Gentle Heroes. Cautious Myths.
“SLAP Mother Nature in the face” is the crass text on a poster devised by Motorola to sell its new ‘rugged’ cell phone. The poster is illustrated by a tough guy biting down hard on a very slim phone. The marketing professionals who devised this ad apparently believed that slapping Mother Nature in the face conveyed a positive message and would spur sales. Naomi Klein, author of the international best seller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, cites it as a shocking confession of the violence, exploitation, and abuse industrialized nations wreak upon Mother Nature's soils, waters, and air as a matter of principle and policy.
Klein asserts that “slapping Mother Nature around” accurately represents our nation’s founding principles and continues to supply the collective narratives that support contemporary modes of production and consumption. She notes that cultures are defined by the ‘stories’ they share. Our culture’s story convinces us that Mother Nature is so abundant, so nourishing, and so resilient, we can never “use her up”. Thus, our behavior is dictated by the belief that there will always be more water, more land, and more untapped resources to claim. If these should ever run low, there will be more new technologies to fix the messes left by the last technology.
Thus, our master narrative is that Mother Nature can tolerate the brunt of humanity’s reckless risks.
Klein expresses the urgent need to construct a more responsible cultural story line. Whether it takes the form of a treatise, myth, or gospel, it must replace the expectation of perpetual growth and install, in its place, the expectation that we Earthlings are hitting our limits. We must seek cautious heroes and heroines to populate this story, not conquerors. They must embody restraint, not ambition.
The good news is that this task is already being addressed by an expanding rank of eco artists. Some exhibit concern like Chu Yun. Others present sympathy like Yun-Fei Ji. Still others embody gentleness like Tue Greenfort.