Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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<strong>the</strong> spirit <strong>of</strong> connection S 147<br />
discord came from a few males who thought that an elite few<br />
could improve <strong>the</strong> creation by changing <strong>the</strong> rhythm. C. S. Lewis<br />
once said that <strong>the</strong> intent was <strong>to</strong> control o<strong>the</strong>r men by seizing<br />
control <strong>of</strong> nature. Ecologically, control meant exploiting <strong>the</strong> vast<br />
pools <strong>of</strong> carbon—fi rst <strong>the</strong> carbon-rich soils <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Fertile Crescent,<br />
later <strong>the</strong> carbon in <strong>the</strong> forests <strong>of</strong> Europe, and in our time <strong>the</strong><br />
ancient carbon s<strong>to</strong>red as coal and oil.<br />
But it was not long before o<strong>the</strong>rs, more sophisticated and<br />
clever, realized that a few could change <strong>the</strong> rhythm <strong>of</strong> Creation<br />
al<strong>to</strong>ge<strong>the</strong>r. The heroes <strong>of</strong> disharmony, men like Bacon, Descartes,<br />
and Galileo, taught us that we could and should conduct <strong>the</strong> symphony.<br />
And so instructed, we learned how <strong>to</strong> make things never<br />
made by nature, we learned <strong>to</strong> split <strong>the</strong> a<strong>to</strong>m and <strong>to</strong> manipulate<br />
<strong>the</strong> code <strong>of</strong> life. Some are busy making devices that will be, <strong>the</strong>y<br />
say, more intelligent than humans. In <strong>the</strong> conquest <strong>of</strong> nature and<br />
<strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r men, <strong>the</strong> rhythms changed <strong>to</strong> those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> business cycle,<br />
<strong>the</strong> product cycle, <strong>the</strong> elec<strong>to</strong>ral cycle, <strong>the</strong> seasons <strong>of</strong> fashion and<br />
style—<strong>the</strong> rhythms <strong>of</strong> commerce, greed, power, and violence. But<br />
we did not know what we were doing, as Wendell Berry once said<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> European conquest <strong>of</strong> America, because we did not know<br />
what we were undoing.<br />
Now we live in a time <strong>of</strong> consequences. Climate scientists<br />
have given us an authoritative glimpse <strong>of</strong> a literal hell not far in<strong>to</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> future that will change <strong>the</strong> seasons, <strong>the</strong> cycles <strong>of</strong> nature, <strong>the</strong><br />
rhythms <strong>of</strong> life, and <strong>the</strong> great procession <strong>of</strong> evolution. We now<br />
march <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> cadence <strong>of</strong> hubris, greed, and violence—and we<br />
should ask why.<br />
Was it our capacity for denial, as psychologist Ernest Becker<br />
once said? Or our will <strong>to</strong> power, as Nietzsche thought? Or some<br />
fl aw in our mental facilities? (There are some who half-jokingly<br />
believe that <strong>the</strong> next time God runs <strong>the</strong> experiment, <strong>the</strong> frontal<br />
lobe <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> primate brain should be left out.) Or as an unwary<br />
species, did we simply trap ourselves in what Ronald Wright calls