I went to hear Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, give a talk a few nights ago. I can easily say that this was the best talk I’ve ever been to. Not only did McKibben talk about all the things that you would expect (like the dangers of our environmental crisis and the things we should be doing to help), he always seems to put a twist into his story that changes your whole perspective. In this case, McKibben told his listeners what he thought of Thoreau’s Walden. Of course Thoreau was an avid naturalist and a conservationist, and he lived in a remarkably sustainable manner, even for his time period. But what did Thoreau do wrong when he ran off to his cabin in the woods?
Ever the recalcitrant, relishing in his self-imposed exile, Thoreau didn’t seem to understand mankind’s need to relate to one another. We are an extremely social species, and until now, humans have tied social interactions with survival. Our latest expansion of technology has removed the necessity for social interaction. Statistics show that Americans today have half as many close friends as they did 100 years ago. Half. We are much less likely to eat meals together. While at work, we spend considerably less time interacting with people. And it’s not difficult to see how it happened. How much time do we spend each day in silence, staring at a computer screen? Why walk down the block and knock on a friend’s door when you can call? Why call when you can text? As a result, not only are our social skills declining, but so is our happiness. Yes, studies show that the average American today is less happy than the average American 50 years ago.
Technology has brought us the ability to travel, to diversify our food choices throughout the year, to connect to an information source (the internet) that was unfathomable 20 years ago. We live in ever-expanding houses (despite shrinking family sizes) on large suburban plots of land, and we can have anything we want delivered right to our door! There’s no need to even step outside! With social media sites, email and texting, we are able to communicate with 100s of people that we would have otherwise lost touch with, and yet our relationships are crumbling. For whatever reason, we have used technology to push each other away. Since we have the resources to get farther away from each other, we might as well, right? Wrong. Let’s stop wasting valuable resources that make us unhappy. Besides, Thoreau was crazy.
Did you hear? Apparently Earth is getting hotter..
Our planet is warming, our oceans are acidifying, species are dying out, CO2 levels are rising, and Facebook just made it easier to find friends that you only spoke to once, four years ago, at some event your Uncle dragged you to. Wait, what? Sometimes it’s hard to take a step back from our fast-paced, linked-in, high-tech world and get in touch with our own humanity, and our roll as citizens of planet Earth. It’s time to reconnect.
