Sometimes I hate what people do to the world, but I realize I am part of the problem.
I had a friend give me a theory about what humans are for, and their place on earth that has been ringing around in my head now for a couple of decades, please have a read.
http://planetarybargains.com/Blog/mother-earth-theory/interesting
Do you ever feel like a self hating human ?
Is it in our nature to destroy?
Do you like the wild or prefer the tamed and very limited nature in a city?
I think as humans we could live much simpler lives but we choose to destroy the earth in order to make our lives better. If you think about all the nice wooden furniture we have all around our homes, most of it is really not necessary. But we cut down enormous amounts of trees to make it. How about all the printing and photocopying we do, then throw all the paperwork in the bin? trees again. I could go on and on but I think you get the gist of what I'm trying to say.
Sometimes when I watch TV programs of the people living in jungles and their cultures, they don't have homes built like our homes, they kill and eat for the day (using every part of the animal for food, clothes, medicine etc) so they don't need to store huge amounts of food or have vast amounts of waste. They use the jungle resources as and when necessary, and they seem to survive quite well. It makes me feel a bit sick to see that a lot of what we actually do is destroying our own earth.
After all that, man wants to occupy Mars or another planet!
I like the wild but to be honest, prefer to live in the tame, most probably because that's all I know.
Thank for the comment RPD,
Do you have a vision of your utopia?
If I had my way I would live in a house on stilts above the jungle that looked out over wild lands.
@PB Scott.
A nice wooden cabin ( I know, it's wood again), surrounded by greenery, not too close to anything wild as I don't want to live in fear. Fresh water that you can collect yourself, fresh fruit and veg that you can grow yourself. I love meat but don't want to hunt for it, so maybe have a butchers shop somewhere down the road. I want people around but I also like the peace of a country feel.
It has to be a warm climate, so I don't have the hassle of layers of clothing to deal with. Oh, I want to see the stars at night, and have a telescope in the back garden. I want dogs too, about 2 or maybe 3. So much more.... but I wont' get any of it :(
Left a comment on that one to watch Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
But yeah, honestly, I do feel like 'part of the problem' sometimes, because humans are devastating this planet. Not only that, the governments are making it harder and harder to leave (since the US pretty much dismantled the whole NASA idea).
Worse and worse things happen all the time, and instead of trying to find a solution, people argue about politics and government's role. I just don't get it.... There was a movie called State's Evidence, which is VERY hard to watch, but at the end of it, has a wonderful message. "Either wake up, or something worse will happen, and this cycle will continue, until you do."
I sometimes just stare at the TV, in disbelief of the ignorance pouring out of it....
You asked RPD, but my vision of utopia is pretty close to yours. Me and Lisa watch "International House Hunters" all the time, drooling over how cheep some places are to buy houses. Costa Rica and the like. There was one town in Italy where a medieval style apartments were selling for like $5000, and we are still contemplating that one....
--Dan
http://abrainlessnod.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the comment B.N., yes I have watched Spirits Within it is a very interesting film.
I have not seen States Evidence, is it worth a watch ? I wonder if you have you ever seen the Zeitgeist Addendum, I have a copy of it here at the bottom of the post
http://planetarybargains.com/Blog/we-all-need-something-to-do/interesting
It comes up with all sorts of solutions to all our problems at the end, though they are maybe not all practical, it is very thought provoking.
@PBScott, I have not seen it but will try to make time. State's Evidence is worth a watch, but just be warned its a rough movie. It gave me a far better understanding why kids can shoot up schools, and how the break down happens. It also has powerful messages. (IE. a girl who wants to commit suicide turns to the camera after getting some pills from the medicine cabinet and explains to parents that maybe they shouldn't leave this stuff were kids can get them....) I watched the movie at a film festival, and checked the website almost weekly for a couple of years to see when it was going to be released on DVD, and when it finally was, I bought it first day.
@Rumpunch Drunk - We should move there and get some other blogger friends and have a blogger commune there.
This is the kind of topic that should be discussed more widely, although perhaps you misled people with the title. We are making a mess of this planet, although after almost 50 years of trying to convince people that this is the case I tend nowadays to approach the subject with resignation. This is my (pessimistic) rundown of the problem:
http://dennishodgson.blogspot.com/2011/06/future-imperfect.html
There is an interesting concept in ecology: the carrying capacity of an environment with respect to a particular species. It is calculated on the basis of available resources, and it is usually in equilibrium, but, as you would expect, if it is exceeded there would be consequences, usually a catastrophic population decline. Has Homo sapiens exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth? Do we know what that carrying capacity is? As a species, we haven't any more guarantee of survival than had the dinosaurs.
I did not mean to mislead anyone with the title, the whole Blog post is not very direct and is a very round about way of for me trying to get people to think about the real problem.
I feel people have gotten so stuck on carbon emissions that they forgot to realize all the other things that are going on which there can be no debate about. Namely the massive use of resources that technology continues to make us better at exploiting.
I read through your blog post, and I would say that with the rise in population and the spread of consumerism/capitalism around the globe, at this rate there will be no future. Something has got to give. The easiest solution to me would be education and contraceptives, as well as much better conservation and management of our resources. Solar ovens for instance can be used to create the energy we need as well as purify any water we might want, but nobody ever want to talk about such things and there is no money to be made on them. I have been meaning to write a post about them.
Even I agree with dennis. The topic you gave is kind of misleading.
But anyways, I feel every one should be tamed a little because nobody will be able to survive in exact wildness. We are so much addicted to this lifestyle that changing it completely is impossible. Although its no bad going into the nature's lap but these days we have so many important people in life who stay far away from us and therefore we cannot completely banish ourselves from "hating our selves" (as the topic goes)...
WARNING: my response will probably wander off into several other topics because that is how my mind works.
I must partially and respectfully disagree with you Princess. We can exist in exact wilderness. Long ago, before the fine homes and technology we did it! We survived it. Cave moms with their little cave babies is a fine example. If we had to we could do it again.
However I agree with you that we have become "addicted to this lifestyle". Whatever would we do without our Kindles? God forbid we have to actually pick up our books. Without our cell phones? Heavens, we may actually have to have face to face conversations. The horror. This can go on and on. I'll stop here on this point. You get the idea.
Some people would do better in a situation in the wild. For example, the tribes that still live in the jungle to this day. We in western civilization would not fare as well though. Take for example the occupation of America (think the story of Pocahantas, everyone knows that one) half the people died from cold, starvation, and illness. We were accustomed to a more accommodating lifestyle.
However, my cousin's family would probably do fine. Her husband has proven he could keep his family well nourished and taken care of. America's economic situation is deplorable. When he was laid off of work he had no way to support his family. It took him months to find a new job. He hunted. They ate deer and rabbit and vegetables my cousin grew in a garden. They have a grape vine and a plum tree, so they even had fruit. They heated their home with an old wood stove. I admire their drive to survive. Yes, I believe he would do fine if a catastrophe were to cut us off from all of our comforts.
See, I told you I would stray off topic. . . .
In answering to your questions:
Sometimes I am self-hating
The fact that humans have been described as the cancer of the planet implies yes.
I prefer the tame because I do not believe I would be one of the survivors in the wild. However, I don't prefer city - I prefer country living. Much nicer neighbors, cleaner air, no police sirens. . . .
I hate too myself. I think we must live a part of time in our life like the film Fight Clup :) We must lose everything first.
Oh God, Natasha... You kind of contradicted in both of your statements, so that I had to recheck if both the posts were from same person. Lolz!
But that's what I said, that little taming is not bad.. Kind of a country living.
It wasn't meant to be contradictory. I just meant that we, as human beings, could adapt and survive in the wilderness. I, however, would probably die from starvation or stupidity within the first two weeks.
Do you see the problems of us destroying the world as our lifestyle? Could we not just use solar energy with things such as solar furnaces to power our vehicles, could we not just shop less and use things until they no longer work until upgrading? Do people really need someone to cut down old growth rainforest to turn it into paper for income tax papers to be filed away forever and read by nobody?
I do not think we need to change our houses, or the way we get around, we can still have computers, air conditioning, internet, TVs and hot and cold running water. We just need to change away from fossil fuels, and old growth lumber for our furniture.
