Emily D'Souza- Topic of Choice 2: In class 1/17

 During this class period we discussed the idea of society’s distance from the earth and nature. The main focus of this comes from the idea of love, which we talked about being in responsibility to nature. If people don’t have or exhibit love of nature, then the natural world around us begins to deteriorate, and this is the basis for why we see the environmental degradation that has been happening for 100s of years. Wendell Barry claimed that our hatred for the world is shown through power and needs, he stated that discare for the environment is “because of machinery and what we call efficiency.” I think this quote is important, because what exactly does he mean by what we call efficiency? Well, it’s the idea of progress, and even in historical contexts it is seen that the world makes changes to fulfill some sort of progression, but when is progress enough? This idea reminds me of Ecology of Eden because of what we call “Arcadia”, which is a “golden age”, where all progress has been made and everything is perfect. Searching for this Arcadia is what drives the need for efficiency and progress, but as the book discussed, you can never actually live in Arcadia; someone will always find a reason that more progress needs to be made. We also discussed that in today’s world it’s not about what a man can do well, but it’s what a man can do quickly, and cheaply. The drive for progress, whether technological or industrial, drives environmental degradation. It is important for people to remember that we are not owners of the land, but we are trustees of it, and in order to fulfill the trust, we must appreciate, care for, and love nature as we do other things daily. Not only does nature depend on us to flourish, but we also depend on it. There is a mutual responsibility between humans and nature, and it appears that many have forgotten this.