“The world is older, bigger and more interesting than we are. Growth is the enemy. Every organism grows to optimum space, then stops.” If it doesn’t, he says, it’s a freak, which means our overblown and overdone technological civilization is headed for a great explosion, followed by collapse. “That’s why I’m an optimist.” Download entire issue to view this article: http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/18.17/download-entire-issue%3C/a%3E

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Edward Abbey is an optimist

by Betsy Marston, High Country News
September 15, 1986

<h1>Edward Abbey is an optimist</h1> <p class="byline">by Betsy Marston, High Country News <br />September 15, 1986</p> <p>“The world is older, bigger and more interesting than we are. Growth is the enemy. Every organism grows to optimum space, then stops.” If it doesn’t, he says, it’s a freak, which means our overblown and overdone technological civilization is headed for a great explosion, followed by collapse. “That’s why I’m an optimist.” Download entire issue to view this article: <a class="external-link" href="download-entire-issue">http://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/18.17/download-entire-issue%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/18-17/edward-abbey-is-an-optimist/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=105822&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/18-17/edward-abbey-is-an-optimist/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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