The initial results of my survey proved to be a poor indicator of the impact of group identity on the decision making processes of an individual concerned with sustainable living.  In an effort to remedy this, my survey has been revised and re-posted in order to gather more useful data.  The format of several questions has been changed in order to make responding to the survey a much simpler process.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QH9Y5S7

Gary Snyder Part 2

In Gary Snyder's poems, "The Dead by the Side of the Road," "Tomorrow's Song," and "What Happened Here Before," he addresses the issues of human invasion and destruction of natural habitats, lack of consideration for nature, and the notion that humans own nature.  Roadkill piles up on the side as highways and interstates have been built through previously undisturbed areas.  Plants and animals do not have a representative in congress.  Taxation on a piece of land is held in higher regard than the natural state of that land.  Yet with all of these issues, Gary Snyder has a vision of hope.  The hope that we can make progress away from fossil fuels.  The hope that we can live in harmony with nature instead of pretending to be above it. The hope for a better, more natural world.

Gary Snyder

In his poem's in Turtle Island, Gary Snyder explores the themes of ideology, place, and awareness.  All of these themes are brought together by being used in reference to the environment.  Vegetarianism and awareness of the environment are brought into play through the theme of ideology in reference to Buddhist teachings and how we should live like Siddhartha Gautama in the poem "One Should Not Talk to a Skilled Hunter About What is Forbidden to the Buddha."  In his poem "Bedrock," Snyder discusses place and awareness as he describe in great detail his surroundings.  In his poem "LMFBR," Snyder discusses awareness once again but in a different aspect.  He discusses awareness of the damage the humans are causing to the environment.

Lack of Awareness

The lack of awareness of my own environment has become quite apparent after listening to Bill McKibben's podcast and taking a bioregional quiz.  Learning of the damage that has been done to the environment and my lack of awareness of my own environment has had a profound impact on my desire to study and protect the environment.  Lacking awareness of simple things such as the flow from water source to tap, the composition of the soil, how many days until the moon is full, and even the native flora and fauna is a terribly easy trap to fall into in modern society.  Alleviating this burden of ignorance is an intention that is now progressing towards the front of my consciousness.  As discussed by Bill McKibben this ignorance is a contributing factor to the earth's current altered state.  As society is alleviated of this ignorance of the local environment, progression towards renewable forms of energy and dispersed local agriculture becomes quite possible.

The Impact of Land Use and the Remedy of Island Civilization

          The prospect of an “island civilization” discussed in my previous post is a possible solution to the problems that human impact on the environment have caused. Usage of land is one of the biggest issues that an “island civilization” would be able to take care of. In an “island civilization” only a small portion of the planet would be affected by humans and the damage that has already been caused by the large scale agriculture necessary to sustain the world's grossly inflated population could be steadily remedied. Australia is a prime example of an area where land clearing, primarily used for agriculture, has harmed the environment due to the increased prevalence of dryland salinity. In an “island civilization” this would not be an issue as the world population would be roughly a quarter of its current size resulting in less agricultural demand and the reduced demand could be met through methods of using engineered vertical space for agricultural purposes rather than impacting a larger portion of the environment and thus contributing to greatly reduced land use.

Included below is more information on the global consequences of land use

More Information: http://landscape.forest.wisc.edu/courses/readings/Foley_etal_2005.pdf

Island Civilization: A Possible Solution

            In his work, Island Civilization, Roderick Frazier Nash discusses the prospect of humans changing their way of life as a whole in order to minimize their impact on nature. He proposes that humans live in small “islands” that were self-sufficient and minimized their impact on nature by being scattered throughout the world and only impacting a tiny portion of the planet. This plan would require the reduction of the human population to less than a quarter of its current size and the relocation of the remaining members of society, and through these two processes would in a way take away part of the freedom that the humanity as a whole currently enjoys.

            The prospect of Island Civilization is marvelous in theory and could very well be the solution to the problem of man destroying nature but I do not believe it is one that would work from a practical standpoint. As described by Nash, the rewards to transitioning to an Island Civilization would be great:

“The result could be the conservation biology dream. The frontier reappears, and this time it is permanent. Rivers are full of salmon and the deer and antelope play on the plains. The big predators are back too and, without human interference, perhaps evolving into some of the Pleistocene megafauna we never got to know. As we were before herding and agriculture, say 10,000 BC, humans in the year 3010 are once again good neighbors in the ecological community. Homo sapiens is healthy and enjoying its version of liberty and the pursuit of happiness and so are all the other components of the natural world.”

Despite the incredible gains that could be made for the whole of the planet, I still believe that a significant portion of humanity would be opposed to this change by the desire to protect their current freedoms and luxuries. Many freedoms would have to be given up and a prime example is given by Nash himself as he states, “If you wanted to ski you’d chose to live on the island built into, say, part of the Alps.” If someone enjoyed skiing but did not want to live on a mountain, then they would lose their ability to readily and easily ski. Due purely to the reduction of freedoms and the nature of man when proposed with the reduction of those freedoms, I do not consider the prospect of Island Civilization to be a practical solution.

            From a theoretical standpoint in which war, land conflicts, and border disputes are not present, the remaining human population embraces fully the consequences, good and bad, of Island Civilization, and all that remains of civilization is utopian in nature, the prospect of Island Civilization is a perfect solution with countless benefits. However, in a realistic society where there is resistance to change in some form, the prospect of Island Civilization is not a practical solution to the problem of mankind's ravaging of nature. In the future, if mankind as a whole has went through a form of enlightenment in which they have realized the severity with which mankind has destroyed nature, then Island Civilization may become a practical and very real solution to this problem. However, until this occurs there is not only the problem of mankind destroying nature, but mankind being too absorbed into the self in order to realize the destruction of nature and the prices of their luxuries. Another solution that is able to accommodate both those who are willing to sacrifice for a utopia and those who aren't may be found but until then, the nature of mankind changing to accommodate the transition to Island Civilization is the closest thing that exists to a solution to the issue of mankind destroying nature.