Review essay f
or 'The Age of Stupid': Let us slow down!
or 'The Age of Stupid': Let us slow down!
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| The Age of Stupid: We had the chance to save ourselves. |
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| What they wanted was this! |
Mankind has developed endlessly over few centuries. They
started using fire, built cities and civilizations, also made electricity. They
started using fossil fuels, invented car, and rode the airplane which enabled
them to move around the world within a day. Their developments and progress has
been remarkable, and the human's quality of life has been improving. However,
they could not stop. The taste of progress was sweet, and humans suddenly got
addicted to it. They always looked for methods or tools to make their own life
more convenient. Having this as a primary goal, they got rid of all the
obstacles which slowed them down from going forward. At last, humans even got
rid of themselves.
Humans
started to have inner conflicts between endless development and balanced development
ever since the industrial revolution. It was almost the first time in human
history to have severe pollution and destroyed environment because of human
activity. Therefore, people started to think whether they should stop, or at
least slow down what they are doing and look for another way around. However,
mankind never received any direct harms of pollution. As a result, their choice
was to find the fastest way to develop, and ignore the destruction of
ecosystem. At first, this decision did not have a major effect on environment.
However, as time passed, it was more than enough to figure out that something
was going wrong. World temperature rose gradually and natural disasters damaged
a lot of people. Desertification has stole numerous lives of plants and trees.
The ozone layer has been destroyed and ultraviolet rays have caused serious
diseases.
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| Mont Blanc |
An old man,
working as a mountain guide, has experienced Earth's unpleasant changes throughout
his whole life. He tells his miserable experience. Fernand Paro has completed
the mountain guide training in 1956. In 1956, the mountain, Mont Blanc had strong
glaciers as well as gorgeous summer. Cows went around the glacier to eat the
grass. People could experience the real nature in this place. However, since
1945, 150 meters of glaciers was melting in Mont Blanc. Now, only winter and
summer exists in Mont Blanc and summer is too hot for the glacier as well as
human itself.
Secondly, humans also started to have conflicts within themselves,
caused by the greed for natural resources. For sustainable development, humans
needed fuels to accelerate the machines, factories and vehicles. Best example
for this conflict is the fight going over fossil fuels. Fossil fuel was a
perfect equipment for the development of mankind. However, the amount of fossil
fuel in Earth was very limited. Therefore, to gain the most profit from fossil
fuel, humans began to fight. This fight later developed to war. Also, some
countries and companies with finance and power began to exploit the natural
resource from undeveloped nations.
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| Shell: Its name is related to nature, but actually destroys nature! |
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| Nigeria |
One of
the largest oil company, Shell has given inhumane harms to environment and
people of Nigeria. After Shell finding oil in Nigeria, they soon intervened
Nigerian community. They dug many holes and got oil out from it. However in the
process, oil ran into the river. River was polluted and all the living
creatures in the river also got polluted. Nigerians could not fish in this
river anymore, and they could not find any clean water to drink and wash,
neither. Shell got criticisms from international society. So they decided to
build medical facilities like hospitals in Nigeria. However, they stopped the
construction, and left the village. Shell never heard any voice from neighbors.
Also, they bombed the town if they found oil under it but people in the town were
resisting not to move.
"We
wouldn't be the first life formed to wipe itself out. But what would be unique
about us, is that we did it knowingly." This was a notable quote from the
movie clip 'The Age of Stupid.' Humans claim themselves as the smartest of all
the animals. They are proud of what they have made, built, and sustained. They
say that humans got through many crisis in the past because they were strong
and wise. However, reality in the current society proves why these are not
true. In fact, humans might get rid of Earth, and themselves totally. Today, I
want to warn mankind to slow down and look around of what they have done.Reference Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dutch_Shell -----about the company 'Shell'
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/-------------------- about NRDC(natural resources defense council)
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