Blog #9

The article Ecological Realism by Andre Gorz focuses on the relationship of mankind with the environment. Gorz takes a very negative view on societies current outlook on the world, pointing out that industrial growth has had very noticeable and devastating changes on the environment around us. He points out that even with no industrial growth we are still using up finite resources, and in our present state of very rapid growth, we will begin to run out of resources perhaps within the lifetimes of our children. Gorz is very adamant in making his points seem very dire, that the extinction of the human race is only a matter of years away. He is a firm believer in reduction of resources, and a lessening of our co dependence on finite materials. Ecological realism, he states is exactly how it sounds, the reality that we are running out of the things that make our societies work, and furthermore are polluting our planet to the point that extinction is becoming more and more of an inevitability should we fail to change our ways.

While I agree with the core of Gorz argument, I believe he may have been somewhat harsh. Reading his article I was struck with what I perceived as a touch of fear mongering, this I take point against. As much as I believe that we as a species need to change in order to create a better planet, I don't believe the way to change people is through fear. We know that terrorism is bad, but wasn't the U.S. governments policy of spreading fear to scare the American people into war wrong as well? I believe what people need is not another fear campaign but a rational, reasonable, and possibly most importantly, unbiased explanation of how things are and what we need to do to change. I think that this is the best way to get any point across, if you believe in something, it only causes a panic to get people to see things your way through fear. Instead, inform them as an equal and explain the state that we are in and tell them what their options are, any sane minded individual would see the importance of preserving our planet in order to not only preserve our survival, but also our the survival of our children.