In today's class, we discussed the application of the word greed to our culture. It was argued that the term was not suitable, it was an oversimplification, and that it is a perfect descriptor for Western consumer culture. I think that greed has become an inherent and ingrained feature of global consumer culture. Our cultural system encourages us to define status based on the size of our homes and salaries, the number of cars we have in the garage, and the number of material items we possess. In "The Green Halo," Kohak refers to the ignorance of the affluent and their desire to possess so many things is highly damaging to the Earth. I agree that a desire for a high-end lifestyle is damaging, especially when millions of people are attempting to live this way.
However, can ignorance be titled greed especially when people are taught to live this way from a very young age?
Right now, most people view nature as a resource that serves to provide humans with the materials they need to continue to live an affluent lifestyle. People fail to realize that Earth is a living, complex system and humans are only one component of this system. If we continue to abuse the Earth and use up the resources that all living beings are dependent on, we will hurt both other species and ourselves. In order to combat this, the major lifestyle change we need is education. Because ecological ethics and environmentalism has become a purely political issue, most people only see divided arguments and feel that they can only be conservative or a tree hugger. People need to understand how damaging their lifestyle is, the pertinence of the problem and be educated on how to change their lifestyles in order to achieve positive effects.
I totally agree with you on the topic of western greed. i think it is why we are in this ecological condition right now where we are faced with seriously altering our lifestyle in order to survive or continuing on in what you called an ingnorant lifestlye. this is where i disagree with you though. I truly believe that the majority of our fellow human beings know exactly what they are doing when they buy the suburban that gets 7 mpg or toss a can out of the window, or support drilling in wildlife areas. the Western mentality is that "I will live my life the way i want to...let everyone else make the difference" well the problem is that everyone has this mentality and nothing is getting done. It is not ignorance it's stupidity. I was at my little brother's soccer practice waiting to pick him up and was talking to one of the moms whose son I had played with when a huge, full sized ford excursion (i think it is literaly the biggest car a civilian can buy) pull up. It had a six inch lift kit, a rugged luggage rack and some new exhaust system. this thing looked military. I asked my friend's mom who it was and if she lived on a farm or something (the only thing i cold think of to justify the size of this thing was a catle ranch or something) she laughed and replied that the owner lived in the burbs. It is this stupidity of older generations that is causing our generation to fix what might already be un fixable. Education about the environment is key but i feel like the majority of ppl already know its in trouble; they just choose to ignore the problem
ReplyDeleteI think Kevin is right. People seem to know that we're in big trouble, that we can't keep doing things the way we're doing them, and they just do it anyway. Like the way agriculture is practiced today. You can't just keep degrading the soil and expect to farm the same, vast monoculture there forever, and as insects and weeds evolve to become more and more resistant to pesticides and herbicides, we can't just keep spraying more and more of the same stuff on it (and yet, we do). Another example is our dependence on fossil fuels. We've known for years and years that someday, we will run out (disregard the fact that burning fossil fuels pollutes the air, contributes to global warming, and causes vast habitat disruption) and yet... we're still burning coal and gasoline. It's not fair to future generations. If we don't live sustainably today, there won't be a tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that to some extent greed has become ingrained into Western culture such that it might be deemed mere ignorance, I believe the term "greed" is still applicable, even if it is taught beginning at a very early age. The fact that many people view nature as merely a resource rather than something that must also be preserved does not mean that it is permissible to explain it away as ignorance. People have the freedom to choose how they act. When they waste resources and contribute to the destruction of the environment, they are choosing to accept the ideals of Western culture.
ReplyDeleteThere is hope, however. The Western lifestyle may impress greed upon all, but even being taught it early on does not mean it is the only thing people are exposed to. In our society, many people choose to sacrifice for the good of others, whether they volunteer their talents or donate money or goods. Greed may be prominent, but it can be tempered if people so choose.