we can evolve
Despite nature's abundance, technological advances, and the drive to culture ourselves, humans have held on to the barbaric ideology that "greed is good". This has been perpetuated throughout modern times. We want more, and we justify our greed despite the environmental devastation it has caused. When one examines the works of Wendell Berry in his "The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture" and William Kittredge in his "Hole In The Sky: A Memoir", and evidence throughout human history; these themes become apparent. The relationship of humans and their environment has always been one of exploitation.Hunter-gatherers were on this land when there was an abundance of resources. When these early humans exploited the land for subsistence purposes, their impact was minimal because they were a part of symbiotic relationship with their environment. When people began to develop a relationship with the land they lived on, humankind was truly given the gift of life. Civilization flourished when people began to cultivate the earth. They could spend time developing their communities because the day-to-day struggle of surviving was no longer an issue. They knew that if they put in a certain amount of work, the crops
University of New Mexico Supplemental Reading Packet, Spring 1999 Following the gold rush of the Black Hills, miners went to Colorado and California panning the rays that made the waters sparkle, filling their once-empty pockets with the dust of dreams. These prospectors had nothing to lose because they had basically nothing to begin with. The chips they wagered were given to them freely, and consequently, they did not appreciate the gift. Mother earth, with all her bounty, had limits of her generosity. Miners did not stop to take her at face value; they employed technology to strip her of her dignity, without a second thought of the scars they left behind. They went into her majesty to take more than before, bleeding every vein of her lifeblood like parasites. When they were done, they were done; they did not have the decency to return her dignity by restoring the beauty that was there before they pillaged. They exhausted mine after mine, until, there was no more precious ore to plunder. When they were finished, there were no more ore deposits to extract; the gold rush was over.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1079
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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