Thoreau

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Americans

Are Americans so involved in progress, speed, competitveness, consumption, commercialism and entertaining ourselves to death, that we are unable to truly live and enjoy life?
Are we too busy worshiping the creation that we have forgotten the Creator?
Have we forgotten that we are creatures who owe homage to Someone else?
Are we in awe of anything?

Aldo Leopold

“To me an ancient cottonwood is the greatest of trees because in his youth he shaded the buffalo and wore a halo of pigeons, and I like a young cottonwood because he may some day become ancient. But the farmer’s wife (and hence the farmer) despises all cottonwoods because in June the female tree clogs the screens with cotton. The modern dogma is comfort at any cost.”

Is Industrialism Immoral?

Industrialism is a philosophy based upon an idea that resources have no limits and that our ability to consume has no limits. I believe this idea to be naive and narcissistic ; but is it immoral?
Is it immoral to consciously deplete resources and to degrade creation without making a return for future generations? Is it immoral to destroy cultures for temporal gain?

It is not a sin to be naive but it is to be narcissistic, materialistic, greedy and destructive.

Donald Davidson

'If painting and sculptures are made for the purpose of being viewed in the carefully studied surroundings of art galleries, they have certainly lost their intimate connection with life. What is a picture for, if not to put on one's own wall?...The proposition is as absurd as this: Should we eat our meals regularly from crude, thick dishes like those used in Greek restaurants, but go on solemn occasions to a restaurant museum where somebody's munificence would permit us to enjoy a meal on china of the most delicate design? The truly artistic life is surely that in which the aesthetic experience is not curtained off but is mixed up with all sorts of instruments and occupations pertaining to the round of daily life.

Eric Sloane

Farm life offers the complete satisfaction of knowing that each day's work has been truly productive, a joy scarce in present times. Yet strangely enough, the early American farmer's greatest satisfaction came not from his daily chores, but in his ability to make provisions for the future and an awareness of his part in fashioning the nation to come. He equipped his home with far heavier foundations than were necessary. He built his barn to last for centuries and he laid a rail fence to survive ten generations. He built stone walls that have lasted so long that they are now a permanent part of the landscape. None of these things are done now, nor do we often consider doing them