Ishmael by Daniel Quinn - My paper
Hi guys,
right now I'm a senior in high school and I am working on a paper for my humanities class; I would like some criticism/ideas for improvement. Basically for this assignment we read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, then were asked to just write, there was no specific prompt, so it was a very open assignment which could go in any direction. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. By the way I've attached a Works Cited just in case one wants to see the sources.
Thanks in advance,
Phauszzie
Intentio de Novus Tempus (working title)
The world in which humans live is beleaguered with destructiveness, overpopulation, depletion of resources—all of which are the consequences of being civilized. In his novel Ishmael, Daniel Quinn enlightens the readers about Mother Culture—the overarching notions and ideals of civilization from the dawn of time; and as Mother Culture puts it, the Taker (the civilized) lifestyle of being destructive and unhealthy is the only “right” way to live. In a finite world, having the Taker mentality is undoubtedly a dire problem which, if unabated, will end in the decimation of the human race; through this proposal, society will undergo a paradigm shift and steer clear of human extinction.
According to Quinn, in a speech delivered to the University of Texas, over 200 different species become extinct every day as a result of humans killing off the competition for food and resources (Quinn, “The New Renaissance”). According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) this unprecedented rate of extinction is the greatest episode of extinction in the past 65 million years (“The State”). The UK Guardian Newspaper writer, Juliette Jowit, states not only are the “[c]onservation experts [signaling] that the world is in the grip of the ‘sixth great extinction’ of species” but there is also prominent research suggesting “that the rate of extinction had reached 100-1,000 times that suggested by the fossil records before humans” (Jowit). “Whole species are disappearing as a result of [human] encroachment” (Quinn, Ishmael 109); in a set of experiments done in Africa, noted by Cosmos Magazine, “The research - which looked at the impacts of removing giraffe grazers on Africa's acacia trees and ants that live alongside them - adds to the evidence that the extinction of one species can have a domino effect on many others” (Kovacevic). This aforementioned instability increases the possibility of a second, or even a third or fourth species becoming extinct due to one dying out:
[T]he effects of brachiopod extinction … with regard to changes in brachiopod surface texture … Prior to the Frasnian-Famennian mass extinction, costate and plicate brachiopods were more common than smooth and spinose brachiopods … After the extinction, encrusting organisms declined in both abundance and diversity in benthic communities. (Schneider)
The extinction of brachiopods, marine animals having valves (scallops, clams, oysters etc.), is a prime example of how the extinction of one species is, in turn damaging to other species. As a result of humans, more species are becoming extinct at an accelerating rate.
Humans must change their destructive behavior to live in harmony with the earth; humans will drive all the animals including themselves to extinction if there is no change. The first giant leap for mankind is to find a way to live off the earth and revitalize the Earth’s ecosystem. And that is exactly what people will do: live off of the land. Humans will build orbital rings from terrestrial materials—rings which will have their own gravitational field and atmosphere—around the earth, similar to those of Saturn or Uranus. The orbital rings will be capable of sustaining life on both sides of the ring, while still maintaining proper sunlight to each side; there will be four rings in total each ranging from about 165,000 kilometers to 220,000 kilometers from the surface of the earth; positioning the rings this far from earth will allow species on earth to be undisturbed by the rings and prevent shadows from being casted upon the earth. The width of each ring will be about 300 km; this will allow different terrain features such as small mountains and lakes. Between the rings will be an orbital elevator transportation system. Each individual ring will serve a different purpose, three for living quarters, and commercial markets and one purely devoted to energy production. These rings will take humans off of the earth and allow it to recover, the animals will reproduce, and the plant-life will become abundant once more. Everything will revert to the natural order unaltered by humans.
Research from the Center for Biological Diversity is indicates “[b]y any ecological measure, Homo sapiens sapiens has exceeded its sustainable population size” and that by 2050 human population could grow from the current 6.8 billion people in the world to a whopping population of 15 billion (Serraglio). Humans have always believed that making more food in first world countries, enough to feed the starving in third world countries, would reduce the number of people in the world who are hungry. This, however, is not true, because “every increase in food production is answered by an increase in population somewhere” where a population increase is unsustainable (Quinn, Ishmael 139). Implying, humans are actually over-producing food which increases population to match production; thus a vicious cycle of hunger and overpopulation is fueled by the food production juggernaut.
Earth has a total surface area of 5.1 x 10¬8 kilometers squared; about seventy percent of this surface is comprised of water and the other thirty percent is land where humans and animals live (Kralidis). Because the four orbital rings, suggested earlier, are from 165,000 kilometers to 220,000 kilometers away from the Earth’s surface each orbital ring will have a surface area of at least 323 million square kilometers which is larger than the surface area of two earths. If both sides of the rings can be utilized for population, double that and multiply it by four: that is the minimum amount of surface available for population, which is large enough to provide land to inhabitants of sixteen earths. Now, considering that the rings are starting at 165 thousand kilometers away from earth, meaning three even further, there is a gap of about 18,000 kilometers between each ring; holding that number in mind, all four rings add up to a staggering 3 billion square kilometers. That being said, the four rings together would be able to contain almost six earths including water. With room enough for six earths (about 42 billion people), population is no longer a problem, leaving enough room for expansion and development.
Take into account before population hits 42 billion people, there will not be enough resources to provide for them all. This is because agriculture will no longer be able to produce surpluses; food will be produced on an “as needed basis” deviating from the treacherous Taker mentality, and embracing the “Leaver” lifestyle: life on the rings will be taken at a more leisurely pace—still incorporating technology, while no longer destroying competition, and blindly following Mother Culture; people will only need to worry about themselves and not tedious jobs. No longer will there be long work hours with little down time, and children will still be educated at a rigorous level, but the one key thing that will be taught is the reason humans can no longer live on the surface of Earth.
Earth is a finite world; humans are devouring these resources at a mind-boggling rate. “We’ve gobbled up irreplaceable resources as though they could never run out—and we go on gobbling them up. It’s hard to imagine how the world could survive another century of this abuse,” and the sad thing is, nothing is being done about it (Quinn, Ishmael 80). Not only do humans gobble Earth’s resources at an incomparable rate, but humans destroy the atmosphere with greenhouse gas such as nitrous oxide (N2O) which is, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), only produced through “agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste”; even more deadlier are the fluorinated gases: hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. These “are synthetic, powerful greenhouse gases that are emitted from a variety of industrial processes” (“Greenhouse Gas Emissions”). Although some of the greenhouse gases are natural occurrences: carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), the earth is plagued by the unnatural fluorinated gases which deplete the ozone in a way that is irreversible.
There is one energy source that is free and almost infinite—the sun; always on and always shining, the sun provides light heat and energy to everything on earth. A free renewable energy source that “needs no fuel and produces no waste or pollution” will create a new source of energy for millennia to come (Darvill). Moving back to the rings, the outer ring will be completely devoted to the production of energy. Both the outside and inside surfaces of the ring will be covered with high sensitivity solar panels, which will bask in the sun unhindered by bad weather and provide energy 24/7 to the other rings. The transportation of the energy will not be a problem; tests done by NASA in 2008 prove solar energy can be transmitted through radio waves allowing the three rings obtain energy (Firth).
On the other three rings, all buildings would be coated with a black artificial leaf-type substance. By coating the buildings with the leaves, it will create a self sufficient ecosystem through artificial photosynthesis and replace the need for trees and other plant-life. Artificial photosynthesis will use the sunlight to convert the CO2 from humans into Oxygen and alcohol fuel such as methanol (Guterl 36). This process is highly efficient, according to Julia Layton, a writer for the Discovery Company’s HowStuffWorks branch, photosynthesis is able to convert “1,102 billion tons of CO2 into … energy using only 3 percent of sunlight from earth” (Layton). Since humans will have a way to provide free and clean energy for themselves literally on their homes, life will be less hectic and polluted. There will be more time to reflect on what happened in the day, which will thus make life slower paced.
With the knowledge of the destruction of earth on the shoulders of humankind, change will have to happen quickly. At first there will be some shock and trauma from living away from the homeland, but eventually, humans will come to know the rings as their only home. As humans are living off of the Earth, there will be cleaner skies, and healthier living, because the energy sources are free, clean, and renewable. In this new style of life, humans will no longer be controlled by the capitalistic corporations and there are no longer the need for gas stations and utility bills; this is all because everything that is needed is within one’s house. Without the voice of Mother Culture whispering in the ears of humankind, humans will be able to adapt the Leaver lifestyle and live in harmony with their new home—the rings.
Works Cited
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