"It will do us no good to protect the rivers and air of North America, if global warming imperils the whole show. It will do us no good to engineer our way out of global warming, if we build a wall along our border to keep out people upon whose labor our entire economy depends, people dying of thirst on the path out of poverty. “Re-framing” means enlarging the context of the environmental story."
This general idea relating to the scale of environmental writing and issues definitely stood out from Alison "Not Nathaniel" Hawthorne Deming's article. It is true, without a doubt. Theses issues all balance against each other like an elaborate million-straw sculpture. If one that's the base for others collapses, the rest can fall in a chain-reaction.
Think the Butterfly Effect, or the theory summarized by 'a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere can contribute to a hurricane coming through a coast.' Events that seem unexpected to influence each other can influence each other at larger scales. Poverty, for example, can influence nature, as it does race, gender, education, etc. These things interconnect, but can be imbalanced by unhealthy influences.
Consider that in relation to being a writer. A person writing a piece on the environment can change things for the better in the world, despite not thinking that sort of outcome is possible. The chance of it happening will always be zero if the writer never takes that step.
What do you think? Is this being over-pompous? Or is the possibility to do good through writing very real and more possible than one would think?
As always, I'd love to hear what you think.
-a salt-water creature that is not aware of his grandmother's son's presence
I don't think that one article/essay/piece can act as a butterfly, however, getting a conversation started, using that essay as a stepping stone toward research, communication, dialogue and real tangible steps isn't out of the realm of possibility. I think that if writers want to be catalysts to change, we have to be willing to put the work in, we have to be willing to wear multiple hats. Advocate, researcher, activist. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that sitting at a desk writing an essay about what should be changed isn't going to do anything. Having experiences, knowing the facts and creating hard hitting work that forces discussions might.
ReplyDeletealso, wheres ur pops