[at-l] Semi OT - Shakespeare

[cballs at verizon.net (Curtis Balls)]

Technology will remain important, critical, to helping us solve many of our
environmental crises.  Technology will not be the most important element
though.  A change in human attitudes will have to take place along with it,
and that will be the hardest part.  Human greed and lust for self-serving
power and domination over all living things, including each other, are
pretty entrenched and not surprisingly we have economic and governmental
models that fuel them more than temper them.   We're pretty darn clever
animals and right now we're winning the evolutionary sweepstakes, but unless
we mend our ways there's no guarantee we won't end up the loser in the long
run.  The biosphere, which made us, is more powerful.  We've begun to learn
only fairly recently, broadly in the past 100 years and more acutely within
the past 40, the impact our technologies/practices have had, are having and
will no doubt continue to have on the biosphere.  Developing new
technologies, applying old ones in novel ways and stopping some all together
will give us mixed blessings.  We're aren't about to give it up, nor should
we.  I don't hear RoksnRoots arguing the Luddite line.  His reaction to
Jim's jingoism only pointed out the obvious.  The operative phrase of his
for me was, "no matter who advances first," which of course is correct.
We're all one flesh.  First we have to stop the dissembling, acknowledge the
hand writing on the wall that we're up against the wall and then agree to
work together, Japanese, Indians, Chinese, Americans, French, Brazilians,
Inuit, et. al.,  intelligently to solve the situation.  Few, if any, of the
solutions will be perfect but we should try.  You may say I'm a dreamer but
I'm not the only one.
 
 
 
 
 
  _____  

From: at-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:at-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Jim Bullard
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 8:19 AM
To: RoksnRoots@aol.com; AT-L@Backcountry.net
 
At 12:25 AM 8/29/2003 -0400, RoksnRoots@aol.com wrote:


In a message dated 8/28/2003 10:23:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
spiriteagle99@hotmail.com writes:

[Jim]
I would personally object to the Japanese or the Indians or the Chinese 
being the ones to take that
"next step" because my country, my people, my society lacked the will, the 
drive - the cojones - to do so.
 
[RnR]
      I'm sorry, but my translation of this is that only foolish people who
don't understand progress are for preserving lands to protect the AT. My
spin on it is, since mankind hasn't ever evolved to the point of concerting
an effort towards an inclusive MacKaye-type nature preservation ethic, that
indeed such preservation activities are true "progress" in its purest form.
What some people fail to understand is that, no matter who advances first,
if they burn up their land and resources from underneath themselves, it
won't matter what they acheived. Perhaps the fastest route "off the planet"
is by means of intelligent self-preservation...



[Saunterer]
Not every advance of science, technology or civilization is a threat to the
AT corridor or other wild areas. I'm in favor of preservation but I also
believe that intelligent progress will favor both mankind and wilderness. To
assume the worst result of any future progress is, as Jim Owen said, fear. I
prefer hope to fear. We do need an attitude adjustment in this country
however. Away from bigger and centralized = better, to what E.F. Schumacher
called "appropriate technology" (Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People
Mattered). We have the intelligence and ability to implement sustainable
progress not only at home, but around the world. The will that I find
lacking is the political will to say no to solutions that favor the bigger
is better approach and yes to solutions that are less intrusive on the
environment. BTW - How many saw the 60 Minutes segment on Dean Kamen's
latest project? He's using a sterling engine to generate electricity *and*
purify water, using any available fuel, all in unit about the size of a
large suitcase. I'm hoping that is ready for market when I'm ready to buy a
place deep in the woods.

Saunterer
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