The World We’ve Created

Today’s Bloganuary Prompt: If you could un-invent something, what would it be?

The problem with uninventing something major is you uninvent all the “minor” discoveries that go with it, Take nuclear weapons, for example. I looked it up, and they led directly to the use of radiation in fighting cancer. Where would we be without that?

Now, I’m not saying I’m in favor of nuclear weapons. I’m not. I wish they didn’t exist. They frighten me, and I believe that in the wrong hands they could mean disastrous things for our country and our world. But if you throw them out, you throw out all the benefits.

I sometimes wish we’d never invented plastic, given the amount that’s piling up in our landfills. But I think the answer there isn’t un-inventing something that probably has a multitude of positive uses, it’s learning how to responsibly use it. I no longer drink my sodas from plastic bottles. I only drink from cans, because it’s a challenge to recycle plastic bottles and much of what we think we’re recycling ends up in landfills.

I also started buying my laundry soap from Earth Breeze, because it comes in sheets that are enclosed in a recyclable paper envelope. No plastic bottles to contend with there, and I’m happy with how clean my clothes are. And no, I’m not getting compensated to say this.

It’s decisions like these that will help us responsibly manage the problems we’ve created. I think one blog post can’t fully address the multitude of factors that surround one single invention. I know the moon landing, while not an invention, was the result of many inventions that are used in our daily lives today. How do we dismiss the benefits of progress?

It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the world in the future goes back to a much simpler state because we’re destroying so much of what we need. But finding the one invention that is the cause of these problems is a challenge I don’t think too many of us are up to taking on.

Image Credits: Invention Lightbulb © greenbutterfly–stock.adobe.com; Landfill © Davivd–stock.adobe.com; Globe © Tryfonov–stock.adobe.com