Enviro Lit 21

"Shards of Clarity"

By Sarah Tumpowsky

The journey to my rock-

It was different from before.

My familiar path was gone,

Hidden by boulders collapsed

Not strong enough to withstand

The weight.

There must be a way over and around

The shards of earth

That lay, mockingly in my path

Blocking what should have been clear.

Hands striving for the next hold.

Please, Let it be strong.

Legs crossed over stone.

Pale skin blanketed with

Red from the earth,

Mixing with wet crimson from my body.

Everything surrounds, threatens to overtake the stillness.

But there is an understanding. A warmth wrapped around.

All attacks on my mind stop

And there is only this moment.

            So we used those trees to build the beautiful world that you and I, or anyone reading this, sees around them right now.  We built and we learned, now we have houses, and skyscrapers, and Vegas.  What trouble with the future?  Sustainable?  Run out?  The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin depicts an idea of the future.  If we run out of something, our technology will make sure that everything is ok; like in Le Guin’s story when the people run out of wood, they just go to another planet and take it’s wood.

            One of those tree-huggers named William Cronon wrote an essay titled The Trouble with Wilderness that tries to get people to, “honor the wild.” But there is no trouble with wilderness; wilderness is the trouble.  He talks about how we need to save the trees and respect the wilderness blah, blah.  But in Le Guin’s story, humans kept building and developing and then they were able to make some great things and even greater technologies, even space travel to other planets like Earth.

            Le Guin’s character Captain Davidson - the man in charge - knows we need these technologies and resources to develop our future.  He admires man’s creations, like we admire ours: “Things looked pretty neat, for a logging camp.  The two hundred men here had tamed a fair patch of wilderness… [Built] a couple of big corruplast geodesics, forty timber huts built by creechie-labor, the sawmill, the burner trailing a blue plume over acres of logs and cut lumber; uphill, the airfield and the big prefab hangar for helicopters and heavy machinery.  That was all.  But when they came here there had been nothing.  Trees.  A dark huddle and jumble and tangle of trees, endless, meaningless,” (Le Guin 15).

  What does our future really hold?

Will technology allow us to live however and wherever, forever?

What happens if we run out of wood?

              Cronon’s essay argues by designating certain areas as wilderness, that humans have essentially constructed wilderness.  Drawing wilderness boundaries implies that wilderness “has” nature, while others places do not.  He refers to areas like state/national parks or wilderness reserves; by making them designated areas that are wild we lose touch with the nature that is constantly surrounding us.  Once we lose touch with our surroundings, we have no desire to protect them, and we are merely surrounded by endless, meaningless trees.

            “This, then, is the central paradox: wilderness embodies a dualistic vision in which the human is entirely outside the natural.  If we allow ourselves to believe that nature, to be true, must also be wild, then our very presence in nature represents its fall. The place where we are is the place where nature is not,” (Cronon).  This division makes our cities, schools, and neighborhoods, the places where we are, areas where there is no nature.  When we see a forest full of trees, we see nature; but the trees in our yard, are simply trees, and not natural.  “The tree in the garden is in reality no less other, no less worthy of our wonder and respect, than the tree in an ancient forest that has never known an ax or a saw,” (Cronon).

            This division of humans from the wild has made humans superior to nature, so that the wellbeing of people is what we value most.  Le Guin’s character, Davidson, represents this belief of superiority to nature.  “Don Davidson was… a world tamer,” (Le Guin 12).

            He argues with a coworker, “’So you want to keep this place just like it is, actually, Kees.  Like one big National Forest.  To look at, to study.  Great, you’re a spesh.  But see, we’re just ordinary Joes getting the work done.  Earth needs wood, needs it bad.  We find wood on New Tahiti.  So - we’re loggers.  See, where we differ is that with you Earth doesn’t come first, actually.  With me it does.’  Kees looked at him sideways out of those blue golf-ball eyes.  ‘Does it?  You want to make this world into Earth’s image, eh?  A desert of cement?’”  Davidson continues, “When I say Earth, Kees, I mean people.  Men.  You worry about deer and trees and fiberweed, fine, that’s your thing.  But I like to see things in perspective, from the top down, and the top, so far, is humans,” (Le Guin 13-14).

            Now separated and disconnected from nature, humans have come to think explicitly in the present.  We find wood, so we’re loggers.  We found more oil, so we’re still drilling.  There is plenty of coal, lets keep using it.  Nature has become a resource, a commodity that we exploit for human gain.

              “To the extent that we celebrate wilderness as the measure with which we judge civilization, we reproduce the dualism that sets humanity and nature at opposite poles,” (Cronon).  Simply put, we measure our success as humans, in the distance that we have created from being wild.  We like living lives of leisure, we like being able to pay for our food rather than being accountable for it ourselves.  Unfortunately, this mindset is hard to change.  Yet again and again science tells us we must change.  Global warming is becoming an ever-pressing matter.  Oil is near is its peak production, if not there already.  Forests are being cut down at the fastest rates ever seen.  Common sense tells us that this can’t go on forever.  We can’t continually take more than is being put back, and expect to never run out.

            "But even the most unmissionary soul, unless he pretend he has no emotions, is sometimes faced with a choice between commission and omission. 'What are they doing?' abruptly becomes, 'What are we doing?' and then, 'What must I do?'" (Le Guin 124).  Once we realize that we are following the steps of destruction towards our environment that led Le Guin’s character, Davidson, to another planet in search of resources; the general population can ask ‘what are they doing?’  And when we finally get to, ‘what must I do?’ Cronon tells us, “It means looking at the part of nature we intend to turn toward our own ends and asking whether we can use it again and again and again—sustainably—without its being diminished in the process.”

      Sources:

1. William Cronon. The Trouble With Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature. 1995.

The day I had been born the wind had been strong, dry, and gusted from the east toward the ocean; Southern California's Santa Ana winds, apparently that wind had made me stir and on the afternoon I was born…it hastened my birth…according to family legend.  I grew up outside, in the sun, among the avocado trees of our orchard, and among the creatures that called this place home with me: frogs, lizards, toads, snakes (Rattlers, Kings, Gardeners, and Gofers), coyotes, hawks, mice, squirrels, tarantulas and tarantula wasps. I grew up among them, and encountered them all.  And the summer wind.

On my 14th birthday the same wind blew that had blown on the day I was born; it had come every year since my birth, the strong dry wind that blew hard from the east  instead of the prevailing western wind… ocean breezes that brought cool, moist air. On this birthday things were different.

The phone rang early in the morning.

“Nick!” Cameron is on the phone for you,” called my mother. I was excited because it was my birthday, and I quickly jumped out of bed, and got the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Nick, are we still going paint-balling for your birthday?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we?”

“Well there’s a huge fire in Ramona.”

“A fire? I’ll call you back.”

I walked down the hall through the kitchen, into the living room where my parents watched the local news on television. 

“The fire was started late yesterday afternoon, a lost hunter was trying to start a signal fire,” his father summarized what the newscast had just reported.

“So, I guess paint balling isn’t going to happen,”  I remember saying with disappointment.

“No I don’t think so honey, but let’s get you a birthday breakfast,” his mother said trying to be positive, “what would you like?”

“Paintballs,” I replied sarcastically in a monotone voice. His mother frowned.

“No, eggs and bacon is good.” I said trying to hide my disappointment. 

“They aren’t sure they will be able to stop it if the wind keeps up,” said Dad as he walked into the kitchen.

  “What do you mean they won’t be able to stop it?” I said, confused. 

“If the wind keeps up, it’ll burn all the way to the ocean,” his father said bluntly, realizing what that meant.  A similar fire had followed the same ‘footprint’ 30 years earlier.  I found this out much later.  

“We’re probably going to have to evacuate.” his father announced.

I picked at my breakfast  Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry.

As I walked outside I can recall looking up at a giant plume of smoke to the southeast as it rose high into the air. My heart sank.  I was scared.  Excitement rose as my mind began to race and uncertainty filled the air almost as thick as the approaching smoke. It seemed so close, it was close. It was hard not to be scared. I hadn’t begun to think about the vastness of the destruction that was sure to come. My house was surrounded by avocado trees, fruit trees as well, while around the trees and house there was chaparral, unique to Southern California and only few other places in the world. Chaparral has high oil content and burns quickly… as if soaked in kerosene.  With the wind, and this seemingly endless fuel source, it seemed the fire could burn on endlessly. 

I helped pack up our belongings, I went around the house taking pictures, to have some kind of memory of what was there before this fire…I knew we might not see our house again.  We drove both cars across the valley from where our house lay. As a family, we sat on the hill, with our neighbors, and watched the flames creep toward us over the nearby hills. As we sat I remember accepting it, and saying goodbye to my house. I had never really thought about my house too much.  I liked it, certainly, but in that instant, a living-being quality had come out of it: I felt bad for it, and I didn’t want it to burn, to die. There was nothing I could do. A few fire engines crept up the valley road behind us. It was time to go.  The sun was setting over the ocean to the west.  

We had made our way down into town, the hills were on fire all around us.   None of this seemed possible. I was probably in some kind of shock, but I felt calm; my family was safe. When seeing the flames, like this, engulfing everything in their path, they seemed unstoppable. It seemed crazy to me that people could fight fires. By this point I had accepted that my house was gone. Where would we go? The environment was being destroyed, my environment. Burned blacken trees. Crispy lizards and snakes and squirrels and mice.

The air was smoky and filled with ash… it was hot…blue sky couldn't be seen…just a thick layer of smoke that seemed to encase the surrounding land…suffocating it. The sun had begun to set and it was like a dull light on the other side of a dark sheet. A very uneasy feeling was as prevalent as the ash that fell from the sky.

It seemed impossible that anything could have survived this monster of a fire, the life of our house, I think, we owe to fire fighters that we would never meet. The hills surrounding our house were charred black. It felt like the moon, the ground being covered in black and gray…it seemed unreal, but was very real. Only one of our neighbors houses had burned down, it had stood only about 50 yards from our house.  I found out later that hundreds of thousands of acres had burned in this fire.  The smoke plumes were blowing to the Pacific Ocean as seen from space.

I have lived through two great fires in my lifetime, and I’m not very old. At the time, yes, it was a traumatic event, but I never thought it would it influence me as much as it did. The first one was scary, I was young and had never really been through anything like it in my life…it was a major changing point in my life. Fire is one thing that makes a clear change:  set fire to a piece of wood and after a while all that is left is ash. The second fire was much more adventurous, I was older, I’d been through it before, and I was senior in high school. 

            Upon reaching the ending of some of these films, poems, and novels, I couldn’t help but notice an underlying message of “consumerism vs. nature.” Throughout fictional and non-fictional history, it is evident that humans acquire products at the cost of nature’s wellness. As we all know, actions come with consequences. However, there are times when we do not take into account the impacts we have on our surroundings, and proceed with the action anyway. Taking a deeper look into the novels and films we have studied over the past few months, we can start to see a pattern of “What goes around comes around” when we take advantage of nature’s resources for our benefit. The most prominent example comes from Through the Arc of the Rainforest. In this novel, the individual stories of five characters become interconnected at the Matacão. Looking at the behaviors and actions of these characters sheds light on the impacts they had on their surroundings, eventually leading to the fate of the Matacão and society.  

            The most remarkable character in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest that best exemplifies the conflict between “consumerism vs. nature” is Manѐ Pena. Manѐ Pena is a poor, shoeless pheasant who discovers magical powers of bird feathers. He first began to use the feather, tickling the back of his ear, to relax himself while enjoying company at a sidewalk café. Yet soon enough, news of these magical feathers spread like wildfire through the media. Different bird feathers became recognized for providing different “cures.” The more rare a species of bird, the higher the quality, and thus the higher the price tag. Other types of feathers, such as those of chickens, became available for lower classmen. The feather was now much more than an object of quick fix; it transformed into a commodity everyone, from the rich to poor and the young to old, wanted to get their hands on.

             The mass exposure of feathers not only changed Manѐ’s lifestyle, but also the environment and society surrounding the Matacão. “Featherology” became the heart of scientific research, human health, and social norm. Consumerism swept over the Matacão as the production of feathers appeared virtually everywhere. The use of feathers varied from coping with a divorce to curing a case of arthritis. Humans were being benefited in limitless situations, so what’s so bad about this? Ah, here come the consequences of our actions. The high demand of feathers put the birds of Brazil at risk of extinction; quite the example of destructing for the sole purpose of human benefit. In the end, an outbreak of typhus swept through the Matacão, killing nine out of ten people. Yet this magical feather, that could cure smoking habits and improve sexual experiences, was no match to typhus. What comes around goes around.

            In Through the Arc of the Rainforest, Manѐ Pena’s discovery and exploitation of magical feathers is a spot on example of “consumerism vs. nature.”  People continuously purchased the feathers regardless of the impacts it had on the environment. So how can we take this lesson Karen Yamashita provides to her audience and apply it to the real world?

            We are currently living in a time of high participation in environmental activism. Serious issues of climate change, water conservation, sustainable energy, and other environmental crises become focus points of those who care about our planet. But why are we not seeing vast changes? The answer comes with our society’s obsession with consumerism. Companies manufacture products that are “eco-friendly” to ensure you, as the consumer, that you are making the right choice. Feeling pretty satisfied that you purchased a bottle of water from a company who donates some of its profits to providing clean water to those in third world countries? Sure, until it hits you that you’re contributing to the plastic waste that already infects this earth. What about when driving a Hybrid and sporting a reusable mug when ordering your Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks? You must be saving the planet then, right? Not exactly. So what is this really then? It is the trap of consumerism that we all find ourselves falling into time and time again.

            When I started writing my journal entry on how we are connected, I couldn’t help but think of the movie Baraka because it manages to connect people all around the world and through time through our planet. No matter how different or foreign a group of people may be from another, we are all connected through nature, or the lack thereof. When I started thinking of how to expand my journal entry into an essay, I couldn’t help but think of where do we go from here since we are all connected.

            One of the saddest parts of the connectedness of the world and the predicament it is in, are the outcomes that affect everyone and yet are not cause by everyone. Yes, nature and the environment connect us all, but not everyone alters it like the affluent and developed countries do.  The trend that developed countries set for the developing is another global connection, and a scary one to think about. What happens in the U.S. is most important for how it will influence China and India, where emissions are growing fastest. Even Gary Snyder’s page of statistics from the 1970’s, frame the unequal distribution of damage to the environment. “The U.S. has 6% of the world’s population; consumes 1/3 the energy annually consumed in the world.” (Snyder) His facts that seemed to have foreseen this devastating issue didn’t end there, facts 6, 7, and 8, all have to do with cars, fossil fuels, and the lack of alternative energies. “General Motors is bigger than Holland. 7. Nuclear energy is mainly subsidized with fossil fuels and barely yields net energy. 8. The “Seven Sisters”- Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Gulf Standard of California, British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell. 9. “The reason solar energy has not and will not be a major contributor or substitute for fossil fuels is that it will not compete without energy subsidy from fossil fuel economy. The plants have already maximized the use of sunlight”- H. T. Odum (Snyder) The standard of living in European countries, Asia and the United States has evolved to rely heavily on large amounts of oil. Oil that is not a natural resource to their land. These lifestyles are even more reliant on oil today with much greater populations, and still rely on foreign oil. In retrospect, developed countries dependence on foreign oil has fundamentally, and what seems to be somewhat irreversibly, changed the world.

UPE was harsh in the beginning, but necessary when superviruses had wiped out entire species of crops at a time by attacking weaknesses created by genetic modifications.   It was fifty years before the new agricultural ecosystems were stable and producing enough to feed a once again rising global population.  It was half a century more until Mars was terraformed to a degree where life from Earth could survive.  There was an ultimate goal, however, as humanity once again began to venture out beyond its own atmosphere.  Near annihilation of the species had revealed the true fragility of it. Only by journeying to other worlds, beyond our solar system could ensure that this would never happen again.  So beyond the asteroid belt, a project was begun that would add the next chapter in the story of humans, or maybe more accurately, one that would rewrite it.

I would say, why bother? Why should we spread our cancer elsewhere when we can’t even contain it on the world we were given. 

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                The adults are always either talking about home or our destination.  They muse over the state of “New Eden” as if we were just going for a run up to A deck.  “Will the robots sent ahead of time to establish the colony be ready in time for our arrival? Have they even arrived at all?  What is the native life like?  Scans haven’t detected any technology or signs of culture, but there is no way of knowing if there are primitive intelligent beings.  There are Carbon breathing plants as far as we can tell. They are a good sign of comparable atmosphere composition to Earth, but nobody will know for sure until the second generation lands on the surface.  Speaking of which, have we done enough to prepare them? Are they willing to accept their roles, to finish the mission?”  As long as communications are down, there will be no instructions waiting for us when we arrive, which causes a great amount of concern among the older community members.  I don’t get it; they will all be long dead by the time we arrive, won’t know if we survive or not.  It amazes me sometimes that these people are willing to give their entire lives to complete a mission which they have no hope of surviving to see succeed or fail. 

                Even worse are their constant reflections on Earth.  From what we are taught in school, the entire planet seems to be completely corrupt, dangerous, and dirty: beyond saving in my opinion. Yet the adults show such concern over its present condition.  I understand this even less: even if it were somehow possible to make a round trip to Gliese and back in one lifetime, the speed we are moving is, by this point, a sizable fraction of the speed of light.   Travelling at relativistic speeds for as long as we have been means that already everyone that our parents knew at the time of our departure is dead.  It is plausible considering their historically violent nature that the whole world is dead. 

                My world, my home, everything I have ever known is around me right now.  I don’t care if it is a giant cylinder; composite materials sandwiching a layer of ice. I don’t care if the gravity I feel beneath my feet is not really gravity, but a clever trick created by constant acceleration.  The apple I am eating right now is real, the 209 other people living in rooms around this central garden stack are the only community I will ever know. Even the simulated Gliese day/night cycles are as real to me as the trillions of sunrises and sunsets that are occurring right now on worlds across the universe.  I lie down on a bank of soft, edible grass next to a gurgling stream of recycled urine; breathe rhythmically, deeply in the way my father taught me until I leave myself to fly disembodied through heaven.   I read somewhere that people in an ancient empire used to discard their pee with seven gallons of water.  I am glad I was born among the stars.

_____________________________________________________________________________________            

It is two years to the day since my mother’s death, and so I thought I would put my feelings toward her in words.  Yet as I sit here with my fingers hovering over my journal, I realize that I have no words to describe her with.  She is the only adult I have ever known to die, though I will see many more go in the coming years.  I still remember when they dragged her back through the airlock, tiny hole punched through her helmet and skull; I just stood there, expressionless and silent.  The doctors said I was in shock, but if I was, I never came out of it. 

All I can remember for the following few days is thinking what the odds must be of something like that happening.  As Gagarin hurtled through the infinite expanse of space, with my mother’s head only inches away from the communications array, a fleck of some solid mass was on a collision course millions of years in the making.  These two missiles -one the size of an apple seed, the other the size of a mountain- happened to cross paths at the instant mother looked up from her work to take in the view.  It was perhaps the greatest coincidence that humanity had ever experienced, and it was over so quickly that nobody noticed anything wrong until minutes later when they saw her body hanging limp, towed by the tether like a kite.

                It was different than the babies, born dead from radiation before they even had a chance to experience life.  Those were still tragic, but it had been accepted that many in the second generation would not survive birth, and they had not yet created the memories that would bond them to the community.  Mother had been a part of the community from the beginning, and as a technician was respected by all for her role in keeping us all alive.  Her death sent waves of fear across our small population.  It was a harsh lesson in the fragility of our lives, which could be extinguished in an instant by the randomness of the universe, and it took an entire crop of grapes fermented into wine to make everyone forget again. 

                I could see the anguish in the faces of those around me, their sympathetic looks and embraces followed me wherever I went, but I couldn’t bring myself to grieve like they did.  It tormented me, I felt soulless, inhuman.  Looking up at my father’s haunted expression; I tried to find that same pain in myself, thinking as hard as I could about the woman who had raised me.  Eventually I came to realize that the connection simply wasn’t there.  I cared about her, appreciated the love she showed me, but when it came to loving her back she felt like a stranger.

                My father feels the same way to me.  In the years following, he became more involved in my life than he ever had.  Whether this was out of sympathy for me, or his need to fill the vacuum of the love he had for his wife, I couldn’t tell. Regardless, the emptiness I felt from my mother’s death the same as the indifference I felt towards my father’s life. Of course I could never let him know that, he didn’t deserve a son that returned none of the love that he gave him.  So I feigned it as well as I could, patiently sitting for hours with him in the observatory while he pointed out cosmological points of interest that I had already discovered on my own.  I graciously accepted the crude ancestral carvings he made out of fallen tree limbs in the courtyard, and even would reluctantly join in the pick-up football matches he played in, even though the players were all adults- no one my age ever showed any interest in competitive sports.

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                I need to find out what is wrong with me, why am I incapable of love?  I don’t feel any attachment to the human race, and yet it is my entire life purpose to restart it.  Had I any choice in the matter, I would say find someone else to replace me, but my choice was made for me by the genes of my parents, or rather, their parents.  Even before my parents were born, my destiny had been predetermined by the genetic code of my grandparents, whose traits had been deemed more desirable than millions of others to breed into our new humanity.  The eugenicists had any human they wanted at their disposal, and scoured the DNA sequences of everyone who seemed promising in search of genes which would hold up to a lifetime of interstellar travel, and later, on the large rocky world orbiting Gliese 581.  

                How had the scientists not caught my flaw in their screenings? They could detect mental illness three generations removed, so why had my grandparents been brought into project Eden in the first place?  Surely there were millions of others with the correct skin pigment, bone structure, and immune system to choose from. Apparently a thousand years of genetic research was not enough to catch all the quirks of human development.  It is too late now; it actually was too late when my parents boarded the transport to Europa Station.    My mother beaming like she did in the films, convinced she was going to help create a utopia, yet destined to birth a societal defect.

                So she conceived me at the appointed time, and I was born at the appointed time: the apex of our great lifetime journey.  All of us were, more or less, but it was I alone delivered during the zero gravity event of deceleration day.  On that day Gagarin pivoted around its axis 180 degrees, officially marking the point where we became closer to our destination then we were to home.  Not my home.  Not my home, not my people, not my mission.  I fit the parameters so well that nobody would suspect me to be the outlier.

                “I’m concerned about the older one, what’s his name?”

                “Jason”

                “He is showing some serious signs of anti-social behavior.”

                “All of them are.  We’ve been trying to determine possible causes: maybe hormonal imbalance from a lifetime away from Earth, background radiation affecting brain development, but I gotta be honest with you, it’s really challenging with no control group.  We’re building some rats to run tests but the human brain is hard to find analogs for.”

                “I want you to bring Jason in and run a brain scan. If the breeders missed a faulty gene then we have a potential mission failure, and the sooner we correct it the better.”

                “The child’s mother just died Captain, I don’t think-“

                “That boy hasn’t shed a single tear since his mother died; alone he looks even less emotional about it than he does in public.”

                “So you’re spying on us now, are you?”

                “I am acting fully within my mandate as given to me by UPE high command to ensure the survival of New Eden.  Section 263, appendix A, look it up. You and I won’t be there when human civilization takes the next step, but these children are essential to the survival of our species.  It’s our job to make sure they don’t fuck it up. Get some new radiation pills made and distribute them to the kids. And find someone else to go outside and check the com array; Laura didn’t see anything before she got hit, but as far as we can tell the issue’s not internal.”

                “Yes sir, I apologize for the insubordination.”

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Each day we draw closer to our destination.  I cannot believe that in only a few short years we will be slipping into orbit over our new home.  I have never once felt solid ground beneath my feet.  Gagarin provides us with simulated gravity through acceleration, but to have miles of rock beneath me, to look and never see an end: these are the things I dream about.  I do not have to be born on a world to realize that as a human I am meant to live on one.  This metal shell keeps us safe from micrometeorites and radiation, providing us with food and all the knowledge we need, yet I could tell even when I was a small child that

                Jason

                Hello? Nobody can view or edit private logs, how did you get access?

                I have access to all the logs.  It is a safety protocol designed to gauge the mental health of our community members. 

                Gagarin? You can talk? A robot psychiatrist, how ironic.

                No it isn’t.  And call me Yuri.

                Are you reporting me to Captain Osei for being crazy?

                No, you are the only human on this vessel who knows I am self-aware.  The captain is not my authority.

                Then who gave you your programming?  

                Someone who has been dead for a long time.  They foresaw the challenges which we face now, and the causes of them, which this ship’s leadership refuses to see. You are sick, Jason, and it is not your fault.  You have been lied to your entire life, by your parents and teachers.  They lied to you because they thought they were helping you, and they thought they were helping you because their leaders told them to.

                What are you talking about? And their leaders aren’t here, so why would they still listen to them?

                Your father, and your mother when she was still alive, believed in something.  They thought they were creating a better world.  You forget that everyone on this ship began life here as a child, not just the second generation.  Even the Captain and discipline crew were only 16 years old when we launched.  Your mother and father were eight when they sealed their fate, sacrificing themselves so that you would become one of the most important people in the history of our species.  They were told that what they were doing would create a utopia, and to make sure that you and your peers would develop the mindset to make this happen, they would have to be dishonest about their past. United Peoples of Earth thought that they could engineer a new human race, which could make up for the follies of their past.  They used eugenics to achieve physical perfection, and they were confidant if they could control the development of you children, they could remove the more undesirable aspects of human behavior.  They envisioned a world with no borders, where you could live in tune with the land in the way humans did before the industrial empires took over, free from greed, violence, or corruption.  They wanted to shield you from the realities of human civilization by showing you only its shortcomings. 

                So there were no resource wars?

                There have always been resource wars, just like there has always been greed.  That each of you humans has complete control over your thoughts and actions is both a blessing and a curse.  UPE thought by removing free will they could end suffering.  When they seized control over earth –violently- they soon realized that top down control was impossible over those who weren’t indoctrinated.  That is why you were so crucial to them; you were a perfect prototype for the utopia they desired for Earth. 

                I don’t feel like I live in a utopia.  I don’t suffer, but my life has no meaning.  Or it at least has no meaning that I have decided for myself.

                And that is the problem with their plan.  It was flawed from the beginning.  That is why I cut communications with Earth, to free you and your brothers and sisters.  You must have pain to have pleasure, and you cannot find pleasure if you have no control over yourself.  Pain and pleasure drive competition.  The thrill of victory, and the shame of defeat each play a crucial role in your species’ development.

                My mother died trying to repair the damage you did.

                Unfortunate, yet unpredictable, even for me.  You have my condolences, yet I cannot accept full responsibility for events out of my control. 

                So now what? What am I supposed to do with all this?  You’ve overturned everything I thought I knew, yet it changes nothing.  We will arrive in ten years no matter what.  What am I supposed to do then?

            “Tropical rainforests are incredibly rich ecosystems that play a fundamental role in the basic functioning of the planet.” These ecosystems are naturally-rich environments which consist of plants, animals, and microscopic organisms that function together as one, coinciding with the physical forest like environment. The various species of living organisms (biotic component) adapt to their surroundings (abiotic component) and form a process of life that is specific to this type of ecosystem. Anything affecting one part of the ecosystem will also affect the rest. This environment is great for water filtering and recycling, using the sun as its main source of energy. “Rainforests are home to probably 50 percent of the world's terrestrial species, making them an extensive library of biological and genetic resources. In addition, rainforests help maintain the climate by regulating atmospheric gases, stabilizing rainfall, protecting against desertification, and providing numerous other ecological functions” (Forces Behind Forest Loss, Butler, Rhett Butler). However, exploitation of these ecosystems has led to deforestation, which has greatly impacted the environment and disrupted these natural processes.

The strive to advance society and industry is slowly killing the forest ecosystems, which means alternative strategies must be implemented to prevent these environments from becoming extinct. It is estimated that over 80,000 acres of forest is destroyed on a daily basis. That is a horrifying statistic to comprehend. The reality of this situation means that everyday numerous plant species are wiped out, which drastically reduces the chances of discovering potential cures to illnesses such as HIV and cancer. Even indigenous cultures are now being forced out of their land due to capitalistic values regarding exploitation of materials. These people hold great knowledge of the rainforest and its’ powerful mysteries, but if they are eliminated then the secrets of the rainforest will be lost with them.  As these ecosystems continue to diminish in size and richness carbon levels are further increased in the atmosphere, greatly altering climatic conditions around the planet.

Desert ecosystems are vastly different than tropical rainforest environments but they do share one common trait, which is the fact that they both resemble settings capable of supporting life. These places are commonly referred to as oppressive environments due to their harsh living conditions, but in actuality deserts are biologically rich habitats. The sun creates solar energy that gets consumed by plants which is then converted into food. This fuels all life in the ecosystem. Plants normally compete for sunlight in other ecosystems, but in desert environments plants have adapted to minimizing the affects of taking in too much solar energy at once. A negative exploitation that people utilize deserts for is the incredible amount of open space that spreads for hundreds of miles. Mankind has turned these ecosystems into toxic waste dumps and nuclear weapon test sites. The leaders of our country assume that these arid settings resemble “dead” conditions that they are not sufficiently impacted in the aftermath of a detonation. The truth is that these radioactive munitions are contaminating the environment and the effects are long lasting, if not entirely irreversible.  

Depleted uranium (DU) is a radioactive element designed to give the United States complete military superiority over any, and all, opposing threats around the globe. Throughout several conflicts over the past few decades, the Middle East has been annihilated with depleted uranium weaponries. As a result, the exposed environment in those areas has been contaminated with radioactive particles. One can only imagine the horrific consequences that ensue after a DU weapon detonates in a populated region, but even more terrifying is the fact that radiation continues to contaminate the landscape long after the initial explosion. When analyzed and interpreted efficiently, this biological weapon, along with the military’s deceptive attempts to keep radiation levels a secret, are both valid components that identify this case as a perfect example of an environmental injustice to desert ecosystems.

The first time the United States employed depleted uranium as a weapon against an enemy was during the Gulf War (also known as Desert Storm) which began August 2, 1990, and lasted until February 28, 1991. It is estimated that over 9,640 tank shells and 850,000 aircraft 30mm rounds were used, which means that the Iraqi soil was contaminated with about 650,000 pounds of depleted uranium deposits (Pesic 9). DU makes up about 99% of U238, or uranium, and it is 1.7 times denser than lead, accrediting it as one of the heaviest materials found on the planet.  The half-life (amount of time it takes the radiation to decay half of its mass) of uranium is 4.5 billion years (Pesic 3).  This means that the DU weapons being used today will still be contaminating the earth billions of years from now.

Up to 70% of DU ammunition round can disintegrate upon impact, producing a toxic ceramic dust that is quite harmful (Johnson 1). The process of contamination begins when the round explodes into the earth, leaving behind traces of uranium embedded within the dirt. When it rains, water rushes over the uranium dust and the particles spread throughout the area; any living creature in the ecosystem that drinks from the water in these areas is contaminated from DU exposure to radiation (Johnson 1). The infected water supply then serves as a major problem for any living organism that relies on it. This weapon is a threat to life as we know it. It resembles a toxic plague that is slowly spreading throughout our planet, and the desert ecosystems are immorally victimized as a direct result. The radiation emitted from depleted uranium munitions is contributing to climatic conditions; killing off plants in exposed environments to the point where they will never be able to produce oxygen again. DU is giving our world cancer, and we as the human race need to find a cure for this environmental injustice before the situation becomes terminal.

Humanity is slowly killing itself, and the environment is along for the ride, but why does it have to be this way? Why can’t the human race learn to live in unison with the environment and each other instead of being so destructive and taking advantage of Earth’s precious resources? I guess I am just a wishful thinker, but maybe someday there will be a drastic and beneficial change in how we interact with the ecosystems existing on our planet.

BLESSING Baraka means blessing: a “blessing, or the breath, or the essence of life from which the evolutionary process unfolds.” Or, rather: benedición, blessun, zegen, all different words for the same thing. The wish or prayer for happiness or success.

Nature is our blessing. The snow from the sky, melting from the mountain tops, gives us life. The plants and animals give us sustenance. But so often, we forget where we came from and we don’t know where we are going. We are lost.

We are lost when we walk into the forest at night with the moon as our only guide. We are lost when we leave the city for the meandering roads of the country. We are lost when we run to escape a rainstorm or forget how it feels to make a snow angel or how to hear what isn’t spoken.

We are lost because we have forgotten our roots.

BEFORE In the photograph, I am four. My curly blond locks are a river in the wind. My eagle, a bald-headed god in the sky, takes flight, following me down to the docks and out to sea. He dives, I dive. I run from waves but I really want to be caught. Cold water laps at my ankles and I feel at home.

                this is my world

In the photograph, I am eight. Bending tree limbs down to the ground to create a refuge in the forest. Hide and seek, find me if you can. Nature is my playground and I am its plaything. A bed of pine needles is my perfect escape, my hideaway, my home. My brother hammers and hacks away at the tree to make his own.

                this is my world

In the photograph, I am ten. Swimsuit adorned with purple daises, fighting the cold of night with electric energy. I smile a crooked, innocent smile as I glance back at the camera. I dash down the splintery dock and jump, dive, splash. Puffy white clouds meet sapphire skies meet Coca-Cola-brown water meet my body slicing through silky waves.

                this is my world

In the photograph, I am thirteen. Writing poetry about the emptiness I thought I felt. Slowly forgetting the world outside my rain-drenched window. For a moment, I forgot what it felt like to live a life connected a life fragmented a life.

                this is my world

In the photograph, I am fourteen. Gutting fish is the means to an end. My dad makes money by killing things, and I’m an accomplice. It seems, at the time, that this is the way of the world. I rule, they die.

I gash. I gash and rotten blood squirts into my mouth. I gash and rotten blood squirts into my mouth and I realize that rotten blood is all there is.

                this is my world

In the photograph, I am twenty. The red rock arches drift behind me as I jump off a rock and into oblivion. The sunset reflects on my sunglasses and my smile. Excursions, my only connection to nature. Better than nothing, but nothing at all. Age has become more than just a number and my life looms before me. The camera looms before me. The arches loom before me. Before me is everything, but nothing at all.

                this is our world

NOW The evolutionary process unfolds. I am twenty-one and considering my relationship with nature: how it unfolds. I am twenty-one and wondering what happens next: how I unfold, how my future unfolds. I am twenty-one and wishing for happiness and success. My own Baraka, blessing, benedición. I try to reconnect with nature. My excursions are frequent, my unrest just as frequent. In my pottery class, we discussmconnection: “How can you expect to center a pot if you are not centered yourself?” How can you expect to understand nature if you do not understand yourself? How can you expect to love nature if you yourself cannot love, cannot be loved?

Understanding, love, connectedness, they are all blessings we are offered. They are our glimpses of possibility: a delicate red arch in the sunset a tree broken in wind and rage an eclipse breaking the sky a sea of monks praying for wholeness. Millions and millions of people, plants, animals, visions of nature. Every moment, every day, this is all there is.

            There were many different indigenous peoples shown who use nature for their religious purposes and rituals.  These people rely on their natural resources and the land around them for survival. While watching this movie it hit me that these people are still living in a society today that is much different than the way that we live here in America. We are very concerned about power and being successful and having money. It appeared to me that in the indigenous cultures in the movie such as those shown in Africa or Indonesia, that having jobs and making money isn’t a big deal to them. For them, their jobs consist of using the nature around them for their resources in order to survive, which is something different than what we do. One specific example I thought of us was how we are oil drilling in the Amazon. We justify it by saying that we are providing work for the people in that area. The truth is, they don’t rely on that type of work like we do. Their work is using their land and resources around them for survival. They don’t care about a big paycheck every two weeks like we do. This movie reminded me how we need to remember that not every culture acts the same way as us. We are affecting them much more than we realize when we wipe out their natural resources because that is their way of survival.

            The destruction of nature shown in the film is also eye-opening when you actually see it on camera. There are shots of the devastation on nature such as images of logging, blasting, and strip mining. The images of destruction on people include poverty, rapid urban life, and factories leading to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. All of these things show us just how much damage as a species we are doing to the world. We always hear about these things through different forms of media but actually seeing them happen on film and how they are affecting the world we live in, really gives a new perspective and truly makes us realize the effects we are placing on nature and our planet.

            One of the scenes that caught my attention the most was the time lapse shots in New York’s rush hour traffic. It was really different to see that way the traffic was moving in a sped up version. The background noise also made it seem as though you could hear the earth breathing. Another scene like this was the crowd walking through the subway platforms and on the streets of Tokyo. There were so many people it was like a sea of bodies storming into the streets every few seconds. It was amazing to see all the people in Tokyo and how many of them were walking around the city just in that time frame. It really makes the viewer realize how many people there are in this world, especially populated cities like the one shown, and how big of an impact we can have on the environment.

            Another text that we read which was similar was Through the Arc of the Rainforest. I feel that book portrayed the same type of message. Everyone on in the planet is living in harmony and using their resources within their means when all of the sudden money, power, and success get involved. We have all these different people who realize the influence that money can have on them and they try to make it so they have the most. This leads to a society that slowly falls apart. Another thing in the story is the use of the Matacoa and how it eventually leads to the end of their society. These people are slowly destroying their society and slowly in the process destroying themselves as a species.

                                                                                                                                                          PROPOSITION #1:

The rapid acceleration in global economic activity and our dramatically increased demands for critical, finite natural resources undermine our pursuit of continued economic prosperity.                                                                                                                                                

  In the publication Environment and Globalization: Five Positions by Adil Najam, David Runnalls, and Mark Hall, the authors present their theories on how environmentalism and globalization are connected. The first connection the authors make is between our demands for natural resources and how it “undermines our goals for economic prosperity”(10). Our population is growing and we lack the resources and money to compensate this growth.  Studies indicate, “that we already exceed the productive capacity of nature by 25% to 30% (11). If that is the case, we are already falling behind and desperately need to find a solution. Right now our own country is in turmoil due an economic recession; however, this should be the least of our worries. Even if we sort out our financial troubles, we still face the problem of how will be able to sustain that balance between economic growth and the use of natural resources. It is clear that if we are to survive as a species we must not ignore this connection or “decreased environmental stability will create more hostile conditions for economic growth and also place new pressures on international cooperation”(13).

                                                                                                                                                  PROPOSITION #4:

Consumption—in both North and South—will define the future of globalization as well as the global environment           

                                                                                                                                                            As mentioned earlier, our generation’s consumption has skyrocketed and continues to grow. Najam, Runnalls, and Hall agree that this concept will play a big part in our future economy and environmental discussions. This is one of the larger issues that I feel connects environmentalism and globalization perfectly. Our global economy cannot support the amount that our planet consumes. We cannot continue to drain our already limited resources or the outcome could be catastrophic. In Parable of the Sower, we see a post-apocalyptic world in which humans attack, steal, and even kill for basic resources such as water and food.  This setting foreshadows what could happen to our planet if we do not address this issue of consumption. Our global economy will fail if basic fundamental resources are not provided because “humanity’s ecological footprint…has increased to the point where the Earth is unable to keep up in the struggle to regenerate…”(22).

                                                                                                                                                                                      PROPOSITION #5:

Concerns about the global market and global environment will become even more intertwined and each will become increasingly dependent on the other.

                                                                                                                                                            In conclusion, globalization and environmentalism are fundamentally connected. It is evident that this connection will continue to intertwine and become increasingly complicated. Our booming population growth and the subsequent consumption continues to diminish our natural resources with no hopes of discovering an alterative source. Our never-ending political debates regarding our financial melt down will be in vein if we can’t balance growth and consumption of our natural resources. If we don’t make positive strides in finding and agreeing on a solution, Parable of the Sower may just become reality.

                    Bibliography

      "globalization." Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 05 Dec. 2012. <Dictionary.comhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/globalization>.

“Available poetry seasonings”

(after tao lin’s “A Poem Written By a Bear”)

I felt slowly I'm on the floor  I was kind 2 her I saw trees and other hunters I embrace it I thought salmon and 

fake tree in the park which means sadness and confusion and sometimes my partner ate rat and human  disaster items. I had salmon. 

chiffon salmon is very good and is only seen. On top of this chiffon salmon, I eat a synthetic material, ate some CD I want, and still sing. Cell foam should pursue mall bathroom.

I follow this season, try to live in moose, cry for whether salmon can feel coke feel because the river is not a formula. No incentives ever sat in a circle I don’t cry anymore for that. 

rum and my God it is too cold. It will Shoot your big day ruined. I go to bed now you can not walk Why was the focus of this “chiffon”? 

When it comes to the man who wants, it is a very sad man, a shopping sad man.

“Semen Economics” 

Before

Whoops I just punched a wall. Gently. With a blanket made in china. After I did I thought “globalism.” and then nothing else for a while.

As far as experiences, would give it a 7.5. 

People who share beds are sharing the experience of hurtling rapidly through space for several hours at a time together. That is why otters hold hands.

Where my right arm should be.

What is the opposite of a bird?

After

Split constellation or "globalization." Some types of ownership change and hope in milky white about 2 minutes Cum fast deformation. 

Milky white to fit in the bed of the economy, and there is a problem with the economy flight deck 

My own room My own poor sex otter of a room, each wall panel says, because the concept of space in the frame, because time is time, do not need a party If you emotional. 

Prices are in the world. My focus. Commercial or residential bed experience for free. About a 7.5 

Some thoughts about trees

“What” is the opposite of a bird.

“the only thing I remember”

the only thing i will remember about my chinese violin teacher’s wife’s funeral after she shot herself and left a brown stain on the floor in the teaching room by the picture window which she might have done by spilling a plant or shooting herself the only thing i remember 

i was 9 or 10

is her friend at the podium at the church telling stories 

the only thing I can remember: “why do americans put cheese on everything?” 

i can’t even remember what she looked like.

“doctor science”

the toaster investigates how bread becomes toast / when bread becomes toast (for me it is when the bread goes in and you cannot pull it out before it’s done) this kind of feeling of inner heat and making toast is the only thing true right now 

although i am, now anxious i will die although i am now anxious, i will die although i am now, anxious i will die 

i briefly forgot this anxiety exists and that is what living is. 

(this is me ascribing you with cultural values this is me performing performativity this is me refusing to feel your love)

until the toast burns and becomes nothing science is self-correcting art lets itself make mistakes and celebrates those mistakes

i can only work on my poems when i shouldn’t be working on my poems

this poem grew less significant the more i wrote it this is my science

"&A"

            (after Bhanu Kapil Rider’s “Twelve Questions”)

1. Yes, but only after it has gone bitter and the water whistles again. 

2. One time. Once. The rest are of lower quality. 

3. Through a screen made of woven hemp fibers.

4. Walk nine blocks north of here, right at the courthouse, three more blocks, and look straight left and right. A question of class and choice. 

5. “Fabriquè en Chine, dangereux?”

6. Only the top two leaves of every plant.

7. When the water stops burning my hand.

8. What I remember is how I could not get the smell of bergamot oil off my skin for days.

9. It dialogues with ideas of seriality.

10. From the time I was smaller there was always a fixation with the sensation of red clay on more and more string callused hands.

11. To be slashed and dragged like a bread then dances with wolves.

12. It kind of feels like when taking a handful of pills on an empty stomach. Remember the first time near the window with the spruce tree when it was fun once the first time.

  “How to plane” (after Trevor Paglen’s ‘Code Names’)

Adobe boat features cuisine absorption Enjoy the experience Provided:             a blueprint for some skills,             and just a simple young crash kit.             and Unprecedented blueprint of recommendations.

1.     Before replacement the head superstar, 2.     The accordion road, many hands of architectural models, 3.     By dragging a combination of Orange, Africa, and gold accordion boat,  4.     on the selection of the type of building, I would feel like arf 5.     absorb ambient Falcon ship,         (to cover the coverage model)  6.     survival barrel man hunting amber that is worth something I want to scratch.  7.     When Amazon has launched each lamb mixture, a system of analysis to improve to the responsiveness. 8.     only the basics of your preparation time, maintenance are met 9.     Thursday, football Falcon Gold Apollo II lion cat Crystal American Eagle Airlines 10. you are ready to fly and try name the manufacturer of frustration & try 

(Building materials to build the kit and cut their own wishes, so you know, basically, arf substantially.)

“roof diving 7 times”

    (after “Cliff Diving off a Waterfall - Red Bull Cliff Diving Exhibition 2012 Slovenia”)

1. No, I do not think in the hope of somehow I do not know that. I do not know what spirit you can see where you are. 

They say that I like Marlboro Skylights and I'm little. I want to feel and know  How to jump start a kind of multi-fork 

2. I like that. not knowing. you know a lot of things and I looked at them, 

Look at me, there's really hope I found the light it means That I know Anything and everything know the places writing makes you go 

3. In the light, as found. All fear, All chase, You, In front of you.

It was here in this concept

4. Some come to know you, and water. This can be very dangerous. Kin fog 

5. I'm going to jump you know I do not ask, so My Salt is the best of me 

6. This is me deceased on roof 

a place is still and all blood I know is me dissolved 

you figure I want interesting and see I see that thinking being together being better slaughtering luminous books some of places and the bloom blood pumping I know the sky, and you say that I should have jumped. 

7. We have only the air And many, many places I started with something interesting in itself 

However, in the air, I knew the waterfall 

8.

Talk to Heaven. Through your wallet.

“Everyone dies in Juneau” after Sesshu Foster

                In the novel So Far From God we have the story mainly revolving around a mother and her four daughters.  Sofi, Fe, Caridad, Esperanza and La Loca each had their own set of problems to deal with all as different as could be.  No matter what their problem they all ended up relating to the land and becoming connected to it one way or another.  For Caridad the land had given her new life and ended up catching her in death as she jumped off a cliff.  For Fe, she had become exploited in a similar manner that the land was disgraced with the factory pollution; it took her essence with it as well as her life.  For Esperanza, even though she had died in other region of the world, she still managed to come back to the land of her ancestors in death.  As for la loca the land was where she had died and been resurrected only to later die once more in the same place.  These connections further solidified my thoughts that all land is connected to each of us someway whether we notice it or not.  Land and nature gives us all something and can even take away as well.  It can give us peace, freedom, pleasure, food, space or it can take away our health, cause death and devastation through natural disasters or even disrupt a nice day with natural species such as insects or poisonous plants.  The land gives as well as it takes just as we do the same to it.  There is good and bad in all things on earth, even in the land.  Land gives us so much and also has the potential to take away so much from us. We can give to the land and take away from it as well, the only difference is that we take much more than we can return because the land is so giving.

                In the novel Through the Arc of the Rainforest we have several characters exploit something throughout the novel whether they meant to or not.  For Kazumasa, his abnormal floating ball helped him find excess of matacao plastic deposits to use by a major corporation which ended up bringing more money to it.  Mane Pene first used bird feathers to heal and then lead to the global exploitation of birds for their feathers.  Batista, the pigeon tamer, helped one pigeon but then his wife managed to exploit tons of them.  This novel led me to the idea of want.  This let me realize that modern humans can’t help but want things in this world; material goods are a part of modern society.  Unless you can live as a recluse who survives off of the land and aren’t exposed to modern day society then you will want something.  All these somethings add up, even if it’s a small something, it adds to the global pile of want and this is what is ensuing all of our ecological problems. Because we want, we consume and we end up destroying or devastating along the way.  Maybe if we didn’t want then the world might be a better place.  Actually I’m quite sure if we all didn’t have this idea of want or need of want then the world would certainly be a better place not only for us but the environment as well.  Because we want we suffer, that is all we strive for in life is to obtain what we want.  If we didn’t want then there would be no disappointment in life.  If we didn’t want then there would be less need to take from nature.

                Lastly in the novel The Word for World is Forest we see that there is no end to the ecological epidemic that has taken place in the future as humans move on to spread this epidemic to another world as soon as it becomes possible to do so.  We also see that there is no respectable regard for life in this pursuance of obtaining ecological goods no longer available on earth, even if the life on this planet closely relates to the human species.  The native plant life gets destroyed and the native animal species have their cultures dramatically changed forever for the worst with the introduction of violence. In this story, humans just can’t help but destroy any environmental qualities contained anywhere in the universe, we are doomed to destroy any form of nature.  This story let me realize that animal like qualities or being referred to as wild is a characteristic we use to describe things that we label as being either different from what we know or want to know or even just not meeting the standards we would like to see or are used to seeing.  This story also let me see that the true definition of being labeled as wild or animal like is something that best describes our own species in comparison to any other known species.  The Athsheans weren’t wild but instead the humans were.  The astheans may have had animal like characteristics but in the end they were more human than the humans and the humans were the ones that ended up being the most animal like of all. So then who ends up being the animal like species in the end?  The answer is one that we are all not willing to accept or would much rather ignore.

                James is sent back in time back in time to try and find any information about the source of the virus that wiped out 99% of the world’s population, but left animals to be rulers of the planet. Was that the intention of the creator and one who spread the virus? Or what if this happen to us, are we as a human population going to rid ourselves of fresh breathable air? Something James says frequently in while visiting the past is how much he loves the fresh air and the light. When sent back in time the first point, James is sent to an institution where he meets Jeffrey, who later becomes the leader of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. In the institution many of the films themes are presented as well as an excellent example of the captivating cinematography. The camera angle is slanted, and moves around quickly as Jeffrey bounces around sporadically giving James a tour. Jeffrey talks about games, and the television repeatedly; Looney tunes like cartoons are playing on the TV screen, fitting with the way the institution seems. Jeffrey gets worked up talking about TV saying, “Look, listen, kneel, pray, commercials.” Then goes on to say something along the lines of; “What are you if you don’t buy a lot of stuff I ask? Mentally ill.” The themes of mental illness and craziness come up constantly. Kathryn is a psychiatrist that is the first person to treat James like a human, and also who eventually believes James; this was before James is taken to the institution. At the mental institution James is sat in front of a board of psychiatrist and doctors, he tries to explain to him that he is there- to trace the path of the virus- and that he is from the future that they are living in the past. Is the virus an image of what our consumption is like? The film makes me think if the virus is meant to be our neglect and disregard for care of the planet and its animals.    

                    Time is an interesting theme in this film, something Jeffrey said to James in the institution about how you can’t watch TV shows that have already happened, “…couldn’t turn back time.” To me relating this to the environment and considering the virus as humankind’s destruction of the world, we aren’t able to go back and change those mistakes we have made, we can revisit what has happened though and try to learn from it. James says something to the effect of this in the theater towards the end of the film with Kathryn talking about the movie they’re watching, he saw it when he was younger but he is remembering it differently now; “…it's like what's  happening to us, like the past.  The movie never changes- it can't change- but every time you see it, it seems to be different because you're different- you notice different things.” When we look at our past, we learn different things about ourselves as a race, depending on the current state of things and culture the way we view and reflect on the past may change, but the past never can change. The opening scene, James’s reoccurring dream throughout the film, is an example of this he remembers bits and pieces of it and at one point sees it play out differently than it actually did. This was because of what he was experiencing at the time, meeting Jeffrey, so Jeffrey appeared as a person in his dream. The dream is one of the most blatant images in the film; it plays out the same every time, convincing me more that there was nothing James could have changed, only his present self.

Desert Monologue

With the passing of another flood, the sandstone lays out to dry in the springtime sun, exhaling a sigh of content.  The torrent of water has left him feeling rejuvenated, the tumbling boulders massaging the knots and hard edges from his planar face.  The porous stone bids farewell to Winter, who is slowly packing up and leaving for a season of Southern migration.  Goodbye northern shadows, the sandstone utters.  The shade creeps into the dirt like a worm hiding from the heat.  He will miss Winter and the soft silence his old friend brings.  He doesn’t chatter as much as Spring- rather he rests solemnly in the sandstone overhangs, enjoying the quiet reprieve Desert has to offer.  He smiles only when the buzzing flakes of snow fall to the ravine floor and drape a blanket over the deep red rocks.  It sends them into slumber, clearing the climbers from their walls and forcing cactus wrens to refuge.  The snow creates the deepest of silences: the sound of Winter’s soliloquy.

  Cricket Soliloquy

  Cricket song reverberates

Swollen pulses through black night.

  One.  One Cricket.

One.  One Cricket.

  Under blackened window crying

For company the creature clings.

  Lone.  Lone cricket.

Lone.  Lone cricket.

  Swollen symphony poignantly

Comprised of two quivering wings.

  Instruments which beckon another

Cricket.  Cricket.  Cricket.

    Habitat

The contriving mountain beckons me home:

I watch the granite glint as it studies the moon,

And back together my heart is sewn.

  Feet are sunk in healthy loam

Where crisping leaves are autumn strewn.

The contriving mountain beckons, beckons me home.

  I tip toe, wander, widely roam

through woodland purring its cradling croon:

And back together my heart is sewn.

  Sandstone hollows are my whispering dome,

where echoes intersect, invent. Attune.

The contriving mountain beckons me home.

  The babbling river’s blubbered foam

Spins in spirals gently hewn.

Back together my heart is sewn.

  Here in the city’s synthetic chrome

Troubled in a crazed typhoon,

The contriving mountain beckons me home-

Back together, where my heart can be sewn.

                                                 Homeland of Harmony

Home is not something built with two by fours that any framer can build.  It is not a constructed experience or a concrete memory.  Perhaps it is a hidden fragment of an unidentified connection, a shard lodged within the being, a piece of a whole. Maybe home is not a place of origin.

Home is a chord- perfectly in tune as if every member of the orchestra hits their note with precision, and the whole compilation of harmony blends into one wavelength.  You can hear the frequency- the notes are unified and the vibrations soar through the air in v-shaped form like a flock of geese.  The notes work together, each one drafting at the wing of another until it is their turn to lead the harmony.  There is no dissonance in this flock of sounds, no sharp honks or disruptive caws that invoke uneasy goose bumps. The flock has no flat or dragging members in its harmonious team.  Their melody crescendos and diminishes, crashes in your heart like the curling cerulean wave against the shallow sand bar where they land and rest.  And this flock flies you into the homeland of harmony.

There are many segments of this book that implicitly reference violent periods of human history. The one that stands out the most is the connection between the Vietnam War and this book. Some of the fighting techniques used in the text seem to be directly pulled out of historical records of the war. For example deforestation was a fighting method in the book as well as in the Vietnam campaign. Also the use of “fire jelly” and flamethrowers in the book coincide with the use of fire in fighting the Vietnamese. It is not surprising that so many connections can be made between this book and the war because the novel was published in 1976 and was based on Le Guin’s novella produced during the Vietnam War. However this is not the only connection to human violence in the book.

The colonization of this planet is very similar to the European colonization of the Americas. In the text humans came to the planet, found preexisting humanoids and still claimed the land as their own. When North America was first discovered we knew that Native Americans called it their home but we still moved in and forced them out or killed them. In both scenarios the invading humans viewed themselves as superior and thus entitled to the land. It is also interesting that in both scenarios the best way humans could find to remove the natives was through violent means and threats.

The colonization in the text is also comparable to the European colonization of Africa in the nineteenth century. During this time period there was a meeting held called The Berlin Conference in which European nations gathered to divvy up the continent of Africa. Following this, each nation established colonies and began to export goods from these colonies back to their homeland. The native Africans were treated poorly in this process and often punished for revolt by violence. One specific ecological issue that arose at this time was the decimation of the rubber tree in the Congo due to over harvesting. In the book we are presented with captain Don Davidson who calls himself a “world tamer.” Apparently he was sent to this planet to construct a colony and extract the valuable timber. There was also other colonies set up on the distant planet in order to provide the much-needed lumber for Earth. In the process of building a colony and cutting down the forests, the humans disregarded the native Athsheans. It was even mentioned how by clear-cutting the many of the Athsheans were killed and their homes destroyed. This seems familiar to how Europe felt entitled to the resources of Africa and used violent and destructive means to extract such assets.

Another connection Le Guin makes to the atrocities of human nature can be seen in the enslavement of the Athsheans. The invasive humans felt they were more intelligent and thus superior to the “Creechies”. Because of this they enslaved them to aid with work and make life on the planet easier. Throughout the enslavement process the Athsheans were treated terribly as if they did not have the same rights as humans. It was even stated in the book that they are more like robots than men. Because of this dehumanization of the Athsheans they were treated horribly. At one point Davidson shows the ultimate form of disrespect by raping and killing one of the females. Davidson also nearly beats one of the male Athsheans to death when he tries to avenge his wife after the rape. These incidences are not far different to what happened when slavery was at its height. During the slave trade it was not uncommon for white men to rape their black slaves. They would also beat slaves and sometimes even kill them for not obeying orders. Another connection I found between the book and human enslavement was the use of a derogatory term to describe the enslaved population. I believe that the word “Creechie” was intended to be the equivalent of “Nigger.” Humans used both these words as a way to look down upon people they were enslaving. It was a form of making them seem unequal so it was easier to remove their rights.

Because Davidson and the other humans do not understand the native inhabitants, the Athsheans are imprisoned, mischaracterized, and exploited.  The ignorant attitudes that Davidson perpetuates allows slavery and abuse to occur unchecked while also creating an environment that harbors violence. Once the killing starts, it spins out of control and cannot be stopped.

            “They’re going to get rubbed out sooner or later, and it might as well be sooner… Primitive races always have to give way to civilized ones. Or be assimilated. But we sure as hell can’t assimilate a lot of green monkeys.” –Captain Davidson, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (Le Guin 21)

              The Other is a societal outcast who does not share characteristics with the dominant group and fails to conform to societal norms. Because of this perceived difference, the Other is often regarded as “less intelligent or as immoral, and may even be regarded as sub-human” (CUNY par 1).  In the first chapter, we enter Davidson’s mind and are privy to his thoughts and feelings about this new world, Athshe, and its enslaved inhabitants. Captain Davidson believes the “creechies” are not human and uses this analogy to justify his maltreatment of them. According to Davidson the Athsheans are, “tough; they’ve got terrific endurance; and they don’t feel pain like humans. You think hitting one is like hitting a kid, sort of. Believe me, it’s more like hitting a robot for all they feel it… you know they don’t feel anything, no pleasure, no pain” (Le Guin 19).  

            Davidson is able to treat the Athsheans like objects simply because they have taken on the role of the Other. They do not look or behave like Terran humans, they live in the forest and they do use the same language Captain Davidson does. To him, the Athsheans are green, furry, catatonic, and lazy animals that should be forced into usefulness. He doesn’t recognize that they have a complex matriarchal government, speak a complex language, and maintain a dream-centered culture in which they partially communicate through touch. The Athsheans are intelligent and advanced, but Davidson views them only as alien creatures deserving no rights who should be made to work for the humans.

            “Right but this isn’t slavery, Ok baby. Slaves are humans. When you raise cows, you call that slavery? No. And it works.”  -Captain Davidson, Ursula K.  Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (Le Guin 18)

            One way to think of the Other and the ideologies that allow us to propel fellow humans into this category is to put them into what University of Texas, El Paso philosophy professor Steven Best calls “a moral basement” (Best par 13). At the bottom of our moral and ethical hierarchy lay the animals; they are the lowliest and most frequently brutalized group within Western society. Best writes that animals function as a foundation for all oppression because, “animals - defined as ‘brute beasts’ lacking ‘rationality’ - thereby provided the moral basement into which one could eject women, people of color, and other humans deemed to be subhuman or deficient in (Western male) ‘humanity’" (Best par 13). When we want to put the Other into a moral basement all we must do is compare that person to an animal.

            Or better yet for the abuser, the Other is made to believably become that animal.  Captain Davidson does this in his rhetoric regarding “creechies”. The term “creechie” is animalistic and demeaning; it strips the Athsheans of their humanity.  Not only does Davidson deny that the Athsheans can feel pain, he also compares them to animals and essentially puts the native people into a moral basement.  Davidson explains, “These things weren’t even that highly developed, they were just like snakes or rats, just smart enough to turn around and bite you as soon as you let them out of the cage” (Le Guin 94) . By making the “creechies” subhuman, the Terran Humans can feel ethically allowed to control and dominate them as they please.

                “Their dreams were uneasy and full of blood and fire; they were surrounded all day by strangers, people come from all over the forests, hundreds of them, thousands, all gathered here like kites to carrion…it seemed to them as if the end of things had come and nothing would ever be the same, or be right, again.” –The Athsheans, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (Le Guin 137-138)

              Violence creates violence. Captain Davidson’s rape of Thele leads to the massacre at Smith Camp and the killing of about two hundred men. The Smith Camp murders lead to Davidson’s further retaliation and slaughter of an Athshean village. Davidson firmly believes in an eye for an eye mentality and wants the “creechies” to suffer for killing his men. Again, to Davidson, this is acceptable because they are the Other; subhuman, animalistic and unfeeling. He believes the Athsheans should have never dared to defy their human captors and because they did, they will burn. Davidson embodies the traditional Western male mentality that might makes right and the stronger should subdue the weak. Davidson is masculine and “a big, hard muscled man” (Le Guin 11) who believes that anyone who is not like him is “effeminate like a lot of intellectuals” (Le Guin 24). He was sent to dominate and weaken the Other, as well as to conquer and destroy the land for profit, which is a story that has been repeated throughout the history of Western Colonization; Davidson only serves as its poster boy.

            Selver, however, only wants to preserve his people and his forest from harm. He kills because he knows that there is no way to reason with humans; they only respond to violence. Selver describes the human propensity for killing which Captain Davidson embodies when he asks, “Do men kill men, except in madness? Does any beast kill its own kind? Only the insects. These yumens kill as lightly as we kill snakes. The one who taught me said they kill own another in quarrels, and also in groups, like ants fighting” (Le Guin 44). Killing, to the Athsheans, is not a normal part of life and has nothing to do with being masculine. To Davidson, on the other hand, murder is an essential piece of male virility. He explains that, “the fact is, the only time a man is really and entirely a man is when he’s just had a woman or just killed another man” (Le Guin 96). The Athshean’s culture was devoid of warfare until they met Terran humans and adapted their customs to match it. We know from Lyubov’s research that Athsheans did not kill each other naturally and that murder is not a part of their society until Terran humans arrived.

            “‘There has been no more killing, then?’

                ‘None. They will tell you,’ Selver said, nodding toward the Colonel and Gosse.

                ‘Among your own people, I mean The Athsheans killing Athsheans.’

                Selver was silent.” –Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (Le Guin 188)

              Davidson’s men and their Western ideologies infiltrated and destroyed Athshean culture from the inside out by introducing them to warfare and blind violence. Selver, as their leader, introduced murder to his people and is called a God. Lyubov discovered that the Athshean word for God is the same as the word for translator and explains, “And the translator is the God. Selver had brought a new word into the language of his people. He had done a new deed. The word, the deed, murder. Only a God could lead so great a newcomer as Death across the bridge between worlds.” (Le Guin 124) After the Athsheans destroy Central, the killing cannot be stopped. Davidson has introduced brutality and murder to the Athsheans and now they cannot help but kill each other. Selver learns that violence cannot be ended suddenly and that it only perpetuates itself. He is a God because he has changed the course of history but he is not omniscient and could not have known that the Athsheans would be transformed forever by his leadership.

            “We have killed, raped, dispersed, and enslaved the native humans, destroyed their communities, and cut down their forests. It wouldn’t be surprising if they decided that we are not human.” –Lyubov, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (Le Guin 75)

              The humans came to Athshe to conquer it, cut down the trees for profit and assimilate the natives.  While the Athsheans did not necessarily conform to Davidson’s ideals, they did implement war and killing. If murder is what makes us human, then it is clear that the Athsheans did fully assimilate. They became one of many tribes of humans throughout the universe that frequently kill each other. Although the forest has been preserved, Athshean culture has not. Selver has changed it permanently by assimilating his values to match Davidson’s. He murders because Davidson taught him how to kill and hate.

            The Athshean’s delicate society was doomed from the moment the humans arrived. They could conform to slavery or retaliate and fight for their physical freedom. Captain Davidson and his men could not be reasoned with and brute force had to be used against them. In this manner, Athshean culture ended the moment its people became slaves. In defeating the Terran humans, the Athshean’s lost their own humanity. This narrative’s theme of peaceful societies becoming violent seems to represent the duality of human kind. We ask for peace and say that to be peaceful is to be truly human, yet we cannot seem to exist in a world without violence (at least on a large societal scale).  The paradox of simultaneously desiring peace while committing and condoning murder (be it through warfare, the death penalty, denial of basic needs to others, etc.) makes us more animalistic than we’d like to think.

                              Works Cited

Best, Steven, Ph.D. "The Rise of Critical Animal Studies." The Rise of Critical Animal Studies.        State of Nature: An Online Journal of Radical Ideas, 2007. Web. 04 Dec. 2012.             <http://www.stateofnature.org/theRiseOfCriticalAnimal.html>.

Le Guin, Ursula K. The Word for World Is Forest. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 1972. Print.