Island Civilization Summary and Reflection

     Since the beginning of time, earth has held a motherly embrace around all of her inhabitants. This relationship has been tracked over time through history, in hopes of that symbiotic relationship continuing on through the generations of all species. The harsh reality has landed in the human lap as humans have abused all of earth’s attributes, therefore creating a parasitic relationship. In the essay “Island Civilization: a Vision for human occupancy of Earth” by Roderick Frazier Nash, the faults of the Homo sapiens are laid out and the plea for change has been made.

     In the last millennium alone, so many aspects of life have evolved and there are few remnants of the old condition of Earth remaining. Humans have been stretching the limits of nature for a long time. The population is growing exponentially; unrealistic demands are being made on such a small provider. Nash sees the urgent need for change but understands that it is not going to be an easy fix. There are four possible pathways that as a whole, the human population can decide to pursue in hopes of keeping earth around for the coming millenniums; the wasteland scenario, the garden scenario, the future primitive and island civilization are all of the possibilities for the future but all share one common thread, the need for a unified decision.

     The need for change has come about because humans have been making costly, quick decisions where the immediate positives outweigh the long-term negatives. The biggest issue Nash focuses on is technology. The human race has bypassed many natural boundaries with technology yet the long-term consequences are never mentioned or factored in. Obviously technology is harmful to dispose of but more importantly, an unhealthy dependency has been created between humans and technology. We no longer live in the wilderness, a place where things happen unannounced. Nature no longer has its own overpowering will. In addition, humans are using technology to harm other species and each other.

     Nash’s proposition, island civilization, would ideally solve all of the major issues; however, his solution is far from realistic, at least for this generation. The idea of having clumped societies would require little to no differences in opinions among the members. History proves that the human race is extremely diverse and with diversity comes radically diverse thinking. It would be crucial for the human race to change mindsets as a whole before island civilization could be possible; humans need to embrace the idea of “Earth first” as Nash says. With community-clumped living comes close living quarters and sharing resources. Depending on where a person is from, he or she was raised in a specific lifestyle. Many people have been raised in a capitalistic society full of greed and selfishness while others have grown up in a world of poverty. Tensions would form and either war or expansion beyond the community boundaries would arise. The world population size also creates a dilemma, as stress would still be put on the Earth for her resources, even with the island civilization method.

     It is clear that the world needs to change before it is too late but where to start seems to be the biggest challenge. From Nash’s essay, it would seem as though the best way to start the process would be for all of the species to agree but that is physically impossible in today’s world. With that said, the most logically way to begin change would be to wipe out all of the current species living on the earth and start all over with the island civilization idea as the blue prints for the reconstruction. More destruction, death, pollution and damage would be done if today’s society was forced into the mold of island civilization than if all parts of the world were erased and the earth started over. The initial cost for this radical change would be large and it would take many years to get the earth stable and able to provide for humans but many dreams that today’s society has could become reality.