An Eco Test
Each book i read on life and ecology has a slightly different
perspective and i believe this is true of each of us. We
may think there is one "right" viewpoint or that we share
a viewpoint with someone else. But, there are almost always
differences.
While reading the book "Reclaiming the Commons" i found some
quotes which capture one viewpoint fairly well and makes
a good test. The object of this test is to see ourselves
and not change anyones thinking.
Read the following quotes with a critical eye. Do your views
align with the authors?
Suburbia, which epitomizes and requires the profligate
consumption of nature driven by industrial capitalism, is
probably not a sustainable form of settlement.
Our society rewards naked exploitation of nature and
indulges naive, romantic love of nature, but the middle
ground of crying for nature while using it productively
has been declared uninhabitable.
We need a mix of private and common interest in land that
is appropriate to the world today, one that balances
personal freedom and community responsibility, economic
efficiency and ecological restraint. In my view, these
means more commons.
Each community needs to determine an appropriate balance
among these elements - there is no perfect solution.
Here is my views of the above:
The suburbia model needs changing and is not appropriate for
most people in society. We need a shift rather than elimination
of suburbia.
The middle ground between exploiting nature and idealizing it
from a distance is huge. Thousands of different forms of
partnership have been identified and ways to view this. For
me the answer is to forget about identifying the common path
and think in terms of process. We are all changing, learning,
and it is our actions that count. Worrying about classifications
or building a master plan is a waste of time. Do something.
The struggle between centralized control and individual control
doesn't have any simple answers. Today, we have problems with
too much power in corporations and some areas of government. We
need an educated population which thinks and acts to maintain
the balance. Today, people are disconnected and leave the
thinking up to others.
In general, each community needs a local solution and that is
where we need to go at present. But, even this can become
a problem if one community acts in a selfish or aggressive
way. We still need centralized controls.
Other views?
Reference: Reclaiming the Commons
(Community Farms and Forests in a New England Town)
By: Brian Donahue, 1999 Yale University Press
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jeff owens, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.teleport.com/~kowens
underground house, solar power, self-reliance, edible landscape
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