Simple Things Won't Save the Earth

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and simply stated message on our ecological future
Review:

For the ecologically interested but untrained and uninitiated lay people, Hunter offers a real connection between the Homo sapiens (humans) and mother nature through his symbolic use of the Hevea rubber tree as well as his exploration of petroleum as an alternative to natural rubber. From the most developed to the new developing countries, a majority of people can relate to the rubber tree either as consumers of its final products or as providers of the raw materials in plantations. The rubber tree offers an example of the discovery, exploitation, and abuse of earth's resources.

In simple language and unsophisticated, clear analogies, Hunter exposes basic assumptions of technological development. Most of us are blinded by the Cartesian mentality where the scientific method is always expected to yield answers in all matters of mother nature; the only impediment is time. Hunter offers sufficient but not overwhelming statistics on humans' need for rubber and the realities of growing such a single-tree crop.

Without using the "doomsday" style characteristic of much of the popular ecological literature, Hunter present a sober picture of earth's future, should we continue our current rate of exploitation of natural resources justified by human's insatiable needs. Our behavior is compared to the insects or microorganisms that, finding a large supply of their preferred nourishment, abandon all logic and proceed to feed and multiply until the source of food is gone and the environment is depleted, hence causing their own demise.

Perhaps my only, but minor, critique is that, while Hunter states at various times that the major ecological problem is population growth, he fails to address the issue at a deeper level. The miserable working conditions of the Para rubber tree tappers are exposed, but further explorations of the social aspects of ecological calamities are lacking. Implications of technological innovations, such as waste and pollution, overlord-subservient relationships between individuals, a full and happy life only for a few, and a conversely dreary existence for the majority, are mentioned and taken as a perennial fact without further explanation. And finally, population control is hinted as a solution to the ecological dilemma in an earth with finite resources, but few ideas are offered on the implementation of such a strategy.

Hunter does convey the message across with his simple, clear, and uncluttered style. After starting his book I was compelled to continue reading until the end, and I sense that the ecological message will find a wider appeal when others replicate my experience.