McKibben's Podcast

McKibben’s podcast gave clarity to many of the issues regarding this altered Earth. It seemed the audio focused more on the agriculture, farming aspect of the world. It informed the readers that less grains and grasses were being grown. People were also doing less fishing. The world was slowly but surely turning completely away from farming. It was stated that in 2010 only 1% of Americans were farming. At that time there were 2 times more prisoners than farmers. This of course isn’t a comparison to show greatness. More money is spent on food, because the food is being bought from far away and being shipped in. A way around this would be growing food more locally. Local could mean anything from ones town, state or even region as long as it wasn’t from across the world.

Environmental Issue

    One important environmental issue that contributes to the need of "island civilization" is pollution. More specifically though, pollution created by fossil fuels such as gasoline, oil, and coal. The industrial world relies heavily on these resources, regardless of their negative effect on Earth. China is a country that suffers greatly from these types of pollutants. Industrial pollution is even their most top killer. So it is an issue that needs to be addressed soon because of the many problems that come with it. In certain areas of the world the way this situation is handled or not handled varies depending on social class. The rich focuses on reducing the use of fossil fuels in their own community because they have the money and time to do so. Whereas the poor main focus is surviving day to day, not the condition of the planet. A more efficient solution to the pollution problem would be to find alternative resources that have a better impact on the planet such as wind, water and sun and actually try to make it available everywhere to save the ecosystem. The route that the world is going with fossil fuel pollution though isn't pleasant. Therefore, using the "island civilization" method will basically force the different social classes to work amongst themselves to come up with ways to reduce or stop fossil fuel pollution for the sake of their own islands, if not for the ecosystem itself.


More Information: http://ecological-problems.blogspot.com/2009/01/ecology-and-ecological-problems.html

Island Civilization

    In Island Civilization: a vision for human occupancy of Earth, Roderick Frazier Nash tells readers of his belief that society needs to think more broadly to include comprehensively society  as a whole. A strategy needed to be created for the Earth and ecosystem that will be successful in the fourth millennium. For the reason that up until now the success of civilization has seemed to destroy the wild. Uncontrolled environments were referred to as wilderness. However, whether an environment was controlled or not it still included a type of species. Therefore it deserved to be preserved. This is why the author came up with the idea of island civilization, which will be described in detail later. First though information about the journey of humans versus nature and different researchers views on the situation.
    God created everything, including the civilized and the wilderness. The wilderness was supposedly the land God cursed. This led people to believe that nature wasn’t important and that nothing beneficial could come out of it. Thus, they formulated the idea that the bigger the civilization is the better. Pioneers began to create tools using nature that would serve as aid to their expansion project. This left only scattered remnants of the wilderness. The more civilization expanded is the more unsustainable it became. Our culture was unfortunately self destructing, but no one seemed to be concerned enough to change the direction that the planet was headed in.
    Civilization eventually becomes vulnerable. The condition its been in makes it difficult to predict which of the four scenarios the planet and ecosystem will be in by the forth millennium. One scenario option is a trash, poisoned, used-up Earth. It was very well possible that with the ecosystem declining the natural world could end. This of course is not a desired result. The garden scenario was basically the complete opposite. This plan meant for humans to control nature one hundred percent but it would all be beneficial. The future primitive approach would just count the past as bad experience and enforce the use of technology responsibly this go around. Lastly, the author’s idea of Island Civilization. Roderick Frazier Nash felt that clustering on a planetary scale would be the best method to save nature and wildlife.
    In Island Civilization boundaries would be drawn around human presences instead of around other species. This would help minimize humans environmental impact. To make Island Civilization happen in short the population growth had to be reduced and exterior lands scattered throughout the world would have to be modified using human intelligence. Roderick Frazier Nash believes that  limiting civilization instead of the uncontrolled environments would correct the self inflicted destruction. It gives equal opportunities for all beings.
    In my opinion Roderick Frazier Nash has a well thought out vision for the fourth millennium. It even actually sounds like its possible to have a beneficial outcome. However, I just don’t think it’s the best way to go out of the four. The whole concept of working in favor of the wild nature instead of civilization just doesn’t sit too well with me personally. I understand that its important to give the same opportunities to both ourselves and nature but I don’t think that’s the way to do it. This way seems to me as if nature is switching roles with civilization by taking over their space this time.
    If I had to choose which route was taken during the fourth millennium, I would choose the future primitive scenario. I would choose this because it focuses on the future. The past is the past and its already done so there is nothing anyone can do about it. Therefore, its wise to just learn from those ten thousand years of bad experience with overusing technology and this time use it more responsibly. This would definitely give all beings in existence the same opportunity as long as neither environment goes over their limitations.