Can you hear me now?
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Thanks to the marvels of industrial civilization, we happily delegate such tedious tasks as learning how to spell, remembering phone numbers, doing math in our heads, memorizing directions, or even walking up a single flight of stairs to technology so we can have time to focus on the truly important stuff, like...um...well...uh...removing 90% of the large fish from the ocean, perhaps?
WATCH VIDEO: Overfishing In Our Oceans
Let's face it, technology has not lived up to the hype and even worse, it carries with it a profound social and environmental footprint. Technology devours nature, creates incredible amounts of e-waste, and helps lay the groundwork for environmental racism. Plus, as historian Lewis Mumford explains, "With the present means of long distance mass communication, sprawling isolation has proved an even more effective method of keeping a population under control, henceforth a one-way world."
"Why should we so gratuitously assume, as we constantly do, that the mere existence of a mechanism for manifolding or of mass production carries with it an obligation to use it to the fullest capacity?"
And then there's the rarely discussed aspect of access...
Technology is Not Available to Everyone
In Australia, 60.4% of the population has access to the Internet. In Asia, that number is 19.4%. Pretty stark difference, huh? Get ready for this one: In North America, 74.2% of the population has access to the Internet. In Africa, that number is 6.8%. If you think it can't get worse than that, try this on for size: In six African nations—Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic, Liberia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone—only 3 to 5% of people can access electricity. In fact, 79% of the Third World (1.5 billion people) have no access to electricity.
Show Solidarity With the Third World in 2010
Go Retro-Progressive with simple steps like:
- Using a Hanky
- Hanging a Clothesline
- Walking
- Trying Face-to-Face Conversation
Kickin' it Old School
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