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Compose a 500 words assignment on the shadow our future throws by al gore. Needs to be plagiarism free! The Shadow Our Future Throws – Al Gore The shadow our future throws is a chapter in Al-Gore’s book, Earth in the balance: ecology and the human spirit. The book itself in general is about the ways in which humans are using our

environmental resources and how this use of environmental resources has caused a serious

imbalance in our nature. The book is also about the way in which humans are forming themselves

around capitalism and not the other way around. The chapter in which he elaborates the theories

underlying the questions of globalism and capitalism are detailed in the essay, ‘The Shadow our

Future Throws’. The name itself is a signifier that actions can lead to disastrous consequences if we

leave progress unchecked.

The first theory that Gore mentioned concerned the ‘Chaos Theory’. The ‘Chaos Theory is

also known as the butterfly effect (because the plot of the mathematical model crosses each other

like a butterfly). It is easy for example to say that chaos exists but in the nature of man and science

everything is neat and well-ordered with charted predictability however in every stable known

natural phenomena for example, exists unpredictable uncharted and chaotic phenomena. For

example, the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates that caused the inevitable tsunami

destruction that affected South Asia and Southeast Asia. We know the cause of the tsunami, what

we do not know is why. Therefore, the earth is moving at a chaotic erratic and random pace that

cannot be known to man specifically. However, due to the fact that the chaos theory is difficult to

chart and understand, scientists have the tendency to wait back before proceeding into any

statement. This is a plausible move however but Gore argues that it might be too late when the

world’s climate is changing rapidly due to the greenhouse effect. Initially, the earth has a particular

manner in which it will swing ‘pendulum-like’ from state to state. The earth is able to recuperate

itself continuously but the rapid changes and avid materialism and capitalism that is being

overzealously advocated today is moving the natural environment too fast too soon. What are the

effects on the environment and the earth of our rapid pollution

Often the target of such rapid pollution is portrayed by the media as the work of

irresponsible loggers or irresponsible swidden agriculturalists but nobody seems to question why

there are swidden agriculturalists, to what extent are their involvement with slash and burn

agriculture that affects the forest and causes deforestation and where does all the trees go The

answer is quite simple, it is transported to developed countries. Resources belonging to developing

countries are simply used for materialism and capitalism of developed countries. The cost of

capitalism is this, we move and shift natural resources from one part of the globe to another without

realizing the consequences of our actions. In addition the problems of import and export are also

apparent with the high cost of capitalism in maintaining ‘freshness’ of packaged goods. The media

does not portray the perpetrators of capitalism and the wreckage of environmentalism to be the

work of developed countries, on the contrary, environmentalism and environmentalists concentrate

their efforts elsewhere by creating humanitarian problems instead in the developing countries (Tsing

2005). However, this does not mean that there should be disjointed efforts on conserving the

environment but rather, joint efforts on conserving the environment, one that cooperate for the

initiative of other and other’s communities instead of hoping to preserve solely only developed

communities. Capitalism and environmentalism are two sides of a sword and are strange bedfellows

but the truth is, they are action and reaction of one another.

Previously, man and still today, those of the hunting and gathering communities have always

lived harmoniously with nature, they do not have the attitude of keeping and gathering for later but

instead perceive that there will always be abundance and they take only what they need (Sahlins

1972). This is in line with Gore’s theory of using science within the environment especially when he

uses e= mc2, the formula for the theory of relativity. Our use of mass affects our experience that is

shaped by time and space (Gore 1992:48).

In conclusion, we are able to use science as a means to concentrate our efforts on reducing

global effects of pollution thus saving ourselves from the rapid change in climate. In fact, we can use

whatever means and resources that we have with us to change this situation, the media must

cooperate, science must cooperate and above all, everyone must cooperate but we also must keep

in check that our relationship with our society is also our relationship with nature.

References:

Gore, Al. Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. Boston and New York: Houghton

Mifflin Company. 1992.

Sahlins, Marshall. Stone Age Economics. Chicago: Aldine, 1972.

Tsing, Anna. Friction: An ethnography of global connection. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton

University Press. 2005.