Eaarth Ch. 3

Thankfully, Eaarth started to take a turn from all the disheartening facts and statistics and started to lightening up. I understand that some people have trouble listening to arguments and seeing facts, and the only way to grab their attention is by bringing out the most startling evidence; however, just as the chapter states, “backing off” is important for reflection on the issue.

The most memorable concept from chapter 3 of Eaarth was definitely that we should try to start downsizing and saving what we have rather than to continue obsessing over this idea of growth.

“After a long period of frenetic growth, we’re suddenly older. Old, even. And old people worry less about getting more; they care more about hanging on to what they have, or losing it as slowly as possible… Growth doesn’t matter. Security and stability count more than dynamism.”

Everyone can understand the concept of growing old on a human level, and I think relating personal aging to our planet aging makes the need to cut back more personal. The idea of attempting to remain secure with what we have may be surprising to some people since exponential growth seems to be such a strong value, but just like older people start to focus on retirement and restoration, so do we about our Earth.

Grand Rapids Farmers Market

We can be kinder to our Earth by taking steps in our own lives to aid this process. Something I have always been interested in (as far as cutting back is concerned) is buying more local food and buying more of my groceries from local stores and markets. I’m from the Grand Rapids area, and we have a pretty nice farmers market, but I never looked into anything like that in Kalamazoo. Recently I found there’s not only a market in Kalamazoo, but Portage as well! I’m always open to looking into more ways to use less and invest in more long term options, and I hope to spread that mindset as this class progresses.