I once read about two percent of the US is paved. Two percent of fifty is one, implying about one state worth of the US is paved.

How do we reach the point of paving an entire state’s worth of land?

It seems to me:

First we tread over similar land to create dirt paths.

Then we tread over them enough that rain makes them muddy enough to make them impassable or unusable at times.

Then we pave them over to make them unaffected by water. If earlier steps removed life from them, paving them made them unable to sustain life. They become deadly.

Then we pave more around them.

Then we create machines that enable us to travel faster on paved roads.

Then we create lifestyles that require more such machines.

Then we deprecate traveling without machines.

Then we see more pavement as improving our world.

Then we transform our culture to forget a living world and value dead places.

Then we forget what we’re missing from nature and stop valuing life.

Then we forget what we’re missing from each other and stop valuing connection.

Then we value isolation and don’t know what we’re missing.

• ← Everyone looks for holes in sustainability, expecting it to unravel, but it’s self-consistent. Unsustainability has holes and doesn’t work.
• This week’s selected media, October 20, 2024: Serpico, The Road →