I have a bleak vision of a post-apocalyptic earth much like the one portrayed in Wall-E. It's an empty earth, disturbed only by dust storms and earthquakes, inhabited by the debris of what had been an honest but destructive attempt at civilization.
The prevailing type of junk is technology. Rather, what used to be technology. Cellphones that don't ring, computers that don't run, trains, planes, and automobiles permanently grounded and corroded by occasional acid rain. Components without purpose. Piles and piles of this stuff all over, underwater (tankers), and in the air (satellites). Held in place by gravity, shuffled and disturbed by the elements.
The earth which has existed for billions of years quite splendidly without any intervention on our part will exist, I believe, for billions more. And these things that we made can go on without us—though these days, we act like we can't go on without them.
So what we're really saving when we save the earth is not the earth but our way of life. When we reduce, reuse, and recycle, what we have to understand that ultimately, it's not our "children's children" that benefit (who are those people anyway?) but us. By exercising caution, and using prudence in everything we do, we can survive anything. Maybe even ourselves.
The prevailing type of junk is technology. Rather, what used to be technology. Cellphones that don't ring, computers that don't run, trains, planes, and automobiles permanently grounded and corroded by occasional acid rain. Components without purpose. Piles and piles of this stuff all over, underwater (tankers), and in the air (satellites). Held in place by gravity, shuffled and disturbed by the elements.
The earth which has existed for billions of years quite splendidly without any intervention on our part will exist, I believe, for billions more. And these things that we made can go on without us—though these days, we act like we can't go on without them.
So what we're really saving when we save the earth is not the earth but our way of life. When we reduce, reuse, and recycle, what we have to understand that ultimately, it's not our "children's children" that benefit (who are those people anyway?) but us. By exercising caution, and using prudence in everything we do, we can survive anything. Maybe even ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment