We don't know if the new age of Men in Middle Earth brought about the kind of progress which decimates the environment (as seen in the destruction of the environment around Tolkien's beloved Sarehole Mill), so he does not tell us whether he thought progress was in essence 'a good thing'. But he does show us that despite the Elves wishing to embalm their past, the envirnments they lived in were beautiful, and he does show us that Saruman's idea of progress was destructive.
Tolkien does not say that progress is good, but neither does he say that embalming the past is necessarily bad. What he definitely does tell us is that the wrong kind of progress is destructive.
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Originally Posted by Bethberry
However, I do question an assumption you make here. It is one thing to accept and welcome the replacing of the old by the new, but is this necessarily progress or is it simply replacement, change, difference?
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I think that this is the kind of progress that Tolkien did not like. By way of example, in my own city they ceaselessly demolish and rebuild parts of the centre; in one case they have replaced a bland 60's office block with a bland 00's office block. This not progress, it is indeed just change.
I doubt that this kind of 'progress' is natural at all, or even appreciated. Having just spent a week in a place crammed with old buildings and equally crammed with tourists, while my own city is quite the opposite of a tourist destination, it suggests that as humans, we prefer an element of 'embalming' the past just as the Elves did.
I'd agree that I'd find the Elves' approach to Art incredibly stifling (being keen on hearing the latest music and seeing the latest films, especially where they stir up the 'establishment' a bit), but their approach to the environment is one which I think as humans we could learn from. Now where's a tree I can go and hug?
