Spaceship Earth, Buckminster Fuller and Henry David Thoreau
Buckminster Fuller made famous the phrase “Spaceship Earth” as a term describing the situation in which all humans live on Earth, literally as aboard a fragile spaceship planet with finite resources. The implications of humanity’s continuing to damage our spaceship are terrifying. There is significant evidence of permanent damage that has been done by humans to our planet – and of continuing trends toward harm.
In 2000, I had the privilege of leading a cross-disciplinary team that produced a strategic plan for The Buckminster Fuller Foundation where we focused on stewardship – the essence of leaving things better than you found them.
And when Thoreau said, “In wilderness is the preservation of the world,” we know that Bucky and he were sharing a similar world view.
How do you feel about the state of this planet? What kind of difference do you believe that you as an individual can make? Do you see yourself as a steward? What are the implications of either a “yes” or “no” answer to that question? What do you think Buckminster Fuller – and Thoreau – would be saying about the BP oil spill and the long-running Nigerian oil disaster?
As we celebrate U.S. Independence Day, perhaps it’s appropriate to remember that freedom does not grant license to do anything we wish just because we can. Rather, freedom is an opportunity to live into the best of which we are capable.
Have a great 4th of July Weekend!
Just posted a piece on this subject at my blog that includes a free download of Bucky’s Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, a truly great read.
Please post the link to your blog so that our readers can access it.
Looking at this subject as one large hunk of gnarly can be a fairly duanting experience. There are snap shots of time where I find myself getting lost in the noise amid the bumper stickers urging me to think globally and act locally or save the whales or the trees or the Tibetans or the drinking water or the and the…
Then I remember the old metaphor of eating an elephant with a teaspoon. This monster is enormous, however if we all did our part. If we honestly did our part and considered the better alternatives that are already avalaible to us in our daily lives…our spaceship would be improved.
It begs to be kept simple, it needs to be made more accessible and we need to turn on more corporations to the fact that there are revenues to be made by going “green.”
Recently I watched the Will Ferrel film where he played Ron Burgandy the newscaster. The film was set in the 1970’s and there was a part where the characters were eating their lunches in styrofoam containers as they walked and talked. Then as they finished eating they remorselessly threw their half eaten containers on the ground and kept walking.
It was a funny moment because of how audacious that would be nowadays. The sad thing is that it wouldn’t have been that audacious back then. That site gag revealed social progress to me.
There’s long way to go. A LONG way to go, however things are changing. We should consider this when we feel discouraged about the current situation.
It would be nice if this gulf tragedy creates real change.
Follow the money and vote with your dollar.