350 Project 2 Readings Paper

Its difficult to imagine living a life like the humans in "The Machine Stops" or continuing down our wasteful way until we destroy the planet. Each of the readings has a grim beginning but for project two I would like to stay positive. The two articles at the end do have a hopeful note.
 E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops” is an insane journey through a future filled with little human inaction, laziness and unhealthy worshiping of the Machine. In the introduction paragraph Paul Rajlich calls this piece “a chilling, short story masterpiece about the role of technology in our lives”. It's difficult for me to believe that this story was written in 1909. However, this shows the caution by humans regarding massive technology use. While reading this story I pictured the movie “Wall-E” from Pixar. In that movie the humans are fat, muscle-less blobs that do nothing. Unfortunately, this story still have relevance today because much of society is addicted to technology. Leading to a generation that is extremely reliant on it. The last couple paragraphs of the story is especially chilling. I can’t imagine not being able to function without technology like the humans featured. The idea that people died because of this is especially sobering. Such reliance on the Machine and the Book combined with the isolation everyone experiences is a great reminder of the harm technology can create.      

The Mother Jones article “50 Years from Now, What Will the World be Like” by Chip Ward is a sincere letter to the author’s grandchildren. He expresses his grief in the fact that his generation is knowingly destroying the planet, and it make my furious. For starter, that fact that we have respected scientist telling the population that we need to change our habits and no one in the older generations cares make me want to scream. However, what the author has to apologize for show a great insight to the mindset of the baby boomers and their children. For example, in the letter Ward states “We got hooked on faster-bigger-more and charged right over the carrying capacity of the planet” (page 2) and “It was handed down to us by our parents' generation so hammered by cataclysmic world wars and economic hardship that they armed themselves to the teeth and saw enemies everywhere. Their paranoia was understandable, but they passed their fears on to us and we should have seen through them” (page 3). This insight into the paranoia of a generation that lived in war and poverty shows their desire to want what Ward called “faster-bigger-more”. Baby boomers and their children are not the only ones that need to see beyond what's in front of them, Ward also reminds his grandchildren about the “industry of silly distractions” that we have become so accustom too.

Ward ends his letter with comforting words, “a better world is possible… Our salvation is found in each other, together” (page 6). It is these words that I want to use for my project, I hope that the generation I belong to will see beyond the “distractions” to insure a better, safer earth.

The final article dives into the psyche of the American people and how they interact with climate change. Author Naomi Klein discusses how we know we are causing harm, but we “are doubling down on the stuff that is causing the crisis in the first place” (page 3). It is interesting how Klein understands our relationship with climate change, stating “maybe we do look – really look – but then, inevitably, we seem to forget. Remember and then forget again. Climate change is like that; it’s hard to keep it in your head for very long. We engage in this odd form of on-again-off-again ecological amnesia for perfectly rational reasons. We deny because we fear that letting in the full reality of this crisis will change everything. And we are right” (page 3). Klein understands that climate change is not constantly on everyone’s mind, instead we get reminders throughout the day. Sadly, we have politician and corporations that affect policies about climate change, on top of the fact that much of the public is misled by these same agencies are keeping us from real life altering change.

Many people that have accepted climate change have come to the same consensus as Klein when she quoted climatologist Lonnie G Thompson about the threat, Klein states “It doesn’t get much clearer than that. And yet rather than responding with alarm and doing everything in our power to change course, large parts of humanity are, quite consciously, continuing down the same road” (page 10). This is extremely frustrating for me. I do not want to live in a “Water World”-like place, and I certainly do not what to rely on machines and computers to survive underground. Something must be done to stop the lack of interest and change taking place.