Reading Irish Literature on St. Patrick’s Day Stresses Hope at the End of the Rainbow
Because we at Redemtech are concerned with the global environment, we constantly are obliged to keep aware of the latest news, research and legislation regarding electronic waste; an issue that many consider relatively new in the scheme of environmental concerns. As new buzzwords have come to light in recent years, such as “carbon footprint” and “e-waste,” it is somewhat difficult to imagine that the destructive nature of technology goes far beyond recent memory. On this St. Patrick’s Day, I thought it might be good to look backward for a moment to better understand the value of being “green.”
Famous Irish writer Edward Plunkett, who wrote under the name Lord Dunsany, produced a wonderful tale of the Emerald Isle back in 1933, long before computers and other hardware emerged as a dominant form of communications and business operations. The environment, however, was just as important an issue then as it is today, as his short story “The End of the Rainbow” illustrates.
The crux of the story revolves about a young Irish man in search of a friend who, dying of an incurable ailment, sets off to find the fabled land of Tir-nan-Og, also known as the Land of the Young. It is in Tir-nan-Og, according to Irish folklore, that the old spirits fled when their lands were taken from them. They reside in a peaceful place beyond the end of the rainbow, the legend goes.
Tir-nan-Og as a destination is appropriate, because the physical setting of the story is a small area in Ireland’s massive peat bog where generations of people have lovingly harvested the turf for fuel. Beginning in the 1700s, the ancient bogs of Ireland served as a source of cheap fuel. Being the only fuel source available, turf was cut by hand and placed in the sun to dry before being burned. The harvest was a constant, meticulous and pointedly slow process that honored nature by taking only what the farmers needed.
However, as the story goes on, the reader learns that a new automated process involving huge machinery is being introduced by a peat development syndicate. The machines can accomplish the harvest much more quickly than the traditional folk of the bog ever imagined, covering many more hectares in a fraction of the time it would have taken the local farmers to harvest the turf.
Lord Dunsany used his imagination to show how modern technology and a greed for consuming resources spoiled a pristine environment and changed the world forever. There is much attention in the story to the natural surroundings and the wildlife that fills the region, indicating that every form of life from the smallest bird to the oldest human being is impacted by “advances” in technology.
In the 76 years since Lord Dunsany’s story was published, half of Ireland's raised bogs have been destroyed. Most of what remains will be exhausted by the middle of this century. The message cannot be lost today on those of us who deal with advanced technology and know how deadly improperly managed IT assets can be to our global environment.
Just as the peat-harvesting machinery exploited the Irish bogs, which once stretched across one-sixth of the island, today’s computer technology is just as deadly. Computer hardware is dumped in the developing world to leach toxic chemicals into their water and soil. Where it is dismantled by local indigent laborers for the precious metals found inside, unprotected hands unaware of the dangers to health and environment tear apart and burn discarded computers, releasing death into the air.
As we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, let’s remember more than the commercial aspects that dwell on cheesy cartoon leprechauns and pitchers of green beer. Let’s toast to a future where disasters like that which destroyed the Irish peat bogs and the current e-waste crisis that is encroaching on the people living in Asia and Africa can become a lesson from history.
Otherwise, we’ll be better off searching for the fabled land of Tir-nan-Og.
It looks like we have similar ideas on this subject.
Posted by: luckyForexMen | May 22, 2009 at 12:18 AM