Feeding our Consumption …
The current condition of our collective culture is not sustainable. Let me repeat, as a whole our culture is not sustainable.
And I’m not talking about sustainable products, sustainable energy sources, sustainable grocery bags … I’m talking about our culture.
The condition of culture is up for grabs. And it’s time for the people to take it back. Take it back from giant corporations that are wealthier than most countries. Take it back from governments that are fueled by economic churn, and that lay at the feet of these giant corporations.
We must not put the salvation of our culture in the hands of technological advancement. We need broad-based, social change. Technology can compound the problem instead solve the problem. About one hundred years ago the streets of New York City had some serious issues … Major traffic congestion, sanitation probelms, and polution. All of this was thanks to the hundreds of thousands of horse drawn buggies. But when the first automobiles showed up on the roads, hope came along with the car. People anticipated that cars would help with traffic congestion and keep horse manure off the streets of Manhattan. While the later is true, the issues with polution were only compounded as were the traffic jams!
Technological advancements do us very little good … Wind power, electric cars, orbital satellite solar power. What’s the point? Yes, we (the U.S.) stand to relinquish our dependency on foreign oil, but these technological advancements will not sustain our culture. These technologies still feed our collective consumption. They simply postpone the inevitable.
And yes, recycling is important. However, it has very little value on its own. Recycling assuages the guilt of our over-consumptive nature. Recycling must come in step. Reduce. Re-use. Recycle. It is important to fully realize that everything needs to fall in step. And our culture has many, many steps that need to be taken. It’s time to start!
Subscribe
24. July 2009 at 09:31
“Technological advances do us very little good”…You have no clue! Technology is what allows you to have your website and your career. Without it, you would be stuck scribing on stone tablets. As for technology in transportation, your argument is baseless. The next time someone is critically injured, tell them they have to be taken to the hospital on a horse-drawn carriage. Or one step further, without technology helicopters would not exist. Critically ill people would not be able to be transferred to a critical care facility. Now, lets talk science. Examining your horse argument over the car shows a lack of thought. If you were to replace every car with a horse, Manhattan would be so polluted with manure you would never be able to walk on the street, not to mention the overwhelming amount of food supplies it would take to feed such a fleet of horses. Horses digestive process involves fermentation of feed which produces methane (a greenhouse gas). The manure that is left ferments more and puts off more methane. You would also have to create huge breeding facilities that would make an automobile factory look “green” by comparison. Now place your ideas on a global scale and you have a huge mess.
The answer you seek is not to shun technology, but to embrace it. Rather than going backwards, let us move forward and create new technologies to produce low emissions transportation. Just like the creativity you have to produce this site, others have to produce new technologies to benefit humanity.
24. July 2009 at 09:51
Austin … Thanks very much for the comment. Detailed and specific. I like it! And I appreciate the feedback.
First, I fully understand the value of technology, as well as realize the benefits and luxuries it affords.
I would like to clarify the main point here …Our culture can not place its sole salvation in technological advancements. Our culture needs balance. And most technological advancement feeds the consumptive nature of our culture.
My point is that technology alone can not solve our problems, the condition our culture must shift away from its over-consumptive nature. With a shift in the condition of our culture, combined with technological advancements, our world would be a much different place. And then would humanity truly benefit.
The current condition of our culture was crafted, and crafted with careful intent in order to exponentially increase our economic stature.
I recommend watching the following two videos regarding the over-arching point I’m trying to make:
1) Century of the Self http://tr.im/tSP1
2) The Story of Stuff http://tr.im/tSPv
Cheers … nb