Well, I finally found something on the internet to rival watching music videos on YouTube.
My friend Jill sent me a link to the website for TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design), where you can view for free videos of many of the lectures held at their annual conference. The conference is touted as bringing together the best and most progressive minds in our country - whether they are scientists, tech guys, professors, entertainers, even former US presidents - to talk about current issues and concerns. Pretty heady stuff.
In this lecture, Kunstler makes some very valid points about not only the ugliness of some of today's buildings, but also the failure of many of our public spaces to attract people and become "live" areas, which are both useful and pleasing. He calls the building of this sprawl the greatest waste of our resources. I was thinking about the notion of a future lifestyle in which we are not just consumers (takers, not givers), but instead citizens of a society, responsible and participating in our communities and making our country a place that we can be proud of. It makes a lot of sense, but I wonder how and if we are ever going to give up this cycle of consumerism? It is such a self-feeding condition, it may take some sort of catastrophe to force a change.
I felt the sell-out effects of our suburban sprawl very strongly when I had to go on a business trip to Wal-mart corporate in Arkanas. It really felt as though I had entered the gates of hell - raw and naked capatalism built by squeezing the vendors until they were satisfied, and then feeding the product back to hungry consumers who were filling their houses with worthless junk bought on a whim. I call it the "Louis XIV in a Bag" syndrome - people want to create the illusion of living a grand life, but they are only willing to pay $199.99 for this illusion. As a result, manufacturers create factories full of product - resulting in landfills, container ships, people in foreign countries working their fingers to the bone - for throw-away product. I felt my disgust in the pit of my stomach. This was the beginning of the end for me, the turning point at which I knew it was time to get out of my industry. I would rather make less money than feed this beast.
Suburbia as "entropy made visible" is a great line.
