Over the Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, and the Delusion of Controlling Nature by Stephen Robert Miller
Who doesn’t love a good apocalypse? Especially when it’s our fault and non-fiction? Miller’s Over the Sea Wall is a journalistic examination of three places trying to deal with the damage wrought by nature and the negative results from our reliance on historic systems, our arrogance in believing we can control nature, and our trust in our technology. He, rightly, calls these examples of maladaptation.
The book is well researched and written, and left me with a myriad of emotions I’m still sorting through. Disbelief at our daftness. Anger for our willful ignorance and greed. Grief over what we’ve done. Shame to be part of it (I live in the water depleted West too). And resignation/sadness/grief over the inevitability of the inhabitability of so many places.
King James Version of the bible, Gen. 1 Verses 26 to 31 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” I’ve never thought about this passage until I read an excerpt from True West, Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America by Betsy Gaines Quammen. In it she looks at the European immigrants christian legacy on ranching and living with (and killing off of) wolves. “Man (his word) was given the freedom, Ryan [Bundy an LDS rancher said], to do whatever he pleased with the animals, plants, landscapes, all placed here for his use, his pleasure, and his disregard.” It’s the last part of the quote that gets me. Disregard. Gains Quammen goes on to relay stories from ranchers who grew up believing in their dominion and right to disregard, but changed their minds when faced with the reality of senseless killing, “Noticed by no one, perhaps, save only Him, who notices the fall of every sparrow.” (Her book is on my list to read in its entirety.)
The three examples in Over the Seawall are all about dominion over the land, and especially the water. In all three cases, economic interests trump environmental and social needs. And they idealize dominating nature to with technology (to the detriment of many) rather than working with nature. While this is noticed by more than God, few seem willing or able to do anything about it. I can’t help but wonder how the author of Genesis/God defined dominion. Was it to act like naughty, spoiled children who destroy their toys and ask for more? Or like a family who lovingly cares for their house, repairing it as needed, making improvements that benefit the whole community and nature, and treat it like a gift. In all three of Miller’s cases, the reliance on
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