Eaarth Chapter 3

One of the first things that McKibben talks about in this chapter is our vocabulary, or lack thereof, and metaphors that we use to describe our world. He talks about us needing to exchange the word growth for something more like sustainable, durable, sturdy, stable, hardy, or robust. One of the metaphors he uses for the economy is a racehorse. It is showy and not meant for trudging through mud or running down a stony or uneven path. McKibben says that we need to "transform our racehorse into a workhorse" because workhorses are "dependable, even-tempered, long-lasting [and] uncomplaining" (pg. 103).

To me this paints a pretty clear picture, especially since I work with horses on a weekly basis. I have worked with both types of horses and they are very different from each other. Another thing that McKibben brings up with the horse metaphor that kind of travels through the rest of the chapter is slowing down. Not just slowing down our spending but slowing down our growing. Growth is one of the most used words, in my opinion anyway, when talking about the economy. He brings up the concept of thinking smaller. Using words like shrinking or recession is becoming more real than growth and inflation.

One of the questions that McKibben asked his readers was why does bigness spell trouble? That got me to thinking about how as a country we have this constant want, or maybe need is a better word, to grow our economy as big as we can as fast as we can. It made me wonder why no one ever questions this. How come nobody is willing to look back and ask why do we do what we do? One of McKibben's suggestions for fixing our growth problem is becoming more community-minded. He tells about some of Vermont's history and how their whole state is very community-minded and he tells some stories that show how Vermont uses their sense of community to fight against the nation's idea of growth.

The view from the Green Mountains where the parkway was meant to be.