Dodson Ch.5 Response

My response to China's use of natural resources is one, as per my usual reaction, of slight shock. It is something that makes me hang my head low for poor Mother Earth who is suffering because of the way the Chinese (and just about everyone else, really- but I am focusing at the group at hand, here) is treating her. Even the US has standards set that we generally adhere to, and we are some of the biggest wasters of resource out there, as much as it hurts to think! I honestly wish China would have started going in a different direction, a la Norway with 99% of their energy being clean in conjunction with other high standard environmental policies. It is difficult for the US to go in this direction because our framework was built on what we have now, and we are too far in debt to fix it seems to be the common complaint, but I do sincerely wish China would have just BEGAN on the right foot.

The only possible errors I see in Dodson's assumptions for China's future is the same one I see in any assumptions made about the future of the world: that we simply don't know what's going to happen. Sure, we plan based on past trends, statistics, and et cetera...But I believe we should plan this out and compute this data to show us the worst possible scenario not because I am pessimist, but so we are all prepared for the worst. That includes Dodson's projections about China's future. I think it is very important to have a plan for the worst that can happen, so the worst isn't as devastating when it potentially hits.

As per whether Dodson's reasoning applies to the US- I really think it does. We, too, need to reconsider the impact we have on our planet. I believe that we need to start to give back to the planet and protect it, just as it has given to us and done all it could to make our own lives better. Whether you see it as a living thing of its own or just a floating rock in space, we owe it and the creatures living on this Earth that at least. After all, the Earth is not for us alone, but our children and the creatures who coexist beside us. Human ingenuity will not keep us going if we don't do anything with it and find a way to save our Earth. We can remain in denial, but we will end up just like China if we continue to treat our land the way we do.

All in all, Dodson has made me reflect not just on how China and ourselves treat our environment, and about how we all do. I suppose we all have "the appetite of a dragon".