tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136626590097801169.post5431218937995540578..comments2024-01-10T11:19:56.456-08:00Comments on What Is Sustainable: What a Long, Strange Trip It’s BeenWhat Is Sustainablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227382786082159733noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136626590097801169.post-62974885790843243792013-04-16T13:41:29.756-07:002013-04-16T13:41:29.756-07:00PS: Yes, our extinction is seeming more inevitable...PS: Yes, our extinction is seeming more inevitable. That's sad, because the only thing that's destroying us is dumb ideas. What Is Sustainablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10227382786082159733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136626590097801169.post-39081279143708047912013-04-16T13:39:31.496-07:002013-04-16T13:39:31.496-07:00Riversong, tool use in non-humans has remained rud...Riversong, tool use in non-humans has remained rudimentary, and all of them could probably do just fine without their tools. You and I would have a very hard time being tool free. <br /> <br />Two years ago, I agreed with you about domestication being the fall. Probably one year ago, too. Books can be mind altering experiences. Darned things!<br /> <br />I agree that the horror show went into fast forward maybe 10,000 years ago. But it seems like the preceding 30,000 years set the stage - slowly.What Is Sustainablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10227382786082159733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4136626590097801169.post-91856148972114367912013-04-16T06:50:56.443-07:002013-04-16T06:50:56.443-07:00I'm not sure I buy the tool theory of human de...I'm not sure I buy the tool theory of human devolution, since tool use has been observed in other primates, dolphins, elephants, otters, birds and octopuses.<br /><br />It may be some combination of our opposable thumbs and oppositional brains that led us to use tools irresponsibly, but the really dramatic environmental (and cultural) modifications did not appear until the dawn of domestication. <br /><br />That shift not only irreparably altered the earth around us, but began an accelerating distancing of human culture from nature. As we fenced out the wild, we fenced ourselves in and created a lifestyle that could not be sustained without inputs from (and costs to) nature (and to our own souls).<br /><br />If human extinction is coming, we would be wise to welcome, rather than fight, it. Our demise may be the only positive legacy we can leave to the planet.Riversonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05413657075902226702noreply@blogger.com