If this is civilisation, I want no part in it
May 26th, 2010Recently I’ve been trying to find an appropriate example to explain the Dark Mountain project to imaginary interlocutors, other than just wind farms on hill sides. The perfect one cropped up today in a most revolting form.
The Chinese government plan to build the world’s biggest hydro-electric project in Tibet, all in the name of mitigating climate change, so they say.
The article explains, “A large dam on the Tibetan plateau would amount to a major, irreversible experiment with geo-engineering,” said Peter Bosshard of International Rivers. “Blocking the Yarlung Tsangpo could devastate the fragile ecosystem of the Tibetan plateau, and would withhold the river’s sediments from the fertile floodplains of Assam in north-east India, and Bangladesh.”
And what is it all for? So millions of Chinese can continue to consume without conscience, so factories producing junk for the rest of the world can continue to function? The status-quo of growth and consumption must be maintained whilst dealing with the limits that climate change clearly presents us with.
The most horrifying quote is this one, “For the sake of the entire world, all the water resources than can be developed should be developed.”
It leads me to wonder, what exactly do we want to save? An ugly land strewn with concrete, marching metal towers, jumbles of wires in the sky, and a crude population without guts? There is an irony here somewhere: in order to save our land, we must first ruin it.
Culture, tradition, and landscape are the very soul of humanity, and they are intrinsically linked to one another. Without them, we cease to be, and yet all are considered mere trifles in the process of modernisation, the scramble for resources, and as it becomes increasingly obvious, the tackling of climate change.
If this is all for the “sake of the entire world”, then count me out. I want nothing to do with this madness.





