The digital natives probably look at me and scoff. A new immigrant to the connected world, to them I’m disconnected. I’ve got a blog and can post stuff on it. I’ve just joined Facebook, but can’t use it well relying instead on my email account to tell me what’s happening over in Facebook-land. I’ve signed up to delicious.com and tagged all of two websites – my blog and one other. I’ve heard of Twitter but I don’t know how to tweet or read someone’s. Lance Armstrong does it. So does Stephen Fry. And so too do Demi Moore and her fella. I’d be vaguely interested in how Lance is coping in le Tour. I’d probably be highly amused by the erudite twittering of Fry. Moore and what’s-his-name??? Not my cup of tea. It makes me wonder, what do you call someone who posts tweets? A twitterer? A twit?
Technology is growing at an ever increasing rate. New technology is out of date in a matter of months, so we’re all encouraged to jump onto the information super highway “It’s the future baby!” And I want to climb on board, but only so much. Actually I’m rather fearful of where the highway is leading us? Is it the Talking Heads “Road to Nowhere” or even Chris Rea’s “Road to Hell”? Because at the same time as the digital natives are calling “Come on in the water's wonderful” our planet’s saying “Ouch, I’m getting a little hot!” It’s not really saying that, but you get what I mean; here we are with ever expanding technology and a planet that's being slowly warmed.
One of the key messages in environmental education is the need for people to experience that moment of awe that allows then to connect to the environment. Without it all the PowerPoint presentations in the world can’t generate the realisation that we are all part of the bigger whole; the web of life – they'll give us the knowledge but nothing more.
I’ve been incredibly lucky and have had many of those moments. Trekking in Nepal, game driving in Africa, tramping in the New Zealand bush. Sure, I’ve seen pictures of sunrises on the TV and watched documentaries on African wildlife, I've even seen the YouTube sensation “Battle at Kruger”, but these don’t compare to the real-life experiences I’ve enjoyed like seeing the sunrise in the Annapurnas or watching a lion take down a warthog in Kenya.
Moments of awe need not come from expensive overseas travel but they do need travel. Whether it’s overseas, national or simply into your own front yard they require getting away from their keyboards and out into the environment. Without these experiences people can’t connect to the real world; they are, as environmentalists say, disconnected.
I'm not anti-technology though. Like Naess’s Deep Ecology tenet that humans should only use other animals for vital needs, I think humans should only use technology when it is appropriate. Naess does not define “vital” and I shan’t define “appropriate” because circumstances are what is important; the context in which the technology is used is key. Technology is good but technology in the wrong context may not be. Blogging and twitter have helped raise awareness of the political situation in Iran of that there’s no doubt. People living their lives through avatars are creative and expressive but how do they cope in the real world in a face-to-face conversation?
Technology and the internet in particular will play a vital role in the way we choose (or don’t choose) to address the mammoth environmental issues facing us, but without real connections to other people and to the environment I fear we’ll lack the desire to really do anything about it.
There’s a whole wide world out there. Try it. Touch it. Listen to it. Sniff it. Lick it even. It’s there, it’s real and it’s all around you. Get out amongst it, get truly connected and THEN use technology.
Wednesday 29 July, 9.30pm
