Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Leonia
Although the city of Leonia is one out of many in Marco Polo's descriptions, I thought it was interesting as it related a great deal to environmental and social issues we are dealing with today. We are living in a time where our society values new products. Our generation has a mindset of always needing more- we must have the newest computer, the latest phones, the most stylish clothes. As "the city of Leonia refashions itself every day", (114), we are constantly buying the new and discarding the old, even if the old is still completely functional. The street cleaners of Leonia pushing the garbage out farther and farther as it accumulates reminds me of the waste issue we face today. Dumping trash in the ocean will erase its traces now, yet just as the city of Leonia faces an oncoming landslide of garbage, we will ultimately face the consequences of polluting our planet with similar waste.
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I completely agree with your observations. I think it is so interesting how the description of this city could be mistaken as a description of our world. We are so concerned with what is new and shiny that we often times don't appreciate ugly beauty and ancient things. We tear down buildings that had been standing ever since America was first settled in order to put in a multi-milliondollar apartment complex. This behavior and society we have become is rather superficial and quite appalling.
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