Devotion to Dust

     History is an odd study. It provides access to the past but only through filters and peep holes. History recounts the actions and effects of the dead which can be used a a guide to our decisions today though the outcomes are never certain. For many historians the study of past people and events is simply a passion that arouses curiosity and enthusiasm that cannot be directed anywhere except into books, into digs, and towards fellow enthusiasts. For many cultures, history is implicit in ordinary life from the buildings walked by to the social customs used to interact with family and foreigners. These places like Jerusalem, Rome, and Timbuktu possess a spirit that extends beyond time and memory and which holds firmly onto its residents for generations. The colonies of the Americas and South Pacific, notably the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand thoroughly destroyed and ignored native inhabitants of previously settled areas while simultaneously distancing colonial culture from the motherland. Specifically in the United States, popular culture believes history starts at the Revolutionary War in 1776 because nothing before that is worth remembering. That mindset is more dangerous than being in awe of the past because it places the present in full view outside of any context. Why do many nations see Americans as self-centered? Because to American citizens, the United States is the only nation that has ever mattered in history, and its greatness has never been eclipsed.
     History provides context by recognizing the triumphs and chastising the mistakes of the past while attempting to hold the present accountable and provide guidance to the future. Herodotus is credited as the Father of History since he is the first person acknowledged for recording historic events from first hand accounts in order to preserve knowledge. His work The History reveals insights into ancient Greece, Persia, and Egypt from monuments to travel routes to popular opinions. Although Herodotus was the first, he included bias and hear-say and did not document sources. He collected and compiled information to be kept safe for the future but did not include analysis or context. For centuries after Herodotus, records of events were kept throughout the Hellenistic world and collected, famously, in the library at Alexandria. The Romans continued the tradition of recording keeping, but the enthusiasm for analyzing records loss a great deal of its importance as the empire waned. The medieval period of Europe saw the near extinction of literacy and forced preservation to become the primary function of the learned.
     Napoleon Bonaparte's education reforms brought the modern methodology of a historian into play. On his conquests, he had geologists, botanists, zoologists, and a record keeper travel with his army to survey the land, biology, and events for future compilation. His forethought expanded the purpose of history from classical mythology and warfare to recording the present, analyzing the past, and changing a pastime into an academic pursuit.
     The current academic basis for historic inquiries varies for as many people as study history. Undeniably, studying history sates the unquenchable curiosity of mankind. History records the present for the future while revealing the past to the present lest the greatness of man's achievements are forgotten. While war, generals, and empires garner much attention, recent trends in the last few decades have focused on minorities, women, and civil rights as current social appetites dictate a new perspective. The study of history also reminds humanity of its failures and highlights pitfalls of the past. This can be a caution to world leaders and generals as well as a predictor for future imperial blunders and economic disasters.

     Perspective changes connotation. The components that dictate the changes of time can be broken down into three pivotal, interconnected cogs that drive the future onward. The smallest wheel spins rapidly and controls social movements and cultural adjustments to economic capabilities, wars, and civil relations. The medium wheel dictates political policies and laws that can control or react to social shifts. Though more powerful than the instant reaction of the masses, the political wheel spins more slowly. The third wheel moves languidly, nearly unnoticeably, and alters the climate and geography of a region which affects access to resources that influence political momentum, economic capabilities, military needs, and social attitudes.
     The small wheel that does all the spinning is the easiest for people to recognize and study, but it is controlled by larger, less obvious changes. Those larger forces are acknowledged but almost ignored. The climate of the ancient Nile allowed Egypt to flourish because of a consistent, easy water supply while the vast forests and Atlantic Coastline of Europe set the stage for the imperial expansion of the oceans similar to China's resource dominance in Asia.
     Part of the study of history is to answer questions; part of it is to find answers. History is a clock, and no matter which hand you focus on - time keeps ticking.


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Agatha Tyche

Population Dynamics: Growth

     A debate at the forefront of the mind when looking over UN reports of disease, water usage, pollution, or news on the development of industrializing countries is the exponential increase in the human population which has caused concern in recent years due to the stress on natural resources and the toll that modern adaptations take both on the planet and on human interactions. The Industrial Revolution and its offspring are responsible for the enormous, exponential increase of Homo sapien sapien in the last two-hundred twenty-five years. As debated as the enlargement of humanity is, the format denouncing these changes has gone unchanged since the population explosion began..

     Thomas Malthus's 1798 essay, "An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it affects the Future Improvement of Society with remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers," neatly summarizes the biological limitations of earth for the needs of an undefined number of people. Since the food supply tends to increase more slowly than human reproduction, it is left to the whims of nature on how to dispose of the excess individuals. This is achieved through war, famine, and disease. What Malthus did not predict was the great revolutions the food industry would undergo from 1798 to the modern day. Napoleon's France began the canning industry that allowed foods to be shipped incredible distances and stored for several months which allowed burgeoning populations to remain active through winter. Farming equipment and improved yields, especially in the grain baskets of Germany and America, provided the means to maintain the growth of Europe's populations.
     The last large-scale famine in Western countries was 1816, the Year Without a Summer. Because of spectacular innovations, trade, and preservation technology, exponential growth in Europe then the world has seen the human population double again and again within a single lifetime. As human numbers have increased, the means and minds to continue the increase in food supplies has expanded too.

 "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas ans I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; an many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," Said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843.

     Despite the worries of a continually enlarging population, growth trends have slowed from a global maximum of about a 20% increase in the 1960s to about five percent in the 2010s. The Green Revolution in Asia in the 1960s and 70s saved millions of lives and enabled several countries to feed their people without imports, notably China and India.
     As humans reproduce, our population continues to grow as it has for the past twenty decades. As that rate slows, Malthus could be proven correct as resources like oil and water strain trade relations and power structures. Resource management is a significant component of the fear mongering that has gone on since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Malthus predicted that Europe would descend into ravenous hordes, but the 1800s saw Europe dominate the world in every imaginable way - including population growth.
     It is not wrong to predict the problems of the future, but it is unhelpful to predict those problems and offer only despair and hopelessness as solutions. Charles Dickens exhibited the evidence of Britain's health and success in the 1843 short story "A Christmas Carol" where the streets of London have fresh fruits and edible delicacies available at modest prices even in the throes of winter. Even as Malthus's followers bemoaned the dismal possibilities of the future, Britain outproduced its needs. Therefore, let us look toward the years ahead with a eye for innovation and a heart full of hope instead of the useless dismality of the doomsday Malthusians.


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Agatha Tyche

Incomprehensible Loss

     This will be an uncharacteristically personal post. The original topic changed multiple times and delayed this entry for several weeks. Recent contact with one of my history mentors elicited a strong, angry, depressed response. The final motivation that initiated the following sentiments was finalized by the proximity of ISIS to Palmyra, Syria and the vast, famed ruins south of that city. Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has been a major city since before Roman occupation in the first century. With the threat to this beautifully preserved city, the world hopelessly holds its breath with ISIS's destructive intent clearly exhibited through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Even after deliberate destruction, the ruined ruins will be an impressive site and will continue to be a travel destination in the years to come.
     In short, history is fragile. Geological history is hard to unravel because of the sheer scope of time and size. Biological history requires careful genealogical histories of migration and breeding which can be confirmed through genotype mapping. Social history is the most sensitive and delicate to preserve and interpret. People's lives are powerful, but decipherable impacts can be nearly invisible given time and change.

     Egypt is famous because of the volume of historic artifacts that have remained four thousand years after the heights of power. The pyramids were the tallest man-made structures in the world for longer than people have lived in most cities. The Egyptians left a mark on the people they conquered and on the people that conquered them because of the total domination of the Nile Valley.
     Other cultures were able to build immense stone structures that have endured for millenia. The Roman Colosseum, the Great Wall of China, and the Mayan city Teotihuacan all testify to the strength of people at different times. Historians see these remains as historical landmarks and seek out their meaning, purpose, and history.
     The most selfish, antagonist people to live are not those that study and preserve materials of the past but those that intentionally destroy what can never be repaired, recovered, or rebuilt. ISIS destroys ancient artifacts because they are "idolatrous" to Islam's Allah. One of the biggest reasons to illegally keep world heritage artifacts in climate-controlled, guarded museum cases in Europe is because the countries those artifacts came from are the those with the most severe political turmoil and social unrest. Egypt is still experiencing political shifts years after the beginning of the Arab Spring. Greece's financial situation recently forced the withdraw of a decades-long attempt to reclaim the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum of Nature History. The Mediterranean region of the Middle East has suffered constant warfare, terrorism, and religious tension for the past seventy years with an unpredictable schedule of conflict and bombings. Regardless of the legality of European collections of ancient artifacts, they are carefully preserved and studied to reveal the past to the future.

"Not to know what happened before we were born is to remain perpetually a child. For what is the worth of human life if it is not woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history." -Cicero

     History is a resource that cannot be manufactured. If fortunate, it can be restored, but through the renewal process, it loses part of its significance. The Middle East is a superlative in several categories from oil production to historic ruins to manufactured political boundaries by European empires. Importantly, the extreme, fringe Islamic views that have  gained a small minority of support because of its blame-centered, antagonistic beliefs have dramatically disturbed millions of peoples, billions of dollars, natural resources, trade routes, and the incomprehensible demolition of "blasphemous and idolatrous" antiquities.
     ISIS seeks to restore the greatness of past Islamic Caliphates that dominated the Near East, Northern Africa, and parts of Europe for centuries. Their zeal and enthusiasm should be commended as well as their demonstrated effectiveness. They should, however, seek to follow more of their ancestors' footsteps who respected their conquered people's lives and religions as well as the enormous significant context of the region while remaining true to their Islamic heritage.
     Perhaps ISIS will one day be contained or destroyed. Perhaps they will successfully establish a long-term Islamic government that extends beyond the modern boundaries of Middle Eastern nations. Regardless of their future, for the sake of mankind, may they stop the pointless obliteration that thousands of people have worked millenia to avoid.

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Agatha Tyche

Domesticate the Vagabond

     People who achieve greatness and succeed in making their goals and dreams reality are often admired for their demonstrated determination while being scorned for their treatment of others and their disregard for social rules and laws. Obvious examples include the conquests of great generals like Cyrus, Alexander, Julius Ceasar, the Khans, and Saladin. These men took over large swathes of land and many peoples from a tiny center of power with innovative military techniques and tactics. The second most evident success stories of impassioned achievement are commercial. Rockefeller gradually absorbed all of the American oil industry from drilling to refining to selling and established an untouchable monopoly. John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca Cola, also achieved remarkable success of a simple product through excellent marketing. Henry Ford dominated the automotive industry, DuPont controlled engineering and chemistry, Carnegie consolidated steel and railroads, and modern innovators of the computer age like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zucherberg continue in those traditions.
     What makes these individuals stand apart from the competition and achieve their goals despite opposition? Passion. Conviction. An internal belief and desire to do something purposeful with their lifelong dreams. Few people have dreams worth pursuing. Of the few that dream, fewer strive to achieve those ideas. Of the few that dream and strive, fewer succeed. That is why we remember them: their names and their deeds.

      In Dante's Inferno, Canto IV, " [In] the foremost circle that surrounds the abyss, there as it seemed to me from listening, were lamentations none, but only sighs, that tremble made the everlasting air. And this arose from sorrow without torment, which the crowds had, that many were and great, of infants and of women and of men." Taken slightly out of context, it is clear that a huge host of people suffered in the outermost circle of hell, Limbo, because they did not commit to anything during life. Because of their aimless life, they were punished to an aimless eternity.
     Most people live without focus or purpose. The poor are distracted by the needs of basic survival while the wealthy are distracted by worthless trinkets. If humanity is to overcome the challenges, fears, and antagonism that it suffers from now, we must collectively put aside the baggage of localized pettiness and place our efforts toward what we hope to accomplish.


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Agatha Tyche

Tyche to Fortuna: Shifting Luck

Throughout her Grecian history, the goddess of luck, Tyche had adjusted well to the changing religious beliefs of the Greek and Hellenistic worlds. By the second century BC with a decline of the city-state in Greece and the formation of a large Greek-like culture throughout most of the known world, individualism philosophies undermined traditional religion but encouraged an increase in fate-altering religious beliefs. The focus on individualism aided the religious shift away from traditional Greecian religion since the Olympic gods chose cities, not people, to sponsor. Alternatively, mystery cults provided possibilities for individuals to interact with their chosen deity. By allowing people to interact personally and specifically to petition for gods’ assistance in problems, fate ceased its finality and became opened ended. Mystery cults added to traditional worship eventually weakening Tyche’s grasp on fate and undermining her power just as she had undermined the Olympic gods at the start of the Hellenistic Age.                                                       
The Classical Greek religious views began to change swiftly with the Macedonian invasion in the 330s BC as Fate gave way to the whims of shifting and unpredictable Chance. Fate (moira) characterizes unchangeable destiny while Chance personifies inexpiable inconsistencies in life. Fate went from being an unalterable future to being controlled by an unpredictable, blind deity that distributed rewards and punishments without cause. Comparing the Hellenistic view of Chance with Homer’s writings of traditional religion shows a stark contrast in the power of the Olympian gods. However, this shift occurred gradually with the earliest ideas of Fate expressed as “unswerving direction.” Over time, fate became god-administered because the outcome was not determined by the gods, merely the path of arrival. Aside from the gods, Tyche ruled a “separate but complementary sphere of influence.” Tyche’s popularity rose at the expense of the traditional Greek gods.                                
In addition to successfully competing with Greek gods, Tyche favorably interacted with other cultures’ religions such as Isis in the Selukidian and Ptolemaic kingdoms. With Fortune’s vast powers, Hellenistic writers called her a “tyrant over the gods” since she could dictate everyone's destiny. In efforts to break free from this tyrannical reign of Fate, mystery cults offered ways for people to unshackle from Tyche’s oppressive control. This movement introduced conflicts between providence and free will. A notable example from Polybius mentions the Romans, hopelessly outnumbered, overcoming a mighty Fortune-favored enemy through their own determination and courage. Resisting and changing this seemingly assigned fate encouraged the Hellenistic view that fate and destiny were malleable. 
However, merely resisting Fate did not alter destiny. Tyche still had a significant effects which caused people to seek out and petition her. A historic demonstration of the unpredictability of Fortune references the fall of Thebes. Polybius states, “the commander did everything a good general ought to do, and that Epaminondas got the better of his opponents, but was himself defeated by Fortune.” Another example of unfavorable Fortune is the Carthaginian general Hannibal in the Second Punic War. Although he had successfully defeated the Roman armies in Italy itself, through a sudden turn in events, Hannibal, through no fault of his own command, fell to Scipio.                                                                                     
Although the Greeks and Romans shared a similar god that affected fate, each culture held distinct beliefs. Throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms, the definition of Fortune ranged from blind chance to the goddess actively intervening on various occasions. While Greeks considered Tyche blind or malignant, Fortuna, the Roman goddess equivalent, expressed favorable chance and decisive judgment on wrong-doers.

         With Roman expansion into Hellenistic culture, Fortuna rose in popularity especially when Roman good fortune continued and brought ever-expanding prosperity. Cults worshipping Fortuna grew to prominence in cities and attracted large numbers of politicians, soldiers, and women who sought Fortuna’s favor. The Roman Senate and emperors used specific definitions of “fortune” to bring favor to their causes, most notably wars. Unlike traditional Greek views, Romans did not give Fate unlimited, universal power over other gods. For the Romans, Fortuna behaved only beneficiarily. In The Rise of the Roman Empire, Polybius examined the traditional Greek view that the whims of chance are unfavorable and had significant impacts on events while considering the Roman belief that Fortune is only favorable. The Greek and Roman contrast comes from the different origin histories. The Greeks had experienced foreign rule and detested it while the Romans had continually experienced nearly continuous, uninterrupted success. The Greeks’ cynicism is reflected in their alternative belief.
          One of the largest impacts Fortuna had on the Roman population affected the Stoics. Since heimarmen retained absolute control of fate, Stoics continued to accept the destiny prescribed, instead of attempting to petition gods to alter their fate. Although similar to Fortuna, hermarmen, like moira, could not be altered from its course. Man’s own control of a situation warrants chance instead of divine intervention, but it is useful to turn to a god for salvation if it is within his power or desire to do so. Extraordinary events should be viewed as “an infatuation sent from heaven” which does not happen often. Stoics resisted the view that fate can be altered, but neither did they continue the worship of traditional religions. 
          Roman beliefs of the fickleness of fortune aligned closely with Hellenistic beliefs. Fortune could and did randomly change circumstances and situations without warning. Polybius wrote The Rise of the Roman Empire to reflect on Fortune’s dealings with Rome and to teach how to bear one’s own fortune in life. Considering his evident respect for Fortuna’s hand in events, Polybius flippantly uses the term “fortune” by pointedly implying mere chance instead of a goddess’s intervention. Polybius explained that since man has no consistent way of foretelling what is to come, he must prepare for unexpected elements of life, especially in time of war. The belief that chance randomly determines everything pervaded the entire Hellenistic world and affected Roman philosophical and religious views as well. The Carthaginians and Hannibal knew that “[Fortune] sports with mankind as if her victims were little children.” Fortuna favors some men by giving unnaturally good fortune in every circumstance while others must overcome each obstacle before them through their own strength and ability. Polybius defends Scipio’s achievements as personal, praiseworthy accomplishments and not a merely gift from Fortuna.
          Tyche, the goddess of chance, luck, and fortune, originated around the time of Homer but developed into a goddess which set men’s unalterable destiny. Once Greeks recognized the power of unavoidable fate, Tyche overcame the Olympic gods. By the time Greek culture pervaded the world, Tyche neatly controlled the power of nearly every other god, unless favorable petitions to Fortuna permitted the evasion of destiny. Once other religions and mystery cults clipped Tyche’s control by allowing individuals to change their fate, she became merely a wrinkle to consider when studying major inconsistencies in world history. Roman religious similarities with Greeks allowed Tyche to gain a foothold in the new empire and expand in several philosophies such as Stoism. The goddess’s power can be interpreted from aiding an assassin’s attempt at a king’s life to which side a flipped coin will land on, but each interpretation of the extent of Tyche’s control forced inconsistencies into her doctrine. However, Tyche’s cultural and religious influences retain some strength even today with superstitious beliefs in lucky charms, numbers, and phrases. Although now far from the forefront of military considerations or the pinnacle of intervention, Lady Luck influenced religion and philosophy in Greece and Rome, the two foundational empires of the modern Western world.

Luck be with you.
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Agatha Tyche

Tyche: Calculating the Odds

     Tyche, the Greek goddess of chance, neatly represents and condenses the religious views of the Hellenistic world by building off of traditional Greek beliefs and flexibly combining with the gods of eastern Mediterranean regions. As a goddess, Tyche causes sudden changes in human affairs, resulting from her fortuitous good luck or disastrous disfavor. Generally, Greeks viewed Tyche’s interferences from a negative standpoint since whatever seemed granted for nothing could just as easily be taken away.

     Tyche refers specifically to the Hellenistic goddess that interacted at all possible levels of chance from minute to momentous. Tyche is one of the most popular forms of Fate in Greek and Hellenistic texts.The earliest mention of a Tyche-like god in Greek literature are Homer’s references to Fates. Initially, Fate begins as an impersonal force called “moira” while a negative, malignant force called “daim” represented evil misfortunes. Homer implies that destiny is inevitable despite any actions taken to avoid it. For example Odysseus was fated to return to Ithaca despite the long delay. Fate will occur regardless of tradition, social hierarchy, and seniority since its power lies outside man’s control. Despite this foundation, Homer never reveres moira or daim as gods. Eventually, these impersonal forces shifted into the Fates of Classical Greek mythology and exerted control over the Olympian gods. 

     After Homer but before the Classical Greek era, the definitions of Fate and Chance changed, although the differences were nearly indistinguishable. Aristotle failed to define clearly the distinctions between Tyche’s influence and simple accidents. A further hindrance in clarification is the absence of lowercase letters in ancient Greek. Thus, the meaning of the term, either the goddess or ordinary chance, was derived purely from context and was easily miscommunicated. As the extent of Tyche’s control over events grew through the religious shift, eventually even the Olympian gods became restricted to the hands of Fate. The increase of Tyche’s power decreased the common people’s respect for the Olympian gods’ intervention and control. Against the philosophical rational that characterizes the Greeks, Fate is irrational. Slowly, Greeks concluded that since the Olympian gods themselves had no control over their own inevitable fate, interacting with deities unable to assist or defend is unbeneficial.

      Tyche is regularly depicted in statues, and temples dedicated to her cult arose in nearly every large city of the Hellenistic world. In her arm is either a cornucopia or the babe Plutus to show Tyche’s control over and power to distribute wealth. In her other hand is a rudder to show her authority over destiny since she ultimately determines the outcome. She steers men through chaotic waters without any predictability, rewarding without cause and punishing without reason. Her feet rest on a sphere of water showing her roots of chaos, turbidity, and unpredictability. Her face is wrapped in cloth to hide her eyes and emphasize the randomness of her generous blessings and cursings. Tyche’s popularity remained mainly in larger cities since rural populations stayed more traditional to the Olympic and local gods, but the general populous could and did credit every twist in daily life to the turning of Tyche’s will. These beliefs continued for centuries.

     

     Major historic events became notorious for unpredictability, and impossible military victories testified to Tyche’s reigning strength. Specific examples include both Athens’ and Thebes’ rise to supreme power over the Greeks without any apparent reason. Subsequently, Fortune collapsed these cities glories just as quickly as they had risen. Tyche lifted them high for a time simply to smash the once glorious empires in one of her swiftly changing moods. Fortune is fickle. Historic writers attributed entire books to the whims of Fortune.

     With the broadening of Fate’s power and elimination of the gods’ intervening role, Tyche overtook the throne of Olympic gods. While the traditional Greek gods are not neglected, with the institution of many ruler cults and the popularity of adopted local gods, the traditional religion of the ancient Greeks lessened. While new temples to the traditional Olympian gods were not being built, old temples dedicated to the Olympian gods remained in use. As one historian noted, “Most English cathedrals pre-date the Reformation, but afterwards the predominate religious culture was still Christian.” This religious shift intensifies as Greeks move eastward during the Hellenistic Age, and the goddess of fate comes to embody every circumstance of significance. Tyche is praised for everything from the blessing of a child’s birth and celebration of an individual to the interactions of kingdoms as a whole.

     As the Greeks grew to accept a power that their lot in life was inconsequential of their actions, they accepted that the fall of their empires was not because of a failing of themselves but rather a necessary tide in the whim of Tyche's will. That could have caused them to cycle back to the acceptance of inescapable, unavoidable fate as exhibited in Homer's time but for the adoption of Tyche into other culture's that the Greeks influenced. The world is a large place full of potential, but regardless of the luck of each man's situation, it is for him to choose his course and beat back the fickle wishes of one seductive Lady of Fortune.

Luck be with you.
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Agatha Tyche

American Castles

     The majority of Americans are of European descent and have strong cultural links to Europe's past. The mixing-pot of America has blended the various European nationalities with African, Latin, and Asian customs to create a country of unique, unspecific specialty. Despite the influence of other groups, European's have been the strongest determinant on American culture and values.
     Americans use more water annually on lawn and ornamental grasses than any agricultural crop. A nation of wealth, abundance, and excess, a large portion of Americans live similar lives to ones of medieval nobles with a diet rich in red meats, varied entertainment, and large houses surrounded by endless fields of grass.
     In medieval Europe, castles developed as stronghold structures for militaristic and political purposes. As the importance of castles grew and military siege technology competed to overpower the defensive systems of castles, the landscape itself was often altered to accommodate a sound defensive architectural structure which including the clearing of nearby forests to increase castle's visibility of the terrain and approaching enemies. As castles became fixtures of the landscape more as statements of wealth and less as military strongholds, lawnscapes became flourishing testaments of the wealthy elite. Empty fields originally cleared for defensive purposes became trimmed lawns of cultivated grasses and ornamental plants.

     With the American assistance in both world wars and a large exposure to European luxuries, American suburbias adopted cultivated grass lawns in the 1950s. As American wealth grew, the opulence of the lawn accompanied the expansion of the middle class out of the cities into larger houses with lawns.
     The foolishness of lawns in an industrialized, environmentally aware society is one of the ridiculous paradoxes of the modern West. Lawn care in America is a $75 billion industry with over half a million businesses and a million employees, yet it is one of the most environmentally and ecologically taxing industries. Americans, increasingly opposed to unsustainable environmental treatments, have increased the size of the lawn care industry by over 3% annually for nearly four decades.
     While chemical fertilizer runoff and aquifer depletion are concerns for agriculture, similar techniques are followed by pointless, unproductive lawn care services. Grass is grown to cut and trash; conversly agricultural crops are grown and harvested to sustain the human population and its husbandry needs.
     America, a land of incomprehensible wealth and resources, squanders its time, fuel, space, money, and population to care and treat millions of hectares of a non-productive crops that erode water systems, hog resources, and exasperate the worthlessness of epitomized luxuries. To set an example for developing nations, ease the use of natural resources, and increase the functionality of land and working population, extensive grass lawns should be nether cultivated nor cared for. If humanity is to press forward, we must do so in a conservative, mindful, selfless fashion that enables the hopes of the futures for the good of all.
   
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Agatha Tyche