Our energy efficient culture (is not so energy efficient)
When I think about how we humans have used our natural resources I have to sigh. I mean it's really a shame how much we have wasted. There is no area that we have not plundered. Anything that has not been completely ravaged by modern people is because it has been purposefully 'saved' (at least for the moment) or because we just haven't got around to it yet. Meanwhile, we have had the knowledge and the ability not to continue in this way for quite some time. In fact, we (humans) have done it in the past. For example, it's safe to say that the Americas were relatively pristine before the last few hundred years. We can manage our resources better (and some companies do) and usually that proves to create more resources over a longer period of time - like indefinitely. And we also can practice and create energy efficiency (and some do). We also already know how to do that and have for some time. So what are we to do? It is all very simple yet extraordinarily complicated. The politics, the money, the differing opinions, the differing values, the lack of education, the education, and ultimately the desire and the consciousness that allows us to fumble the precious gift we have all been given. One thing is clear and that is that there is great opportunity. Nature has taught us about interconnection and interdependence. All we have to do is apply this to our technologies and cities on a massive scale. Oh, and we just have learn how to be happy . . .
with a bit less (stuff).
Newton’s Three Laws and me
Newton is everywhere (well almost). Despite the limitations of his 'laws' Newton has indeed identified the parameters of the common world. Newton can not explain the world of the yogi, or the quark, the lama, or the gluon, but he surely is there when you run out of gas and have to push an automobile many times your weight. We salute Newton for being sagely in his knowledge and ordinary in his limitation.
We need to be careful who we listen to
Rene Descartes really missed the bus in a number of areas. I know he was a sharp guy and I will not attempt to simplistically rebut his philosophy, but he is a great example of how wrong things can go when we use your mind without reference or reverence for the body. "I think therefore I am." But, don't we feel before we think? One of the first things one is taught in the east is that one is not their thoughts and that the thoughts are not their own. And the reductionism and the applying auto (or cart) mechanics to all aspects of life. We have reduced and we have reduced we have tried to fix and fix and where are we today? For 500 years Descartes has ruled. Let us pray that it will not be 500 more.
You bring up a great point about how the only things that have not been completely ripped apart and exploited for human use are the area that have been saved for later. That is just tragic, particularly considering how big the Earth is. I would also add that each thing that has been "saved" was fought for. The people or entities in control of our system never want to save anything and every thing that has been has been hard won. And can very easily be lost again.
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