Sunday, August 19, 2012

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.


2 comments:

  1. I definitely see the benefits of the "Future Primitive" scenario, because it would allow humans to live in a very sustainable way. I don't see how it would work though. If humans went back to living such a primitive life of hunting and gathering, then what would happen to all of the technological developments that have been made? It's an interesting idea, but maybe it could be altered in some way so that it would be more practical.

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  2. I agree with Cody, it would be so hard to just go back to the way things were three milleniums ago with all the technological advancements that have developed over the last 50 years. It would be so much more benefical if we could go back to the hunting and gathering idea but our world is so much more developed then that now. I agree with you that we do need to find a sensible way to share with the environment and the beings that inhabit it.

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