"How Could I write conscientiously against the rape of nature if I were, in the act of writing, implicated in the rape?"
I do not know if Berry now uses a computer, but this essay poses a peculiar problem for a Wendell Berry blog. Is it possible to have a blog that jives with the ideas of Berry?
I do not know what Berry would say, but I think the use of a blog is key to spreading the ideas of sustainable living to those who are off-put by the "radical" aspects of the sustainable living movement.
As a house, we are trying to reach-out to the computer using-and loving-population. Yes, we want to be involved with the existing movement, but we want to spread the message that sustainability is not a political issue, rather it is something you do everyday within your community.
Thus, the best way to get the word out is through the technologies we use everyday. Yet, we hope to use the blog only as the starting place, the house and our kitchen will be the location of the conversation.
"So I decided to stop writing tracts about just what I believe. I wanted to engage those who had never and would never pick up one of my existing books- books they might dismiss because they challenge the status quo... I wanted to write a dialogue in order to provoke dialogue—to get people talking”. –Francis Moore Lappe
1 comment:
Considering the time period this was written, few besides Postman could have theorized the impact computers and the internet would have on our society. I think a major criteria for Berry would have been the resources computers consume, primarily in the form of energy, which we have the ability to produce through renewable resources without causing environmental detriment (even if this currently isn't practiced in the aggregate). It is also worthy to note the impact this technology has had on globalization, and it's implications for sustainability. With regard to the blog, this is simply this efficient way of getting our message to the broader public and has little by-product aside from the energy consumed, which again, can be produced renewably. But also think of the implications of what a blog doesn't do: it doesn't consume paper or other materials as a means of information and is easily attainable by all persons. With regard to these aspects, I think Berry would not disapprove our use of the Internet as a means for delivering our message.
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