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On Normality
Orginally published in The Quivira Coalition Journal No. 33, October 2008
Excerpt:
"Off and on for the past few years, whenever I could catch a break from the daily routine, I would indulge myself by musing on a question that had no real utility: is this normal?
"By that I mean: can life at the start of the 21st century be considered normal by any stretch of the historical imagination? Are the nature and scale of our present national economies, for example, or their social and ecological consequences, normal? In other words, do they fall within some range of variation for "normal" human activity? For many political and business leaders, of course, the industrialization and globalization of our economy fits a pattern of `Progress' that's been in place since the Civil War and thus appears to be perfectly natural. But I wonder: is this pattern normal or is it an exception?
"What about the size of the human population globally or its exponential rate of expansion - are they normal? What about our rates of consumption and waste, as well as our complete disregard of natural limitations? What about species extinction? Or global warming? Or how fat we've become? Is this normal or an anomaly? Or have we accepted these conditions as the "new" normal even though we understand them to be exceptional? If so, what does that mean for us or the planet in the long run?"
On Normality pdf size: 0.39mb
Excerpt:
"Off and on for the past few years, whenever I could catch a break from the daily routine, I would indulge myself by musing on a question that had no real utility: is this normal?
"By that I mean: can life at the start of the 21st century be considered normal by any stretch of the historical imagination? Are the nature and scale of our present national economies, for example, or their social and ecological consequences, normal? In other words, do they fall within some range of variation for "normal" human activity? For many political and business leaders, of course, the industrialization and globalization of our economy fits a pattern of `Progress' that's been in place since the Civil War and thus appears to be perfectly natural. But I wonder: is this pattern normal or is it an exception?
"What about the size of the human population globally or its exponential rate of expansion - are they normal? What about our rates of consumption and waste, as well as our complete disregard of natural limitations? What about species extinction? Or global warming? Or how fat we've become? Is this normal or an anomaly? Or have we accepted these conditions as the "new" normal even though we understand them to be exceptional? If so, what does that mean for us or the planet in the long run?"
On Normality pdf size: 0.39mb