Wendell Berry Response

Berry, Wendell. (1986). The use of energy.

I thought Wendell Berry's essay was great. He brought up many great points and made you look at energy and machinery in a whole new way. In his essay he talks a lot about how energy is being abused, and the over extreme of machinery use. I really like his quote, "as machines replace skill, they disconnect from life; they come between us and life." This really stood out for me, I agree with Berry, machines and technology are taking over our life's and as he said, "we cannot live by machines." We are a lazy, greedy society and don't want to take the time to learn something by hand, even if it takes longer, we would rather flip a switch and call it good. As Berry said, "It requires more skills to use a team of horses, than to operate a tractor." When will it end? I don't totally agree with the Amish, only because I grew up in a machined filled, technology world, but I do believe in converting, recycling, and better tomorrow. And energy is one of them. If you can recycle something to use towards something else, why not? If you are going to throw it away, why not see if it can put to better use in the future? As Berry stated, "we can destroy it, by wasting it." I really love this quote. He stated it perfectly, by wasting something that had potential, you are indeed, wasting it.