Lately, it seems like everything that is worth saving is in dire need of salvation. Luckily, I've always been a sucker for a good cause, but I have to wonder why humans seem predisposed to destroy that which we hold most dear?
I heard a statistic recently that a new generation is born every 5 years. Not because we've redefined what constitutes a generation, but because over the last 15 years or so life and technology began to change so rapidly that people born even 5 years apart see the world in completely different ways. And the pace of change continues to accelerate. Change in and of itself isn't a bad thing. If we don't change, we die. What worries me is that we seem to be careening into an ever-narrowing tunnel with no sense or understanding of what came before or what lies ahead. I worry that change for change's sake is a cancerous madness (I think that's Mr. Ed Abbey I'm quoting).
The landscape in which we build our lives is constantly changing, too. Yesterday a wetland, today a Burger King. The land has changed so much between my grandfather's lifetime and my own that my very sense of what "normal" or "functioning" is skewed. A channelized river with concrete banks seemed perfectly normal and natural to me growing up, because that was all I knew. For god's sake, I am a professional environmentalist and I didn't realize the river I grew up swimming in was an artificial millrace connected to the much smaller, natural river channel (which I had never swum in) until I was nearly 30 years old. My very concept of what constitutes a natural environment is permanently altered by being born when I was. What does this mean for people born 50 years from now? What are we losing that we haven't yet fathomed?
What are we changing into? And once changed, can we ever return?
Fortunately, there is a remedy for the growing sense of loss I feel when I think about how quickly we use and discard what we deem valueless. There are people who look to and learn from the past to inform their lives, their sense of personhood and connectedness in the world. They are the people who hang photos of ancestors along those of their children. They are ones who turn up at a public meeting to save a stand of old growth forest. And they are the ones who take the time to craft pelicans out of old bricks from a building one's great great grandfather used to live in.
By honoring the past and by understanding that mindless change for the sake of growth or profit or simply because one feels empty is not enough to feed our souls, these people give rise to a vision of a future that rightly holds tight to what matters most.
Happy, you are part of the cure for what ails this weary world. Thank you.
Good thoughts, my friend! The phenomena you describe is sometimes known as "environmental amnesia:" each generation views as normal the environmental quality that they see and experience as children. So yes, to many people a concrete drainage channel is a river, since that's the only concept of "river" they've ever known. The trap of environmental amnesia is a progressive, unintentional acceptance of the environmental damage done by earlier generations. That amnesia can only be re-set by directly exposing children (and adults) to wilder, less-altered natural environments than what they usually experience. That requires concerted and intentional efforts by people like you and me. But raising the alarm is a crucial first step. Kudos!
ReplyDeleteThat's without a doubt the best thank you note I have ever received.
ReplyDeleteI believe each generation gets a little closer to understanding how to thrive without defiling our own nest. If its true that a new generation is coming along every five years now, maybe reverence for nature will be the norm before too many more years. And leaders/teachers like you are vital to the education of the coming generations. To borrow Ken's praise, Kudos!