Talk About Atlas Shrugging

Headline writers everywhere are having a heyday (at least they should be) with the news that a million-dollar sculpture depicting the Earth and meant to honor Sierra Club icon David Brower, collapsed last week.

The newly unveiled installation was called "Spaceship Earth." And, as if gravity (combined perhaps with the temptations of irony) were too much to bear, the whole thing came crashing to earth on the campus of Kennesaw State University in Georgia, whereupon it broke into pieces. Students on campus said they could still make out part of the inscription at the base of the monument: Our fragile craft.

According to news reports, the collapse is under investigation and the statue, financed by the makers of Power Bar, was insured. Plans are to rebuild it. Personally, I think they should leave it be. I think Brower would have appreciated the not-so-subtle message embodied in the rubble. It's like a final warning from beyond the grave.