Earth Herself: In Seven Continents.

 

 

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The notion that the earth needs to be saved is predicated upon a Myth.

 

 

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A myth that says to us: we have to save the earth.

 

 

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“Frankly, the earth doesn’t need to be saved.

 

 

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Nature doesn’t give a hoot if human beings are here or not.

 

 

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The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years.

 

 

 

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Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained.

 

 

 

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Saving the environment is really about saving our environment — making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it.

 

 

 

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If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so.”

 

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Robert M. Lilienfeld, management consultant and author (b. 1953) and William L. Rathje, archaeologist and author (b. 1945)

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William L. Rathje, at left with a bag of garbage, and Garbage Project field director Wilson Hughes in a 1973 photo. (Photo courtesy: University of Arizona School of Anthropology)

 

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American archaeologist William L. Rathje has conducted some of the most interesting archaeological investigations of the twentieth century: in the modern-day garbage dumps and landfills of cities and towns around the world. The “Projet du Garbage,” as it is informally known, has influenced archaeological research in a number of ways, at the same time teaching us that what people say they throw away and what they actually do throw away are not the same. You can read all about it in his entertaining 1992 book called Rubbish!.

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Rathje, William L. 1979 Modern material culture studies. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory. Michael B. Schiffer, ed. Pp. 1-37. New York: Academic Press.

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