A: The rational and sympathetic mind are two different things according to Wendell Berry. The rational mind is said to exploit humans and nature while the sympathetic mind has a humane approach to science. This means that, to have a sympathetic mind, you would care about the effects the mountain top removal coal mining has on the communities. The rational mind will see this type of mining and its effects as a sacrifice so we can have a source of power in our society. Some may see this as a rational choice. For me, would I rather help the community and try to find other means of power, or since I already have power then why would I worry about it. We can tie this into "July 2004". In this chapter I read about how the coal companies break the law by going over the maximum weight for trucks on the road. If the coal company has a sympathetic mind, then they wouldn't have gone over the limit because they know that it is putting a lot of people at risk who are also on the road. But by them having a rational mind, all they thought about was making money and the more they can get by with going over the weight limit the better. The quicker we can get power to the homes that depend on it. Another example that he describes is page 234. He talks about the fact that we need gas to drive to all the places we need to go whether its for work, entertainment, or maybe shopping. Because we need so much of this resource, he notes that we send young Americans to irag and die for a profit. Anyone with a sympathetic mind would not except this.
B: "The mad farmer instructs the reader to reject linear, industrial model that begins with finite resources and ends with waste, but instead to embrace the forest's cyclical system where rotted leaves turn to natural fertilizer" (page 239). This is something that we have already talked about in class but I feel like this should be the most important aspect of the book we need to understand. We are definitely using a resource that is limited and wont be at our hands forever. Alot of America's homes is powered by coal so what happens when we run out of it? How will we be able to get power. This is a scary thing to think about. We should really come up with a source that is not limited and wont be harmful to peoples lives and the environment. We need to take the idea of the forest way of living and have a similar way of life. Everything we do needs to be effective for us but also good for the environment.
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That is a great point about coal companies and the truck weight limit. I feel this is something that could be easily taken care and should be taken care of. The fact that this and some other facts have caused the death of people on roads is awful. Something needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteI like your definitions for rational and sympathetic minds. I agree that we need to look for alternate sources for energy instead of coal. Although coal is a limited resource, it will take us a very long time to run out of our supply of it. It would seem that it is too long term of a thing for the more short term thinkers to acknowledge as a reason for switching to other sources.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we seriously need to come up with a way to prevent damages to the people and with minimal damage to species and wildlife. Many of the stories about how people were affected by coal mining, whether it be coal truck accidents or cancer caused by the chemical in the drinking water, could all be prevented. Coal companies need to start taking more responsibility for the damages they cause and need to take more precautions to ensure the safety of the people and of the nearby wildlife. I think it would be worth having more expensive energy if there were less side effects and less damage on the land.
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