Appreciation of Nature

In my class, Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Environment, we discussed a reading about Heidegger and his ideas. He believed that technology put us into a “calculative mindset” that causes us to think excessively about the future and constantly plan for improvement. But when people plan on ways to improve environmental problems, they are using that calculative way of thinking that caused the problems in the first place. For example, people created cars and planes to travel faster and improve the method of travel. When people plan on ways to improve transportation in terms of environmental impact, they are using the same mindset that people used when creating cars in the first place. Heidegger thinks it’s important to use a reflective, meditative mindset that is focused on simply being and appreciating instead of improving. He thinks that people need to remember how to appreciate simple pleasures that are not efficient: walking for the sake of enjoying nature, talking with friends, drinking wine. This takes us away from a calculative mindset and slows down the negative effects of excessive technology use and creation. I think he has a point, but making an effort to convince people of the important of a reflective mindset is, in essence, using a calculative mindset. If we are doomed to use a calculative mindset because of the way we were raised with so much technology, perhaps we can recognize this and use it to change things for the better instead of the worse.
    This reminded me of what we are studying in our class. If we were to stop focusing so much on having everything better, we might be able to realize what is really important. If everyone took a daily slow walk through the woods to appreciate birdsong and the general beauty of nature, we might not be so quick to dismiss nature and cut down fields to make room for parking lots. We might not be so eager to kill more and more animals for food and make more efficient slaughter houses. If we appreciated animals for their inherent value, we might not have thousands of them trapped in one building where they live horrible lives before they die. I think, instead of debating the philosophical reasons for animals to have inherent value, it is also important to reflect on nature’s importance so that we can understand it for ourselves instead of just guessing about it.