Should We All be Farmers?
My first impression of Wendell Berry's book, The Unsettling of America; Culture & Agriculture was "What could this possibly have to do with me?" I first thought that Berry wanted us all to be farmers, but then I realized this book argues that the way our society behaves is directly related to the decline of small farms and the state of our ecological system. Berry wanted the people who read this book to realize they are responsible for the land and the decisions they make pertaining to it can help or hurt the future of the land. Today, we are too involved with our own lives to remember that we need the land to survive, and every one of us takes part in keeping it healthy and functional. Everyone takes their quality of life for granted. We assume there will always be energy and fuel. No one takes into account what happens when they drive around a parking lot for 20 minutes looking for the closet spot instead of walking an extra 50 feet. What happens is there is fuel wasted, meaning more gasoline needs to be produced. It also means that this person also missed out on exercise that would make them healthier. In our society, people do only wha
Only by having untouched land can we see the effects our lifestyle is having on it. Berry says "The only possible guarantee of the future is responsible behavior in the present" (58). These seem like very small things, but if everyone starts to realize the small things, they will have a greater awareness of the other things they are doing in their lives that hurt the environment. What is it? How do we stay within it? What sort of technology enhances our humanity? What sort reduces it? The reason is simply that we cannot live except within limits, and these limits are of many kinds: spatial, material, moral, spiritual. The underlying problem goes back to the fact that everyone is so self involved that they do not see what is happening. They are too concerned with what is convenient that they forget that we are a part of the land, and need it to survive. Berry states three reasons why we need to think about the land and what we are doing to it. For example, every time a tree is cut down, one could be planted. . We do not pay attention to what happens to the land when it is overused. Basically what he is saying is that we need to know when to say when, and that we are not the only ones that are ever going to use this land. (3) We need wilderness as a standard of civilization and as a cultural model" (30). In my opinion, the most important is ".
Common topics in this essay:
Donald Duck,
Yahoo Internet,
Culture Agriculture,
Sierra Club,
Jules Billard,
Wendell Berry's,
,
future generations,
becoming muddy,
land survive,
book berry,
people read,
river rising,
earth healthy,
responsible behavior,
explore enjoy,
sierra club,
|
Acceptance Essays
