Summary/Response to "Island Civilization"

Summary

            The essay was titled “Island Civilizations” by Roderick Nash. It starts off by saying that the concept of a millennium is rather new. This is because nobody has ever really had a need to think about time in units of a thousand years. However, with the current state of our planet, the next millennium is rather important. Humans have been expanding so rapidly that we have started having very negative effects on the environment. In order for us to make in another millennium, something has got to change drastically.

            Nash goes on to say that the key to our survival is in the wilderness. This is ironic because it is in civilization’s nature to tame these wild areas, when really we need them in order to maintain our existence. One suggestion made by philosophers is that we make some sort of ecological contract which would be much like John Locke’s social contract. Basically, this is saying that we would limit people’s freedom in the greater good of the environment and survival.

            There are a couple different scenarios for the fourth millennium. First is the wasteland scenario. This says that the earth will become “a trashed, poisoned, and used-up planet that can support only a pathetic remnant of its once-miraculous biodiversity and civilization.” Next there is the garden scenario. Humans would have turned the entire planet into some sort of greenhouse where the environment is completely artificial; everything would be controlled by people. Third we have the future primitive. In this future people have reverted back to ancient ways of hunting and gathering to survive. Lastly, Nash introduces us the concept of island civilization.

            Island civilization is essentially a utopian society, or rather several utopian societies concentrated in scattered parts of the world. The idea is to have minimal impact on the earth. We would stay in our bubble (quite literally actually) and let the rest of the world flourish without us. With advanced technology, we could have these cities in remote places where other species would seldom have contact with us. Imagine a city underwater, on the North Pole, or maybe even in the sky. With the technology of the future the possibilities are endless.

            Nash concludes by reminding us that our planet is in need of help. On paper, the Earth isn’t looking too good right now. But if we put the work in, we can turn it around. The world we live in is the only one we have, so what better time to start doing something to save it than now?

Response

            I found this essay to be both interesting, and informative. I know that there is a lot we need to be doing to make the Earth a better place to live, but I had never considered the Earth that far down the line. The fact of the matter is, if we don’t start preparing for the future of this planet, it is going to eventually turn into a wasteland.

            So, which one of the futuristic scenarios do I advocate? Well, let’s start with the garden scenario. Personally, I am not a big fan of this. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think having humans in control of things like atmosphere and weather is such a good thing. Sure, at first it sounds nice, but what happens when one of their calculations is just slightly off? I can see it now: some guy in the weather department takes a nap on the job while the gauge regulating air pressure goes out, and all of a sudden you have a tornado ripping through downtown Raleigh. Or better yet, he forgets to check the oxygen levels and oops! There goes our air. Granted, the technology would be far superior to what we have today and I’m assuming it would be nearly impossible for it to fail, but still the fact is people make mistakes. I just don’t think it would be a good idea for humans to have that much power over the planet.

            Perhaps the future primitive scenario? Ok, that sounds cool and everything, kind of like camping only you can never come back and if you’re no good at it you die. Nah, I don’t want to live like ancient people, I like riding my motorcycle too much. Besides, if I really had the urge to go live off the land for a bit, that’s included in the island civilization.

            That’s right, I’m all for this island civilization. Sure, it would have its down sides, but personally it sounds a heck of a lot better than the whole toxic wasteland thing. Plus, there was the whole city underwater or in the sky thing, that was pretty cool. We could keep to ourselves and the rest of the world could recover from all the damage we’ve done over our short existence.

            The main thing I got out of this essay though, was that we need to start thinking about our future. All of this utopian society stuff is a little far-fetched in the year 2012, but we can still start taking steps to pave the way for the year 3000. Humans cannot keep going on with this “let the next guy worry about it” attitude that has really seemed to become so prominent in the past century. As a young child I was taught that if I borrowed something from a friend, I better return in it better condition than how I received it. Humans have really done a number on the Earth. So when our time is up, hopefully we can say we left it a little nicer than how we found it.