Modernity

Mid-twentieth Century a consumer revolution advanced along America’s front lines: technology squared economic growth; military and petroleum framed policy; and mobilization gave way to suburbia. Fueled by technological optimism, market broadcast an era of leisure and an ethos of disposability. Credit tempted, “buy now, pay later” while resource wars and cheap oil afforded economies of scale and designed obsolescence.

Metabolisms of the modern lifestyle swell, shadowing landscapes, atmosphere and seas. Obsolescence has served as society’s manufacturing mantra, while garbage choke points echo a resource curse. Disposability and sprawl have shepherded our society to a juncture between development and sustainability. Their wakes rise like terrible seas, obscuring equable horizons.

How do we remediate this toxic legacy? What are the cultural underpinnings of combat with our environment? Misanthropy and myopia frame our sense of intolerance and hatred of our own species. Who and what belongs where? Many in the environmental movement claim humans do not have a functional role in the environment; this fuels a sense of alienation from the environment of which we are a part.

Government influences the fabric of our daily lives, yet people are able to incline government (and market) to institute changes. We are living in exciting and uncertain times; we are bearing witness to nature’s economy, punctuated financial collapses and great social awakenings. Community is appropriate technology, a repository of ecological knowledge. We have the opportunity to foster biocultural restoration and intergenerational equity. Now is the time to rise to the challenges that are before us and employ nature's prescriptive for mutual flourishing. Nature is much more than a machine; nature includes us. As Hopi wisdom reminds, "We are the ones we have been waiting for."
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