THE END OF NATURE
Written by Bill McKibben.
Random House.
226 pages, $19.95.
By EVA REGNIER
THE MESSAGE OF The End of Nature justifies its ominous title: According
to Bill McKibben, true nature, which was independent of human influence, has
been replaced by an artificial nature in whose processes human beings play a
part.
This concept may not seem frightening but McKibben points out that the
changes we have made, and are continuing to make, in the chemistry of our
atmosphere are not the kind of environmental changes we have experienced in the
past. We cannot escape them by fleeing to the woods. We have progressed beyond
removing parts of the earth from the domain of true nature -- through farming,
mining, construction -- to actually altering the global processes that define
our environment.
The human hand acting on the earth is not a guiding hand but a clumsy
hand. Most of our influence on climate, for example, has been inadvertent. The
new natural world we have made -- complete with changing temperatures, sea
levels, and atmospheric chemistry -- will be less predictable and perhaps more
violent than the natural world of the past. The human race has evolved in the
old natural world that brings hurricanes and other natural disasters; on a
large scale this is quite predictable. McKibben tries to give a sense of the
magnitude of the risk we take as we fiddle with the controls of "spaceship
Earth" (an expression McKibben uses and an idea whose implications he
should have discussed).
McKibben's incisive discussion of the components of the environmental
crisis is broad but detailed, and illustrated brilliantly in terms both human
and scientific. He presents problems on a human level, measuring the biosphere
in units of the distance to his mailbox, and lists possible consequences of
environmental degradation ranging from floods and famine down to worsening
asthma and hay fever. Even those with a very good understanding of
environmental problems will be fascinated by the first three chapters.
More insightful still is his discussion of what is preventing the human
race from halting this destructive trend. Just as human beings have the mental
capability to take control of the Earth to the extent that we have, the ability
to reason should also enable us to change our habits and outlooks as well as
our technology. International cooperation, careful evaluation of the idea of
infinite technological progress, and questioning the efficiency of free market
solutions are all necessary for the change that will have to come about. But
the solutions will have to go even deeper.
McKibben shows how tightly bound up the destruction of the planet is in
our lives. Our cars, our houses, plastics, and pesticides are as much a part of
the world we know as are the trees, waters, and hills that we live among.
McKibben sets forth plainly that the human race will need to decide between our
material world -- houses, cars, clothes -- and the natural world. "One
world or the other will have to change." McKibben envisions a
"humbler world" where our material excesses will seem absurd. In this
world, he thinks, human beings could take a less dominant relation to nature,
and nature might once again establish itself as independent, constant.
While this vision is fascinating and comforting, McKibben himself does
not seem to think it is likely. He recognizes that human beings value
themselves and their interests primarily and that these values will likely win
out. A "managed world" in which human beings control the climate,
genetics, and ecology is the most probable solution short of ecological
catastrophe. McKibben values nature for its own sake; this result appeals
neither to him nor to the reader.
The ending is rather optimistic, considering that McKibben does not
describe in any detail how we will go from our current situation of continued
and increasing environmental destruction to either of his two possible worlds.
The book does not present a doomsday picture -- nor does it present real
solutions. Instead, the book exposes the nature of the environmental crisis and
leaves the reader with a lot to think about.
Copyright 1990 by The Tech. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published on Friday, April 13, 1990.
Volume 110, Number 19
The story was printed on page 11.
This article may be freely distributed electronically, provided it is
distributed in its entirety and includes this notice, but may not be reprinted
without the express written permission of The Tech. Write to
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