After reading Tomlinson’s A Lost Wood I began to wonder just how trivial our destruction of
the earth has become. This reading struck me as Tomlinson has accurately portrayed
our seemingly uninterested adverse effects on the earth. I believe he is coming
from a vantage point of beauty being lost, a morose poetry style to capture an
embattled mother nature more than a call for global warming awareness. But the
signs are all there, as I read between the lines I can see the ripple effects
of further devastation he captured without even knowing it. For example, this line: “We are exchanging
our woodlands for tarmac, and although tarmac is known to be kind to rubber
tires, yet its tolerance is hardly sufficient to compensate for the loss of
swathes of orchards, meadows, and ancient buildings. One does not complain about this, for it would be just as foolish to
complain of the untimeliness of a change in the wind.” No, we don’t
complain. In fact, most of us contribute to the destruction unaware, we have
created a way of life that is conducive to earth’s failure.
Are we just
plain ignorant to the warning signs? Do we just not care? What exactly are the
facts and what the heck is an alternative fact anyway? The title, I admit, was a playful jab at some
recent political news where words were being twisted to sound like truths…which
they were not. Consider it to be something you want to be true, but you know it
really isn’t. Alternative facts are falsehoods while facts are truths…so let’s
play true or false shall we? (My kind of tests)
Ocean water acidity has increased 30%
since the Industrial Revolution.
T or F?
The global sea level has risen by 6.7
inches in the last century.
T or F?
Arctic sea ice is declining at a rate of
13.3% per decade.
T or F?
2016 was the hottest year on record.
T or F?
Ok, I know, I didn’t answer them…my hope is that you
will look into it yourself and do a little fact checking of your own. Seek truth. Tomlinson saw the ugliness in the roads being
constructed through the fields and woods he loved so much. He also saw the
ugliness it spurred in the hearts of mankind as we continued to “progress”
reaching higher and higher with technological prowess. Just look at all we have achieved! As we
slowly implode and the material world falls apart around us. We continue to add
CO2 emissions in our atmosphere simply by driving a car, using a blow-dryer,
a washing machine, things we simply DO in everyday life. There is a need for
energy conservation, more awareness on our carbon footprint…there are some who
dispute that we have a problem at all, some of these hold office in the highest
of positions, and that’s not an alternative fact. How can one say we don’t have a problem when
15 of the hottest years in a 134-year period have all occurred since 2000?
But there’s hope right? Got to be.
I’ll let Tomlinson hit you with it: “One may dare to hope that the
marrow of earth has a more stubborn vitality than our dismay allowed; it may
survive our engines. After all, there may be in the frail windflower a virtue
that will outlast the lorries. We have been surprised, before this, by the shy
patience of what may have been lovely and of good report, yet otherwise was
inexcusable.”
I never thought of the readings we did in connection to the current political situation of "Alternative Facts" and fake news. The way you worded your argument was very informative, and it made me look at certain things differently. There is no question that our climate and land is very important. Our current political leaders do not see this as important, and in return our future is in doubt. By comparing this to Tomlinson's work, your blog was able to take a look at current events, through another author's critic. I especially appreciated the view of pollution through cars. Most people hate construction due to the annoyance it causes drivers, but Tomlinson viewed it strictly on pollution and it helped his argument. I hope our country can figure out how to save the land we live on.
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