Simply fill in the form below, and the download will start straight away. At the heart of innovative technology and products lies exceptional human creativity. Our brains are practically wired to create and innovate newness. Naturally, the influx of products entering the market creates a consumer frenzy.
Suddenly, everything is a commodified entity with a dollar-sign attached to it. Its inherent value lies in how much consumers covet the item. An idea of a communication device - both sleek in its functionality and aesthetic - is mass produced, consumed by millions and the cycle perpetuates itself.
It is an item so coveted and desired, a year-old boy from China sold a kidney to buy the iPad and iPhone. While those campaigns are successful in raising better awareness and positivity in the realm of conservation, they do not change the ways in which we live and consume. These are the kind of thoughts that popped into my mind after reading Extinction. As the passionate environmentalists and pragmatic ecologists are entangled in ethical quandaries, the playwright also illustrates how divorcing your mindset from emotion is a universal struggle.
Furthermore, she explores how moral conviction is consistently at odds with the demands of the personal and professional domains we inhabit. When the CEO of Powerhouse mining, Harry Jewell, bursts into a wildlife rescue centre in Cape Otway, holding a critically injured and endangered tiger quoll, he inadvertently catalyses a conflict that will draw out the prejudices withheld by the trio of environmentalists.
This prospect changes when Harry - big coal - offers 'two million dollars on the table' to fund the tiger quoll campaign. She is eventually persuaded to head the tiger quoll project. Whereas, Professor Dixon-Brown enjoys the uncomplicatedness of numbers and statistics. However, her carefully crafted algorithm fails to differentiate between the diversity of animals within the ecosphere.
