency of sustainability and how we keep pushing it for the agenda of tomorrow because what continues to matter is our continuous growth.

The last thing he touched on, that is near and dear to my heart. The growth of an abundance of resources to support different areas. Ishmael gives the example of agriculture in Nebraska supporting the food system of some country in Africa. Which is true, developing countries devote masses of land in order to supply to the needs of both luxury and necessary foods for developed countries. Take a read here,and see how we have to increase agriculture by 60% because the world is still starving.

Ishmael "Where do we belong?"

So we are back to reading "Ishmael", as he has already gone on to reveal how we got here. We have already discovered that man, believes the story that the earth was created for man, and man was meant to conquer it. We then go on to learn that man was meant to make earth a paradise =, but because we are inherently flawed we just mess up. One of the reasons we keep messing up is we believe that we are the exception to the law, we defy all laws.

The powerful example Ishmael gives to show this, is our understanding of the laws of gravity and aerodynamics. How we believe because we have made planes, we are defying the laws of gravity when we are simply supporting it, just using another element of support.

Now we are free falling, and there are those who are seeing we are about to crush, even though we have so much power and intelligence that built the aircraft but if we don't abandon it. We will crush and everything will crush with us because we are not the exception to the rule. This made me think of our past discussions on technological innovation and how that has helped or hurt us.

Don't we always think that technology has made us overcome the constraints of the earth, How different;y would we look at technological solutions if we understood that they didn't relieve us of these constraints but just allowed us to endure them comfortably? For example in the movie "Before the flood"rising sea levels in Miami is brought up and all the technology that is being used to keep levels from wiping out real estate. The mayor goes on to say that these solutions would only last 5-10 years and then something else would have to be done.

In class we also discussed sustainability, and the different views of sustainability. How different would it be if we looked at sustainability as something to attain, not a law to bypass?

Ishmael: The story of the Takers

"The world was made for man, and man was made to rule it"

Chapters 3 and 4 of Ishmael basically uncover the beginning and middle part of the takers story. How did they become takers, how did it begin? The character and Ishmael uncover it is because the premise is, creation was not complete until man was created and therefore nature needs man to conquer it.

I found this particularly interesting, since we are in a class titled "Our Place In Nature", the first two chapters make you ask yourself whether you are a taker or a leaver? Now I found myself wondering what role do I play in nature, what role do I believe I should be playing and what do I actually do? Ishmael reiterates often how this culture story has been told so much, that we don't stop to think about what it means.

Alexander the Great

This passage made me think of my little 11 year old brother, who is being told countless times that as humans we are the epitome of creation, in whichever way he looks. We are constantly told to conquer and that's all our culture is built on. Alexander the Great is revered because he was a great conqueror, "I came.I saw. I conquered".

That mentality is what we apply to nature everyday without even questioning it. It is why like McKibben says we don't question growth, we just do it. How would we look at the world differently if we just saw creation as just that, there was no hierarchy but separate niches that needed to coexist together? I also wonder what is the story of the leavers? 

Eaarth: Lightly, Carefully, Gracefully

The closing chapter of Eaarth concentrates on three things if changed could help us reach the  "350" mark in time to survive this new world. Those three things are agriculture, fossil fuels and the internet.

I would like to concentrate on agriculture. When I still lived in my home country Uganda, every holiday we would visit my grandmother in the village. In our culture wealth is typically not only measured in money, in children, livestock and most importantly land. My grandfather is a son of a tribal chief and therefore had a lot of land,s o every holiday when all his grandchildren were around we would all work in the gardens, whether it was weeding, planting or harvesting.

McKibben describes that in order to survive on this new Eaarth we will have to move from mono culture farming to more small variety farming but this old new way of farming, needs something important people. He says " For one thing, all the kinds of innovative farming I've described share one feature: they require more people than conventional farming. Not one Kip Cullers in his mighty machine, but lots and lots of folks down on the ground. For a hundred years we've substituted oil for people, which is why we have more prisoners than farmers in the United States; now we need to go the other way"( McKibben 174-75).

The first part of this excerpt brings back the nostalgia of old traditional farming, where farmers and their families would farm small pieces of land for their own use and to bring income into their homes. In the rest of the chapter McKibben talks about the great yields that come from variety farming, higher resistance to pests, the nutrients that aren't taken from the soil. These benefits are only enjoyed when we switch from machinery and back to the use of our hands that are able to feel and see the tiny details that in Eaarth are very important. The more we can help the soil to retain more water and nutrients, the longer we can survive and industrial mono culture farming will not do it.

The last part of the excerpt " For a hundred years we've substituted oil for people...." this clause really caught my attention, it not only applies to farming, but our everyday lives. McKibben shows how we have replaced neighboring, farming, etc with machinery. I also thing McKibben is trying to discredit the idea that science and technology will dig us out of this mess. They will, but we need people; and equating people to machinery is to show us that we need lots of people, efficiently working people. So yes, technology is important but people are equally important and only if all work together will we be able to survive this new earth.

This book had a lot of shock value, as far as the numerical evidence but it is a great start to a solution. McKibben's idea of less growth and more maintenance, drives home the idea of sustainability. For him to call this chapter "Lightly, Carefully, Gracefully"is a pattern and method to practice. There is no abrupt change, it is a change of heart, mind and methodology in order to ensure our survival.

Ishmael 1&2 "Nazi Germany and Nature"

"They've been given an explanation of how things came to be this way, and this stills their alarm"(Quinn, 44).

I am a first time reader of the book "Ishmael" by David Quinn, I was in shock when the text started off pretty normal with a middle aged white male questioning an ad and then all of a sudden he is taking a life changing course with a Gorilla, yes a Gorilla! Which has so many meanings, one especially being that primates are used to symbolize "savageness" and white men symbolize civilization. Here, we have a Gorilla teaching a White man about the fall of man.

Ancient Civilization

There are so many important things brought up in these first two chapters. I want to concentrate on the parallel drawn between Hitler and Germany versus People and Mother Nature. Ishmael talks about a "story" that Hitler tells his fellow Aryans about what has been stolen from them, and what they need to do to get it back. His tale went on to create one of the most horrific events in human civilization, the holocaust. To this day, people are still baffled on how people could mindlessly allow it to happen. That's the point to us it's just a tale on supposed German victory to them it was a story meant to be turned to reality. How does this relate to us? Well Ishmael tells us humans are divided into takers and leavers. In the story of Germany takers are Hitler and Germany, leavers are everybody else. Takers have convinced themselves and continue to spread this "story"about who we are, and why we can do the things we do. While leavers which also include Mother Nature wonder how people aimlessly allow such horrific events to continue within their communities with no alarm.

The story hasn't been revealed yet, but my personal guess is, it's a story of growth and conquest one that dates back to the story of Creation whether you believe it or not.This story has huge implications on how our society runs today. We just started this story, so what are you a "taker" or a "leaver"?

"Backing Off "

So we have finally entered the "hope" part in this text. McKibben continues on his theme concerning the dangers of growth and what we can do to fix this. What I love about this chapter, is it more than just solutions. McKibben really tries to connect with the skeptics of climate change. Given that a skeptic is reading this book, McKibben does not suggest that we all live off the grid or the states secede the Union but gives them of examples of what others have done. The most notable examples I read were that of Vermont and the little town in Massachusetts.

Communal living among Villages in African countries

Co housing in European countries

Both states show a way to live communally which is McKibben's point in this chapter, how different would society, especially growth oriented societies behave if we increased national pride in our communities. Not the, perfect lawns and identical house living but where you actually knew your member and get this....actually shared things. Communal living is not a new not even to the United States but it is practiced in several other countries such as Denmark or third world countries where it is a form of survival.

While reading this, I began to ask myself why is it to some that being more successful means we need to reduce our dependency on each other?Or why sharing things among ourselves is a sign of underdevelopment? It seems like a practical way of living and increases the efficiency of distribution of living. For most people who aren't used to that type of living, for example people in the United States, start with communal dinners or just share a bag of sugar. See how it goes 😃