Imagine, if you can, the inability of people to save themselves from themselves. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide goes up past 480 parts per million, then past 550 ppm. Oceans wipe out coastal areas, widespread desertification, in struggling over scarce resources the earth becomes a place of war, pestilence and famine; life for the few survivors is nasty, brutish, and short. But goodness, what a lot of artifacts they have to remind them of what they have lost: Railroad tracks, grain combines, buildings without heat or light, crumbling museums, and nuclear submarines.

A fair number have passed on the art of reading, and they have learned about what once was and why it is no longer.  Much forest has regrown, they are hunter gatherers now, but with this vast knowledge of human history. They talk about what they think were the most valuable achievements of the lost civilization. What if they make it back up the ladder again, what would they most want to recreate? Even now there are liberal and conservative views on everything, including this question; but on this one thing they agree.

Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct … and to refrain from destruction. Simone Weil

George's selection of 66 Phlogs is available in print from People's Press.

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