Thursday, September 10, 2009

FUTURE EARTH

Although mankind has thrived on planet Earth for many centuries, the fact is that we now face a myriad of problems that threaten our future existence. We face an energy crisis, global warming, population explosion, economic recession, water and food shortages and the list goes on and on. Our seemingly defiant approach to evolutionary processes that other living organisms subscribe to has led us to adopt technology as a vehicle of adaptation. While the rest of the living world either die out or gradually adapt to the changing living conditions, human beings use technology to counter the effects of these environmental changes. We use air-conditioners to stay comfortable, processed water and food, refrigeration, automobiles, air purifiers and so on. We've resisted adaptation for so long and we've built ourselves an existence that has turned out to be the proverbial square-peg in a round-hole...unsustainable
, non-scalable and almost beyond repair.

I say 'almost' because we are walking a fine-line between taking corrective measures and surviving as a race, or plunging into oblivion. We simply cannot continue on this course and scientists have been warning us about this for some time now. Who isn't aware of vice president,presidential candidate and the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore's campaign to spread awareness on the causes and effects of global warming? Who hasn't heard of or read Thomas Friedman's book "Hot, Flat and Crowded"? Reality is facing humanity in the face and waving a red flag...the Earth is waving a white flag begging for peace and yet we choose to turn away.

Ideally, what resources we have left should immediately be put to use to create the future world. Once we run out of natural resources like coal, oil and natural gas, we will be left stranded because we NEED these resources to build and transport our electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, solar panels, reverse osmosis cells and sustainable housing. Once they run out, all development will come to a grinding halt and society will become a living hell. Unless we secure our future RIGHT HERE...RIGHT NOW...we will have no future at all. We need to STOP what we are doing and work with what little natural resources we have left to ensure that we have the methods to house, feed and sustain people in the centuries to come. That is OUR responsibility as the current inhabitants of planet Earth.


Mankind's key priorities have been and always will be Food, Water, Shelter and Security. Somehow we've become disconnected from this basic reality and become drawn into a world with game-consoles, automobiles, big-screen TVs, real-estate and other distractions. All these distractions are the "Devil" if you appropriate a term from religion. They keep us happy...temporarily...and eventually kill us off. It is important not to despair and become despondent because that is the appropriate avenue to take when all else has failed and you are seconds away from destruction. At the moment there is still a LOT we can do to sort ourselves out.

Where do we begin...