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| author | Joe Carstairs <me@joeac.net> | 2026-05-13 17:09:25 +0100 |
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| committer | Joe Carstairs <me@joeac.net> | 2026-05-13 17:09:25 +0100 |
| commit | f5ff053d37b6c4623c0502ae9cee36a927f6e4ec (patch) | |
| tree | c845c2a084f8a2d754479ceb8610dd0749964960 | |
| parent | 950f848d3c75d82ded220c77f8f1210b981bd210 (diff) | |
cornerstones
| -rw-r--r-- | bibliography.bib | 9 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | log.md | 71 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | scrapbook.md | 3 |
3 files changed, 83 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/bibliography.bib b/bibliography.bib index cb8240e..1c14d80 100644 --- a/bibliography.bib +++ b/bibliography.bib @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ +@book{cornerstones, + title={Cornerstones}, + subtitle={Wild Forces That Can Change Our World}, + author={Macdonald, Benedict}, + date={2023-07-06}, + publisher={Bloomsbury Publishing}, + address={London}, +} + @book{sarn-helen, author={Bullough, Tom}, illustrator={Morris, Jackie}, @@ -6,6 +6,77 @@ author: Joe Carstairs ## 2026-05-13 +### @{cornerstones} + +There was a cracking bit of narrative in the last chapter. Big takeaways: + +- It is all our fault, equally, since primeval pre-history to now +- The problem is that we have deliberately, collectively, acted in what we + believe to be the collective human interest, to the exclusion of nature’s + interests +- The solution is awareness, knowledge, wisdom, ingenuity (science and + technology hiding in the intertext) +- Then we’ll realise that we depend on nature to exist, and naturally start + behaving to protect nature (because deliberately acting rationally in the + collective human interest is what we’ve always done) + +> \[…] we became systematic, methodical and determined in our eradication of +> some cornerstone species \[…] By the Middle Ages, our desire to tame the +> natural world around us grew in intensity and purpose \[…] As we began to +> industrialise, the Great Fens would be drained and our conquest of the +> land-at-scale, beginning with our deforestation in the Bronze Age, grew almost +> complete \[…] By the early twentieth century, we had for the first time the +> ability to create total order in the world around us; order that made way for +> just one species’ progress and stability: ourselves. \[pp200-202] + +Quick comment: notice the magic 'we' which flattens humanity into one mass with +united collective intentions and interests. The big takeaway is: it is all our +fault, equally, including me and you. We should feel guilty and not blame anyone +else. Back to the story. + +> By the late 1950s and early 1960s came a critical moment in human awareness. +> We began to notice, at last, the growing silence around us. By this stage, the +> environmental movement was nascent \[…] it would take further decades before, +> at last, the Ape Aware would emerge. \[p202] + +What changed? We gained 'awareness,' we 'began to notice,' we evolved into the +'Ape Aware.' This is identified with the environmental movement. The big +takeaway: the way out of this mess is knowledge, and by implication, the reason +we got into this mess is ignorance. Private interests aren't important, because +we have always been driven by collective interest anyway. + +> In the past 50 years, in Britain more than in most European or indeed global +> countries, our divorce from the natural world, and our role as its steward +> \[…], has continued apace. \[…] if our relationship with the natural world is, +> for the most part, fundamentally broken, then we have at our disposal \[…] all +> of the tools to fix it. \[…] The greatest tool, however, is human ingenuity. +> Right now, as the great Sir David Attenborough once said, ‘We are the +> cleverest species on our planet. Now, it is time to be wise.’ \[p203] + +The problem is our relationship with nature. We should be relating as husbands +or stewards. However (see quote from pp200-201) we are instead relating +selfishly, deliberately choosing as a unified human collective to exploit nature +for our own benefit to the exclusion of nature’s interests. + +The solution is, of course, knowledge, wisdom, science, technology. (Spectacular +failure to address the central role of knowledge, science and technology in the +accelerating exploitation of the natural world documented on pp200-201.) + +> To date, the greatest problem worldwide has been that, as we have grown, the +> natural world has shrunk. As such a new species, we have failed to realise +> that our own survival is dependent not on ourselves, but upon the natural +> world around us. \[…] We are a species within nature: a cornerstone of +> cornerstones. As we begin to realise this role, a whole range of possibilities +> emerge. \[p204] + +The reason our relationship with nature is wrong is because the human race has +only reached maturity in the last few thousand, or hundred, years, or even the +last few decades (see 'Ape Aware' narrative). And in that time, there is less +nature for us to relate to (because we have destroyed it). Thus, we have an +inadequate AWARENESS of our place in nature. When we regain AWARENESS, we will +inevitably put things right, because human beings have always acted rationally +in what they believe to be their collective interest. + ### @{sarn-helen} > \[…] the climate and ecological emergency is not, in the end, a scientific diff --git a/scrapbook.md b/scrapbook.md index 44ee885..8f5d146 100644 --- a/scrapbook.md +++ b/scrapbook.md @@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ author: Joe Carstairs - @{greenpeace-report} is a particularly egregious example of the magic 'we' - @{sarn-helen} implies that the reason we trash nature is because we culturally place too low a value on it +- @{cornerstones} describes how the human race has always, since primeval + pre-history, acted in what they believe to be the collective interest, and + therefore we share the blame equally for trashing nature @{no-one-is-too-small}, @{xr-declaration}, and @{xr-not-a-drill} are good contrasts: it emphasises that the audience is not, at least not entirely, |
