Faustian Economics

Ok so while I agree with the majority of this article there are a couple of parts that bother me. Toward the end of the article Wendell Berry talks about how to recover from our "disease of limitlessness". I wholeheartedly agree with his insight that humanity has this idea that natural resources are entirely limitless. I mean, do you realize that less than 5% of the water on Earth is fresh water?? That's not a lot...AT ALL. Yes, it is true that water does sort of recycle itself so that 5% will always be there but there is also the human factor, we keep growing in numbers, at an exponential rate. So in other words in the next hundred years we're in for some serious water shortages, and I'm not talking about just not having enough water to brush your teeth every night, I'm talking about not having enough water to SURVIVE on. Are there ways to fix this? Short answer: Oh of course, we simply have to cut down our use of water now. Just take shorter and fewer showers and stop using buckets and buckets of water to keep your lawn alive if you live in a desert; I mean come on...if you decided to live in a desert than why on Earth are you surrounding yourself with a lush green lawn after claiming to adore the great natural beauty of the desert? I don't buy it...that water could be much better used elsewhere. Anyway that whole rant right there was an example of how our natural resources are far from limitless, yet for some reason the majority of the Earth's population is intent on believing that it is. Perhaps they simply don't want to think about a problem as huge as this.

But unlike Berry, I don't think that we think of ourselves as "god-like animals", that believe that we can control all we touch. I think that it is more that we just don't CARE. We Americans have yet to experience the limits of our Earth's resources. I would bet good money that if you went to one of the dirt-poor villages in one of the third world African countries you would find people that are experts of water conservation and how to make do with little to no water where as you or I would cringe at the idea. The problem hasn't affected us yet so we do nothing about it.

The main thing that aggravates me about this article is the idea that we need to give up technology and our pursuit of knowledge to fix our problems. While I believe that it is true that technology and the pursuit of knowledge are a big part of the reason that we're draining the Earth dry of all its resources, I also believe that they are essential to help put things right. This problem has gone beyond being fixed by just stopping what we're doing wrong, we need actually fix it. Yeah, it would be easy to just stop making the problem worse but it will still be there, wouldn't it be better to try to get rid of it entirely. It would be harder and maybe we won't see any changes for the better in our generation but at least we can help ensure that there will be generations after our own.