GM (grammatically modified) nature and the warming of global language




Coke announced that it is going to start making Coke bottles out of 30% plant based materials (derived from sugar cane and molasses). Scientists have developed bacteria that create plastic.

What is nature? The coke bottle is moving towards being as 'natural' as genetically modified nature (salmon, tomatoes, cows, wheat.)

Soon there won't be a difference between nature and the manufactured world. Or, at least, we won't be able to find examples of the difference. The Pacific? Half plastic. Breast milk? Full of dioxins. Forests in Borneo? Greenland? Subject to climate change and the atmospheric chemical stew. Teenagers? Full of growth hormones. (That must be why I am so short compared to my students.)

We have manufactured language. Can we use it to 'see' nature? Does language automatically mean GM ('grammatically modified') nature?

Can we stop global language from warming? Can we find structures that remember or preserve 'nature'? That help us understand how nature changes as humans change? Is humanity's relation with 'nature' the ultimate grammar?

I went outside and listened to a rock. I learned about fashion.

My radio has antlers.

Comments

Maria! said…
the advent of texting has grammatically modified our language so much so that sometimes i don't understand the message and i no longer know the correct spelling of some words