Friday, June 03, 2011
Wasteland
Industrial culture, where everything and everyone is a commodity to be consumed, does not concern itself with sustainability or morality. What was once sacred -- be it a river, mountain or forest -- is simply a resource to be bought and sold.
Indigenous culture, which forms the bedrock of our consciousness and heritage as a species, has become yet another commodity. When they no longer exist, due to climate change and other manifestations of industrial life, they will be consumed in museums and pageants commemorating the extinction of sacredness.
As extinction of cultures and species proceed apace, memory will become another worldly project archived on CDs, DVDs and hard drives, curated for the benefit of generations no longer able to experience unpolluted landscapes, food, or ideas. Busy battling starvation, toxic waste and plagues, these novelties will no longer serve to inspire, but rather serve as quaint distractions from what will be an infested wasteland.
Indigenous culture, which forms the bedrock of our consciousness and heritage as a species, has become yet another commodity. When they no longer exist, due to climate change and other manifestations of industrial life, they will be consumed in museums and pageants commemorating the extinction of sacredness.
As extinction of cultures and species proceed apace, memory will become another worldly project archived on CDs, DVDs and hard drives, curated for the benefit of generations no longer able to experience unpolluted landscapes, food, or ideas. Busy battling starvation, toxic waste and plagues, these novelties will no longer serve to inspire, but rather serve as quaint distractions from what will be an infested wasteland.
