Annika Kiidron
“Dust”

From dust You came, and to dust You shall return!

Last summer I had an opportunity to study in a few different countries, a bulk of that time was spent in Israel, where I started to think more about humanity and our existence on this planet. Religions, wars, use of power, overproduction and consumerism – most of humanity lives everyday like there is no tomorrow? We do not appreciate the resources and opportunities given to us! We are selfish! We are greedy!

The Bible legend of the Tower of Babel tells a story of humanity thousands of years ago, who lived together happily on sandy and sunny region, understanding one and another and speaking the same language. Being greedy and unsatisfied, we wished to rise close to God in the heavens, prove our might. Trying to prove our likeness to God and show of our technical abilities – we built a tower to reach the heavens. Seeing this angered the God, made the Lord understand that when humans understand each other and work together towards a common goal, they are invincible. The tower was cast to dust, languages mixed up and humans scattered across the land.

Thousands of years later when humans can survive in space, have learned to create artificial intelligence, create vast quantities of different materials, clone a mammal, grow various parts for the human organism and to 3D print food, it is still hard for us to accept simple things.

The search for convenient life, consuming on an immense scale, not thinking about tomorrow has been our new common goal. Which results in another disaster. The planet dissappearing under the trash, forgotten and destroyed are the sustainable traditions used by our ancestors. Huge portion of the flora and fauna eliminated, most of the planets resources expended recklessly.

Where to? When the near future holds nothing but fields of toxic sand and dust – or worse, piles of trash created by man that will never decompose.

We have only two choices left:
To save the planet or to save ourselves from it?
This is not a drill!