Local environment trashed, community gardeners outraged, will the youth of today get away with it?
Shocking news to be reporting in my blog, but as one who feels we are no closer to resolving huge issues like global warming, loss of marine life and overpopulation of humans (the most dangerous species on the planet), without addressing the local issues first.
My original plan was to wander out to the University Golf Club, where “Everyone’s Welcome” – not being ironic, just reporting what the sign says outside the clubhouse. Of course, a public access course is not exactly de rigueur, and more often than not these expansive green spaces are for the private use of what Veblen calls the “Leisure Class.” When I went to the VanVR (Virtual Reality) Meetup last month, I met some developer who want to recreate the game of golf in Unity, the game-design program preferred by virtual realist. At first, it almost seen as ridiculous: what serious golf would give up being out in nature to put uncomfortable googles on their heads and swing their motion-captured arms at a white object that is not really there? Now that I think more ecologically about it, such a move into the virtual world would free up so many places around the developed world, maybe even make place for the displaced species and not-so leisurely class. Of course, Veblen writes how difficult it will be to tear away from our “pecuniary standard of living” but as this video clip shows, it is only just a matter of time for all of us: