When faced with the decision of choosing a theme for my senior capstone project I jumped at the opportunity to make a personal statement about the current state of our environment and how society is reacting to it. My message is carried forward through a series of satirical environmental campaign signs. Each one deals with a different aspect of environment or organism destruction.
The basis of my stance on human exploitation of the environment stems from the philosophy of a simple and efficient lifestyle. The written works of Henry David Thoreau (Walden) and Daniel Quinn (Ishmael) have, over the last four years, influenced my lifestyle immensely. Both writers/philosophers encourage the acts of living minimally and in unison with nature. For me, this is not a matter of spiritual oneness with nature or a tentacle of the generalized tree hugger’s love for all flora and fauna; it is merely a matter of living without excess so as to refrain from using more than necessary, and as a result, preventing the destruction and exploitation of what is already working for humans. In this case, the thing that is working for humans is nature and the way that it readily provides for all organisms on earth. It is my opinion that humans have diverged from this provision by trying to take complete control of their environment. By doing this for their own short-term benefits humans have literally altered the balance of nature to a point where destruction is imminent. If this continues the environment will be reduced to a state that is no longer supportive of human life.
My campaign is directed towards those who are living excessive lifestyles. This includes anyone living in correspondence with the modern world as we know it. Living with cars, personal computers, televisions, commercial farms, fast-food restaurants, shopping malls, movie theatres, and even air conditioning is contributing to this exploitation of the environment. In fact, anything short of living directly off the land and using only what is naturally provided crosses the line between minimalism and excessive living. Minimalism, in my opinion, is the only solution and is something that I honestly do not think will be attained by humans. Minimalism would require that people give up most of what they believe to be an important part of a normal lifestyle or even a minimal lifestyle. After observing modern society and the way it is growing, I do not believe that minimalism is something humans will ever adopt. Because of this I believe that environment destruction will only continue.