How to Avoid Pitting Nature Against Progress
We cannot dominate nature for much longer, but neither can we retreat from civilization
Joel W. Rogers/Getty Images
It’s tempting to declare war on the institutions and technologies that seek to remake our world in their own image. Radical environmentalists believe that the only way for nature to reassert itself is for human civilization to reduce its numbers and return to preindustrial conditions. Others believe it’s too late, that we’ve already cast our lot with technological progress, genetic engineering, and global markets. In their view, slowing down the engines of progress will merely prevent us from finding the solutions we need to fix our current crises.
Neither approach will work. We cannot dominate nature for much longer, but neither can we retreat from civilization. This cannot be a war between those who want to preserve nature and those pursuing progress. Team Human includes everybody. If we respond to crisis in a polarized way, we surrender to the binary logic of the digital media environment. We become the thing we are resisting. Technology may have created a lot of problems, but it is not the enemy. Neither are the markets, the scientists, the robots, the algorithms, or the human appetite for progress. But we can’t pursue them at the expense of more basic, organic, connected, emotional, social, and…
