"There's always more"

Berry, Wendell. “Faustian Economics: Hell Hath No Limits.” Harper’s Magazine. The Harper's Magazine Foundation, May 2008. Web. 31 Dec. 2009.

In "Faustian Economics: Hell Hath No Limits" Wendell Berry tries to show how technology has become an integrated part of our society and how this could be a problem in the future. He starts with the idea that we as humans have the idea that the natural resources of the earth are basically limitless. That we as humans believe that we will be able to get more despite the resource being nonrenewable. He bases this idea on the fact that we as humans have a hard time understanding our limits in the natural world. This could be due to our perceived notion that God has intended us to be the superior animal who can use resources as we please. He downplays this thought by saying that even animals are limited by their natural surroundings. He then brings up two distinct examples of how we can change our thought process that earth's natural resources will last forever. The first example being that of a community based economy. This might appear to be a socialist idea but Berry is simply pointing that we must make rational decisions as a community not as a single individual. The second example being that we must slow down and look out we have. He uses a comparison between scientist and artist. While a scientist builds upon past experiments creating more advance technology, the artist is confined to a single piece of paper. He says that we must start viewing the earth as that single piece of paper meaning that we only have once chance to make it work right.

Wendell Berry's view on how we as humans view earth's natural resources is very important because it challenges us to look at our current situation and look at it whole heartedly. The idea that we still have 100 years worth of coal left at double the rate provides us as humans the idea that we should continue to burn coal at our current rate. Berry is getting at the idea that we feel since we wont be here in 100 or 200 years that this notion of conserving has little appeal to us now. Berry also brings in the topic of religion to make the audience think about how we can justify our behavior. As he states that some will say that we are given this power by God who has ordained us the superior animal on the kingdom of earth. How we change this cultural idea of being superior animals is another topic Berry tries to answer. His comparison between an artist who is limited to a piece of paper and a scientist who is allowed to build upon prior experiments is an excellent metaphor for the earth and human interaction. The reader can easily make a connection between the earth being a single piece of paper that we our only allowed one shot at while scientist can experiment and then build upon the past failures. He challenges us to not assume that science will be the ultimate answer and to rather go forth with caution.