Humans are Toxic
By Whitney White
In the Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, there are many different messages she is trying to convey. There are the ecological issues, the issue of power-based violence represented by the CorpSeCorps, and the issues related to scientific morality which was pretty much absent in this society. Today, I would like to focus on the ecological point she is making. I read this book and saw it as a call to action. The most important and consistent message was humans are destroying the planet. I take a special interest in this topic because I believe that we s humans should be doing more to fight climate change. I am a huge animal lover and I have been vegetarian for over 10 years so I can relate to the gardeners in that way.
The Gardeners represent the Eco-conscious few in a world that seems to be consuming itself to death. There are countless species mentioned throughout the book that have gone completely extinct and humans are creating genetic splices of animals for their gain instead of focusing on conserving the species they already have. Humans in this world seem to be focused on gluttony and materialism. Thus, running through so much of the natural resources that instead of regular dumpsters they now have charbroil dumpsters behind buildings that raw materials are disposed of in to make fuel. I think that Atwood makes an important statement about the direction the world is going in today. We have destroyed many diverse ecosystems like rain forests to use their land and decimate their biodiversity. Many animals have been displaced and are endangered because their habitats were destroyed, or they were over hunted. Today we ship our food from all over the world to be placed in grocery stores for us to buy instead of eating the foods that are in season and native to our region. Is there anything we can do about this?
Atwood promotes a message of Eco-consciousness through the gardeners. The Gardeners shy away from the consumption of all animal products. They also grow their foods using no pesticides. Their clothing is modest and described as ugly and drab by children like Ren who see the other Pleebrats in their brightly colored clothes and using cellphones and sea/H/ear candies. Atwood makes a point of showing how even the gardeners were sometimes envious of the more worldly lifestyle, but in the end, it was the Gardeners who survive! I think Atwood is encouraging us to live a more conscious lifestyle. Of course, we are not going to all become Gardeners and start rooftop gardens, but we can all make small changes in our lives to be kinder to the planet and the species we share it with. As Toby used to tell Ren, “you’re not the only person on the planet!” That statement did not age well! Atwood was very intentional about the Gardeners and their religious beliefs. She made it a point to make those who were saints according to the gardens be people who did something to help animals such as Saint Dian Fossy who died trying to defend Gorillas. She did not glorify people based on riches, but on service and that alone is another profound message in the book.
One ecological message that seemed to have conflict in the story was the pacifist approach that Adam One takes. He encourages non-violence and seems to not be much of an activist as he is against drawing attention to the gardeners for safety reasons. He does not seem to do any form of demonstrating to advocate for the animals. I would argue that Atwood was more of a MaddAddam than a gardener. The MaddAddam group took a more active approach by trying to air the dirty laundry of the Corps and protesting. Glenn was an extremist who used the Bliss Plus pill to exterminate humanity. This is where things get messy. I agree that activism is necessary for the movement, however, I am optimistic, and I believe that we can fight climate change without killing off humans. I also am not ignorant to the fact that if human beings were not an issue the planet would not be so polluted and likely a lot of species would still be here. I think it is important for us to do our part collectively. It will not matter if 1 or even 1 million people are vegetarian if the rest of the population is doing nothing to fight ecological destruction. A YouTuber by the name of Kristina Lynn said it is more impactful if many people make small changes to fight climate change rather than one person living an extremely eco-friendly lifestyle. I am curious to learn more about how climate change plays a role in apocalyptic literature throughout the semester.
Kristina Lynn’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoKpQJJGHSYDkSn_bBiKBw
Atwood, Margaret. Year of the Flood. Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2012.
