December 19, 2014 - 08:41
Nathália Santos
Jody Cohen
Paper 10 – draft Paper 11
11/17/2014
Around my 3rd grade back in a Brazilian elementary school, I heard my Sciences teacher explain on the board: “There are two kinds of goods. The renewables and the non-renewables. The water, the trees, even the air we breath is considered renewable. The gas, diamonds, gold, precious minerals, iron… Those are non-renewable.” I couldn’t stop thinking: What if we cut down every tree? Or what if we kill all the animals one by one like we’ve done to the other animals? The teacher wouldn’t go deeper in the topic, it didn’t matter how much I rephrased my words. “Just remember that, cheap stuff are renewable, expensive stuff are non-renewable. Now let’s move on.”
At the same night my father said that such Renewable thing was only truth in a very old Economics theory. There was such a thing called Global Warming going on that could end Natural Life in the Planet as we knew. As I grew up the School started repeating the same thing. Calling upon us to prompt us to make something happen. But at the same time I saw that Brazil, a hot country, beated its own lowest temperature every winter. The air was always as clean as I could remember. Where was such thing called Global Warming?
On Chapter Six of The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolberth talks about the Coral Reefs, their magnificence, chemistry and how studies and experiments she was in proves that Coral Reefs won’t survive longer due the Ocean Acidification, provoked by Humans. That opened my eyes to the fact that Global Warming is happening. I am not a perfect citizen that fully lives respecting Mother Nature. But had my teacher showed me such evidence in my early age, wouldn’t I respect it a little bit more?
I think it complexified my vision of Contact Zones. Taking solely the Environment as a contact Zone, how far are we beneficial or not? Even further, how far can we take advantage of the environment we are in without destroying it. By traveling with planes we are able to help other people, meet other cultures, diversify food, habits, technology. But what’s the price we pay for that? What are the beneficial boundaries of a contact zone, are they measurable? That’s a point I’d like to explore.
The Nature, the imminent planet destruction also reminds me of The One Who Walks Away From Omelas. Aren’t we the ones that acknowledge what the planet is suffering and since we don’t feel the effects on us we keep going with our lives like no one cares about what’s happening. (I don’t feel like going deep on this topic, but I think it’s an interesting parallel.)
Coming back to the Contact Zones point of view, I am still thinking on how I feel about All Over Creation. How did the contact zone affect Yumi? Can I apply the same boundaries of what is beneficial and not in Yumi, the girl who almost personifies the contact zones and Cass? (Still unsure whether I should use this or not in the essay. May be too long).
And lastly, I think it expands my view of the discussion of play without limits. Maybe The Human, the kids from this planet, have played without limits way too far. Back to the concept of contact zones limits (I would like to explore this too).