Wednesday, October 07, 2009
doctrine air
travel by air leads to many problems. some of these problems, such as deep vein thrombosis,
are of only passing interest to the first church of dirt. of greater
concern are direct impacts of air travel on dirt: air, water, dirt, and
noise pollution due to operation of aircraft, construction and
maintenance of airports, and travel to and from airports.
most
distressing to this church, however, are changes to human attitudes
that follow from travel by aeroplane and other high-speed modes. on an
airplane, each place loses any connection it has to any other place.
when it is possible to get elsewhere so quickly, much of the motivation
to care about and invest in your current location is removed. why
would I spend valuable time discovering and becoming part of what is
unique about where I am when I could more easily head to the nearest
aerodrome and quickly find myself in some other more interesting
place? why treat dirt as anything other than what holds me up between
traveling to ever more distant and exotic places?
I am not
opposed to traveling long distances. it is the only way to really
experience the connections that exist between people and places and dirt and
everything else that needs dirt. traveling far from where we are
exposes us to new ideas and other ways humans, animals, soil processes,
hydrologic cycles, &c. operate outside of our experience. I am
only opposed to traveling long distances too quickly. speed turns the
potential that travel has to connect us with other people and places into
the potential for it to destroy the idea and reality of place.
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