TOO FAR GONE: WE’RE FACED WITH AN EXISTENTIALIST CRISIS
A very ominous heading, but one loaded with a level of truth
that we can’t afford to ignore, as in; look the other way, pretend that
everything in our lives is just hunky-dory and that this Bes character is once
more reaching for his doom and gloom pen predicting a nasty ending for our
species that will put an end to all our aspirations and accomplishments. All is not well with our world is such an
abused theme, almost like cranking up the horror stories around Halloween. Boohoo, ghosties everywhere! Therefore, Bes! What’s up!
As a writer, a student of philosophy, history and the
humanities, I take no pleasure in writing any of this down. It hurts to admit that despite that much
vaunted superior human intelligence we’re letting ourselves down. And I am not the only one. I have mentioned in previous articles that at
this point in time we’re faced with an existentialist crisis and this has now
been echoed by writers and scientists from around the world. Not a temporary hiccup and the much abused promises
of give it a bit more time and everything will come out in the wash. Things will improve. They always have before. We’re always vague about ‘things and they’.
We consistently ignore that with the passing of time ‘things’
are not getting better, but are gradually growing worse in intensity and impact. If you look at life as a balance sheet, the
negatives are now outperforming the positives.
We’re running up deficits in every aspect of our lives. You don’t have to hit rock bottom for
adversity to start in earnest. I am
going to stick with some basic examples to give you an insight and a better
understanding of what humanity is about to face as a species. Don’t get me wrong. I love life.
I have two beautiful granddaughters and I want them to grow up in a
world that is green, healthy and full of promise. Nobody pays me to be positive or negative and
as an intelligent person it pains me to no end that oblivion is staring us in
the face and we don’t do a damn thing about it.
Bees and us.
This is a micro example we’re all familiar with and which
serves as an overlay or template of the macro.
What applies to the bees applies to us as well.
Bee colonies are dying and struggling all over the planet
because of a lack of food and food diversity.
In addition they are weakened from the ill effects of herbicides and
pesticides and as a result their immunities are compromised to fight off parasites
and diseases. Human impact is
devastating the bee hives and jeopardizes the pollination of crucial crops we
depend upon. Although bees are not the
only crop pollinators, they’re like the canary in the coalmine. Bees are like a barometer indicating the
overall health of the planet and when bees are dying off it is a reflection of
the whole.
We have turned our backs on global initiatives aimed at
reducing greenhouse gasses and a host of other initiatives intended to stop the
pollution and contamination of soil, water and air. We’re not only ignoring targets and
deadlines, we’ve once more swung the other way.
All around the world we’re scrapping green initiatives and reversing
promises of cleaning up the environment.
The current batch of global leaders is either wholly ignorant or they
blatantly ignore what needs to be done.
We’re right back to profit and balance sheets, trade wars and conflicts.
Humanity is the only species in the planet’s entire history
that has advanced by killing others, not only other lifeforms, but it includes
the destruction of wetlands, prairies, bogs, forests, rivers, lakes and
oceans. Greedy, selfish and blind to how
diversity and symbiosis are key ingredients necessary in order for all life to
flourish. By excluding all others and
moving forward at their expense, even driving them into extinction, we’re
basically tying a noose around our collective necks. We’re killing diversity when diversity is the
only solution that will keep us alive.
We need more of that green stuff and a lot less of all that asphalt,
glass, steel and cement. A lot more
nature and fewer of us. A lot less!
Governments around the world are buried up to their eyeballs
in debt and all the anticipated and hoped for economic growth miracles won’t
stop the hemorrhaging. The fiscal
realities are not lining up with the physical realities. We have become a study in contradiction and I
will only mention a few examples to drive this point home. Environmental scientists who study human
needs versus impact and sustainability have postulated that at the current rate
of consumption, needs and demands, we would need a planet 4 to 5 times larger
to accommodate present human population numbers and impact. Progress has allowed humanity to dramatically
increase its numbers and progress is now killing us. We’re no longer an asset or a promising
possibility, we have turned ourselves into a liability. Technology is making people redundant. Machines and robots are taking over. They don’t take breaks, they don’t take time
off, they don’t demand all kinds of benefits and they don’t unionize. All they require is maintenance, repairs and
replacement. The workforce that remains
is highly skilled and educated and we no longer need people who push a broom of
who fasten a nut to a bolt. Those days
are over. We’re sidelining billions of
people as non-productive, non-contributors.
On top of that we’re going out of our way keeping people alive and
living longer. The cost of carrying
those billions is not sustainable, especially within economic systems that lack
a fair distribution of wealth. Homeless
people in Canada were a rarity a decade ago, now we’re faced with over a
quarter of a million people living on the streets and the numbers are only
picking up. There is a massive hidden
number of people who are struggling to make ends meet and they are fighting a
losing battle. It’s a ticking time
bomb. Too many people are falling
through the cracks because they can’t meet today’s expectations and
requirements and plentiful job opportunities no longer exist.
There is no discount
warehouse for surplus people. Nobody
wants them!
Societies are fraying and coming apart at the seams and
witness a huge increase in mental health problems and addictions. We’re not creating happier, fairer and more
sustainable societies. Around the globe
confrontations and conflicts are on the rise.
We don’t know how to turn ourselves off.
Even if nuclear fusion became a reality and cheaper power will keep the
lights on and machines running, it is not going to change or resolve all the
other issues that are threatening the survival of humanity as a species. We’re running out of space, resources and
opportunities. Mines will not
miraculously fill back up with ore and minerals, depleted oil wells will not be
replenished, water, soil and air contamination will not vanish and microscopic
plastic particles will continue to find their way into our bodies, water and
food systems. Plastic is a carcinogen
and our bodies were not designed to serve as a repository for a product that
didn’t even exist a century ago.
We’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off to
keep everything going, rather than concentrating on turning ourselves off. Why are we even subsidizing birthrates? Why are we handing over cash to people who
can’t afford to raise kids in the first place?
Fewer people who do with less is the answer, not the opposite. Why are we stacking up people like cordwood
in megacities? We are using media
gadgets as mass pacifiers, entertaining minds with an endless stream of bits
and bytes, meaningless chatter and images.
We are trying hard to put a brave face on everything, hoping and
praying, but it will not erase the stark physical realities we face. I hope you realize that we’re well past the
point of no return. We’re on the wrong
side of the curve. We’re not going up
but down.
We are the only species in the natural world that has evolved
using everything else on the planet to further ourselves at their expense. We exploit, extract and destroy. No other species out of those millions, acts
as destructively as we do. In the
natural world taking more than you need doesn’t take place, because it serves
no purpose. No gratuitous killing. No needless destruction.
If we take a hard look at our achievements of the past
century have any of them turned us into a better and more caring species? Has it made us act more responsibly towards
each other and the planet we share with millions of other lifeforms? Even if we live longer, are we living better
lives? Bear in mind that there is no
magical pill out there that will cure all and there will be no spaceships
waiting in the wings to whisk us away. And
as far as divine intervention goes?
Well, we have always been great at promising a lot and delivering very
little.
We’re so hung up on the economic models we have created (at
this point bear in mind my novella Energy & Origin which explains how
energy and momentum are the two primordial forces that drive everything in and
around us and in the universe. All our
needs and demands are energy driven and it is now turning us upside down in our
attempts to keep everything going) that we don’t know how to turn them
off. Hung up on growth, profits and
market share, competition and expansion, cornering markets and gobbling up
competitors. A useless merry-go-round.
The odds are not stacked in our favor because of our numbers
and the simple fact that none of us look or think alike. Not a recipe for positive change I’m
afraid. What saddens me is the fact that
despite all that promising intelligence we have failed to make the intelligent
choices needed to truly create a heaven on earth. We’ve got all the tools we need and yet we
have allowed ourselves to become distracted by our shortcomings and failings,
by ageing and disappointments and human minds ill-equipped to deal with
failure.
We can blame that superior brain of ours. The natural world has endured and lasted so
much longer because it has a natural level of acceptance that we try to get
away from. It doesn’t behave any better
than we do because life is a crapshoot from start to finish. Most of our behaviors and that of all other
lifeforms are instinct and energy driven, and it is all about today, survival
and living for another day. Everything
in life, in us, and around us, reflects that reality. It is the uncertainty that gnaws away at us. Always has.
We want more. We want better.
The way of the world is not based on certainties but on the
unpredictable behavior of everything in and around us; the impact of energy and
momentum.
The biggest irony lies in that persnickety and mostly ignored
fact that we pretend to be in control when in reality we’re flying by the seat
of our pants. We’re not in the driver’s
seat and never have been.
No solutions from this author, just observations. Feel free to comment and share.
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