Ishamel Chapters 5-8

When I take breaks from this book to read other things, I find the writing style very refreshing. Right of the bat I was excited to read more analyses of humanity and our ways of thinking, and I wasn't let down. I love the way he describes our relationship to the earth; We believe we were put here to conquest it, and will keep on attempting to conquest every single part of nature until we "rule" over nature. This way of thinking reminds me of Eaarth and McKibben's talk of acidifying oceans, increased tropical storms, wild fires, general unpredictability of nature. And I can't help but feeling smug on Nature's behalf: we're no match.

"Until the last three or four decades, the people of your culture had no doubt that things were just going to go on getting better and better and better forever. There was no conceivable end in sight." This line brings to mind all of the dystopian future movies that have been released within the last ten years or so. It makes me think that perhaps our culture collectively feels a sense of foreboding; That perhaps we know we've gone too far, abused too long, put out of mind long enough the damage we're wreaking on our planet.

Coexist!!! Taken in my backyard.

One of my favorite parts of the reading was in Ch. 7 part 2, when Ishmael is talking about "wild life" and how humans understand it vs. how it actually functions. He establishes that there is a fundamental law of peace that allowed all creatures and "Homo sapiens sapiens" to live peacefully on Earth for three million years, but that when Humans decided that we were exempt from this law, that Nature was ours for the taking and it was made for us, is when the destruction of Earth began. "'Their explanation is that something is fundamentally wrong with people.' 'Not that you Takers may be doing something wrong but rather that there is something fundamentally wrong with human nature itself.'" I love this part. It's revealing of the psychology that allows us to go on living with the fact that we're trashing the planet. While it's exciting to read this book because of what it reveals of human nature, it's simultaneously discouraging because you realize how right Ishmael is about all of our flaws.

Last but not least, Ishmael's reveal of the law that allows Nature to coexist, diversity, brings it all home for me. This is truly what we've lost touch with. For me it brings to mind the fact that we're killing off our bees with pesticides and chemicals. I recently read this article about the creation of small robots/drones that pollinate flowers. We're trying, once again, to rise above nature, say to nature "we don't need you," instead of being humble enough to admit what we're doing wrong and fix it.