Editor,
The sort of denial expounded upon by the mainstream environmental movement and the pseudo-hippie, neo-liberal know-it-alls who spout their "insights" into any willing ear brings light to the crisis facing not only education but our world as a whole.
Small changes, though admittedly better than doing nothing, are not going to make notable differences, let alone save our Earth. It is regrettable that the very people supposedly on the frontlines of environmentalism are so oblivious to the technocracy at work that they fail to realize the enormous contradictions hidden within their own thoughts. Compromise is the trend, but compromise is unacceptable. You cannot have your iMac and your planet too. I am weary of people saying they are making a difference. True change would mean dumping this all-too-comfortable system and starting anew. True change would entail reconnecting with the Earth and with each other; ridding ourselves of our silly gadgets that cage our spirits and demean our respective existences. True change will never come as long as we submit ourselves to this green-washed propaganda, where compact fluorescents stop climate change and vegetarians save the rainforest.
It is obvious that every letter to this paper comes from a concerned individual. However, compassion does not imply truth. No one is arguing that smoke emanating from a cigarette is harmless, but certainly it is no worse to us than this daily miasma produced by processed foods, seas of plastic, the flood of exhaust from factories and power plants, and the cell phones constantly pressed to our skulls.
Cancer is at epidemic proportions, and one cause certainly cannot be the main root of this horrendous evil. Is it not clear that the true detriment to humanity as well as the Earth is that of the technoculture? Of globalism? Of domestication? Of civilization itself? Perhaps it is; perhaps it is not. It would be difficult to convince anyone of such seemingly ludicrous claims when our society cannot even come to a consensus on the notion that we are killing our home.
However, I have found some hope, though it does not lie amongst the graduating classes. My hope lies amongst the vast, studded mesas to the west, the massive mountains of the east, and the glorious desert which binds it all together. My hope is in a sun, which rises in splendor every morning only to set in the silence of color in the gathering twilight. My hope lies within the unspeakable acts of beauty committed amongst strangers who seemingly appear from nowhere, and with the families who struggle to keep their simple dreams alive amidst this nightmare of surveillance and organized violence. My hope is that one day we will free ourselves of our cages, bring down this oppressive monster, and learn to finally live life once more. Time is indeed of the essence, but is hope good enough?
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Jason Neel
UNM student
