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?
When I watched Before the Flood, I also was struck by the futility of spending all this time and money and technology just to overcome nature for a few years. Bill McKibben addresses that in Eaarth, too. He spends a lot of time talking about the cost of trying to keep supporting all the infrastructures we've built.
ReplyDeleteIt seems silly, doesn't it? But if you live in that area, I guess you wouldn't want to abandon your home. Meanwhile, some island nations are trying to relocate their entire population.