Response to McKibben's podcast

In response to Bill McKibben’s “Eaarth” podcast, the fact that the modern human population has any understanding of the effects climate and infrastructure carries against the world is very little.  The podcast clearly states, “Relentless growth is fundamentally altering the environment.”  This growth may be seen as a problem to some, as it does not fulfill the needs that people have for the future of this nation, but to some the growth may produce a place for the better.  In order to save ourselves from the mess this nation is in, McKibben suggests converting back to a distributed economy.  By doing so, there could be an increase in resource consumption and waste creation, alternatively leading to continued growth that is the satisfaction everyone is looking for.  The natural phenomenon’s in the environment are processes that occur on or around a daily basis, but ones that humans fail to recognize to that degree.  So goes the same for the economy.  What this population does not realize is that the activities that take place, such as infrastructure, happens on such a common basis that the important factors of the environment, such as resources, are lost in the midst of everything.  Although growth is intentional and pursued, McKibben suggested that growth may not actually be growth every step of the way.  Growth can be achieved by keeping activity and the economy at a neutral level as long as there is room for continued growth.  The bioregional quiz allows the population to focus on these factors that are not as important.

Pollution

Environmental issues have grown largely over the past several decades due to human interactions and activities.  One of these that Roderick Nash mentioned in
“Island Civilization” is pollution.  It seems that we, as humans, take the world we have created (as far as keeping it clean and prosperous) for granted.  Is that acceptable?  In today’s society, pollution is acceptable to a degree, just not until major damage is done.  What we do not realize is that each little bit adds up, and eventually turns into a major problem.  Although our society has come to accept the fact that this type of environmental damage is much harder to control than something such as deforestation, there is still much that could be done on a regular basis to prevent such things from worsening.  Essentially, the issue of pollution will contribute to the idea of “island civilization” in the sense that it will be reduced in significant amounts by secluding humans.  Pollution also leads to other factors that could essentially become a huge problem.  The fear of health risks for both animals and humans is a major concern and one that people are more willing to pursue solutions to rather than simply pollution towards the environment.

            "As you see forest loss continue, as you see the depletion of rivers, you are undercutting the foundation for economic development in those countries," says the CNN news article related to pollution.  Third world countries, for example, are a prime example of increased health risks due to pollution, loss of natural resources, and the depletion of forest because of the lack of resources.  Due to pollution, these nations are at risk for the proper development and safety needed.  I think that if the idea of “island civilization” were to be implemented, pollution would be cut back and even diminished in some regions.  It comes down to the simple solution that humans are selfish.  We have to realize our actions cause this damage to the environment and that it has to take our actions to prevent it.

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-05-15/world/world_europe_wwf-living-planet-report_1_poor-nations-countries-footprint?_s=PM:EUROPE

Island Civilization

Island Civilization creates a mental picture of an idea that will intuitively provide a better atmosphere for generations to come.  Roderick Nash emphasizes the importance of the wilderness from the beginning, and as human nature, both physically and mentally has changed, so have our motives toward progressing as a whole union.  The wilderness was not proven to be effective and important to the lives of humans until change had been made.  Once gone, the realization kicked in and there were very few options available as to how it could be fixed at the time.  Roderick Nash makes sure we all understand that the environment is not only significant in general, but that it’s significant to us.  Without that understanding, change cannot be made large enough to have an effect on the entire world population.  Nash explains that people are now starting to realize the environment is a huge part of our daily lives, and that what we do is not always the most important.  Writers such as Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Albert Schweitzer stressed the importance of preservation.  They wrote about ways to conserve and respect the environment, and by doing so their findings and personal views began to appear in modern culture and spread all through the human race.  Nature preservations, national parks, and environmental acts giving species rights of their own opened the eye of the public to a certain degree.  Although the new research brought out was encouraging in hopes of a brighter future, Nash indicated that there is still damage done/being done to the environment and problems still reside amongst our existence with nature.  If this negativity persists, in a century wilderness could disappear and the scattered remnants left behind would be all that was left.  From this point on, fixing this problem is up to us.  Nash explains that we have an impact on only a small portion of the world, but in order to do even that, we must become “self-willed.”  We haven’t done the rest of the world any favor by creating the world we live in today; our technological advances and creations have put a damper on the environment, so it is now our time to use these advances to create something worthwhile.  It is what we do with technology that will better our future.

Nash’s article inspired me in a way that really caught my attention.  Approaching the environmental impact in the way he did sparked my curiosity as to how our far future may be.  I think the ideas posed in the article regarding a future plan of improvement for the environment all seem slightly distant from today’s society.  The thought of concentrating humans in various areas around the world is so different than what we are all used to that it could not be implemented anytime soon.  I feel that as of now, Island Civilization is far too advanced for the world we live in, but quite possibly in the Fourth Millennium a change so drastic could be an option.  I was inspired by Nash’s response to using the technological advances in society to create a way to make our environment a better place.  We need these thoughts captured by the public eye in order to make a change, and by publishing and making a confident, valid statement there is hope that such an idea will be promised.  I do agree with quite a few of Nash’s statements, although there is much time needed and a dramatic increase in human motivation to complete such a task.