There has been much debate over global warming and the reality of other issues associated with mass consumerism. Human nature believes that their successful innovations and discoveries outweigh the damages to nature. Carolyn Merchant is a professor of ethics, philosophy, and environmental history at the University of California, Berkeley. In her book, Reinvention Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture, she addresses controversial environmental issues and connects it to the biblical story of the Fall in Genesis. In “Eden Commodified”, Merchant is successful in asserting that Western culture is destroying nature by attempting to return to perfection through her use of satire, thorough description, and allusions to the biblical story of Genesis. The use of satire serves as an effective way to convince the reader of the crime of altering nature to make everything perfect. The Mall of America claims to be mindful of the environment, but only one third of the waste is actually recycled making it “cheaper to recycle the mall’s refuse somewhere other than in its basement” (Merchant, 731). Merchant effectively uses humor to describe how the mall covers up their lies of recycling by claiming they recycle in the basement. In addition, she says that “the malling of America has become the malling of the world, reconstituting the Shakespearean dictum as ‘All the world’s a mall and all the men and women merely shoppers”…show more content… She convincingly counters the advantages that Western culture verifies are why they can take advantage of nature. Her counters incorporate both history and the flaws of consumerism and biotechnology. This scholarly language and comparison to the Fall of human nature sways the reader to trust her
