I agree with John Zerzan’s June 23 Eugene Weekly Viewpoint in which he describes the ill effects that civilization has created. I believe that a lust for wealth, prestige and power among political leaders was the most important cause of events in prehistory and led to the political centralization and control of labor that enabled the building of the pyramids of Egypt.

The U.S. today is marked by consumerism and status seeking on a mass scale. The upper crust in prehistory accumulated riches, but in modern times we have global economic inequality.

The question is if the threat of global warming will convince affluent people to surrender some of their rich-country privilege, so long as most people in a similar situation do likewise.

We have seen the difficulty involved in getting Congress to enact a price on carbon, which would be an essential first step. Such legislation might still pass in 2022.

Milton Takei

Eugene