Sumpretation of “The Quiver of a Shrub in California” Vaclav Havel, the author of the speech “The Quiver of a Shrub in California”, is the former prime minister of the Czech Republic. Throughout the speech, he gives examples of how his country has been ruined by people whom have been caught up in trying to succeed and have forgotten that they are not superior to all living entities. Communist rulers have deceived the people of their countries into doing jobs in which are actually hurting themselves. The arrogance of man and the neglect they have shown to the Earth must come to an end before the country, the land, and the people themselves do. The human race has adopted the idea that they are more significant than their surroundings. They have forgotten the fact that they are not all-knowing; that there are still unthinkable amounts of things to be discovered and that the world will continue to be a mystery to them (Havel line 28). The author is trying to express that if the world stays accustomed to, and abides by, the concept that humans are superior to other living creatures and if they live their lives with only the motivation of self-success in mind, there will no longer be a world for them to aspire on. Humans, …show more content…
However, instead of interacting with the entities that humans were arranged with in a co-adapting manner, they have decided that they are the most important. The author strongly disagrees with anthropocentrism and believes that every living thing on earth is just as necessary for the survival of the earth as a whole as the next thing. Most humans have gotten the idea that the other species inhabiting earth were merely placed here to support the humans lifestyle. While humans have done many amazing things on the earth, the author states that these discoveries and inventions would not be possible without the earth (Havel par.
The third part to the human dilemma is that all nonhuman species have evolved to survive their physical habitats, and the human species originally evolved to do this as well. However, human beings have altered the world more in the last ten thousand years, than the ancestors did in the first four million years. We have changed the environment to fit our needs, instead of changing our needs to fit the environment. Most importantly, humans have built entirely new environments, such as farms, villages, cities and towns. The cycling pattern of human expansion and creations has changed the human race from small groups of hunters and gatherers, into a very complex civilization.
We, human beings feel distinctly unique, individual and most importantly, unmistakably superior due to our exclusive intelligence. This is why we, as a society, tend to look down on other types of life-forms, insect or animal, as they do not possess that desired intellect. Yet, Lewis Thomas, in his opinion essay “On Societies as Organisms”, argues that human society has much to learn from the communal accomplishment of other life-forms. The author effectively conveys this main idea through his use of analogy, enumeration of examples and through his level of language.
This way of thinking regards the whole ecosphere as deserving consideration, making all humans, organisms, animals, have equal rights and should be valued and cared for.
The relationship between people and their environment in A Land Remembered is one where the profit from land exploitation is naturally corrupting and exponentially increases the exploiters lust for larger profit, leading to the exploiter planning larger scale endeavors in the future. The author, Patrick D. Smith (1984), suggests the idea that communities naturally grow in a hedonic cycle to crave more resources to fuel loftier endeavors that require even more resources from the environment, an idea that is also discussed by Aldo Leopold in the Land Ethic as wholly negative, and that is also part of my world view that is rather more optimistic.
Berry’s mention of the farmer and an understanding of his farm is a constant theme in this essay. Agriculture, a distribution of products born from the earth and its entrance into our bodies as nourishment, describes an interdependence. The development of highways, industry, and daily routine of work and obligation, has caused a romanticization of wilderness. High mountain tops and deep forests are sold as “scenic.” Berry reminds the reader that wilderness had once bred communities and civilization, and that by direct use of the land, we are taught to respect and surrender to it. But by invention of skyscrapers, airplanes, we are able to sit higher than these mountain tops and this is his first representation of disconnect from Creation. Mechanical invention leads one to parallel themselves with godliness, magnifying self worth and a sense of significance. What is misunderstood is that through this magnification, because there is no control or limit, we “raise higher the cloud of megadeath.” Our significance is not proved by the weight of our material wealth, rather
The world is in a constant state of change, today’s decisions will affect the future of all species large and small, defining the ways in which society will continue to live. The essay “No New Worlds” written by Dr. Adrian Forsyth explores ideas associated with ever changing populations and states of the world. The essay describes the existence of humankind by their impacts on the surrounding environments. The reader is then introduced to the implications our world faces if these problems are not solved and additionally steps to solving these issues. Thus, both men and women need to take action to help or pay the consequences and protect the only world we have, planet Earth.
The earth itself is an astonishing planet with the fact that life exists on it is an amazing achievement. Evolution is the fact of life and the reason why humans came into existence. Evolution is responsible for all forms of life on earth. The entire natural world, including humans, plants and animals are all directly linked through the evolutionary process. Over the period of time, those species who were best fit to survive remained into existence and those who were unfit got extinct- “survival of the fittest” derived from Charles Darwin evolution theory-The mechanism of natural selection. So just like other existing species, humans have done something right in the
Since the beginning of time, mankind has depended on nature for survival. Although, throughout the years society has learned to manipulate nature for their own selfish advantages. In the passage written by Richard Louv, he utilizes rhetorical questions, repetition, and a tone of nostalgia to stress that sad truth about the separation of mankind and nature.
Response- The earth was created for the mankind. Mankind found new ideas to make earth a better place and mankind will keep evolving and will keep developing the earth to be better place this is all because of the humans that the earth keeps evolving.
Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, creates a thought-provoking idea of the separation between people and nature in this excerpt from his book. His opinionated tone forces the reader to be concerned for the future generations by including ironic hyperboles and sarcastic diction, which appeal to the readers’ pathos. He uses these rhetorical strategies to indirectly state his opinions.
The passage gives the analogy of carrying a spoon of oil around a castle. If we are tasked with not allowing any oil to drop from the spoon, we may become too focused and find ourselves ignoring the beauty and wonders surrounding the castle. However, when we become to focused on he wonders around the castle, we drop the oil from the spoon, defeating the purpose of carrying the spoon. We can apply this teaching to the world when we focus on our life goals. If we try to fulfill our desires while we appreciate what the world has too offer, we will feel joy and happiness. When we become infatuated with our goals and desires we tend to push aside wonders and reasons to be happy that the world has already given us, and vice versa. When we push aside the world’s wonder we may become discouraged when achieving our goals, because it may take too long to find happiness. Little reasons to be happy may encourage us to persist our pursuit to achieve goals and discover true happiness
In the article “Earth Without Humans,” Bob Holmes describes what negative impacts humans are having on our
The evolution of the universe and our behaviour throughout history. I will set out to consider Laura Moriarty: Plateau (2011) and Mary Mattingly: Pull detail, (2013) in relation to “Minimal Ethics for the Anthropocene,” Joanna Zylinska, (2014). I will consider our human responsibility for the world and show the changes and composition of life through human relations and ethic towards the universe. And can we re-evaluate our minimal ethics, while there’s still time for changes.
Today the Earth and many of its contents, thanks in large part to humans, is
Despite what mankind would like to believe, humans are animals. As multi-celled organisms, we consume other organic matter, change the land for own uses as a beaver would build a dam, and as other mammals, we are all fed breast milk from our mothers when we were young. Yet there is this disconnection and alienation of the human race towards other species. Moreover, through fear of taking action, the convenience provided to us if we simply choose to ignore the environment, and the alienation of other species that are endangered by our actions, the hostile and uncaring attitude of humans towards nature is the core reason for many of the problems in our environment today.