In order for mankind to survive, we need the basics of food and water. We become organized as small clans that are interdependent. Knowledge, customs and cultures are learned from elders and passed down generation to generation. We progressed from the hunter gather to communities and societies. We interact and are inter-dependent upon each other. Through co-operation we have prospered and have grown. Our growth in numbers has be dependent upon food and clean water as the very basic elements. Yet in the growth of numbers has become our Achilles heal. The more we grow, the more we need. The more we need to survive, the more population is required and a vicious circle some call life is created. The chain of life is fragile. At some point it becomes too large and breaks. Change is coming.
Today mankind is in trouble. We are dealing with environmental degradation, societal collapse, the prospects of pandemics and we are driven by global wars. The outlook for mankind is grim unless we human beings change. I have begun to ask questions for which I have no answers…How can we live in harmony with each other? In order to find the many answers, I have come up with more questions. Books and films have raised some of these questions for me.
A friend of mine turned me onto a book, My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn that asks the question that if man will survive, will guerrilla survive? This book really got me thinking about the issues of growing world population. I have had many heated discussions with various friends about the population explosion and its demands on resources, particularly food. Then recently a friend sent me this article by Phillip Longman related to aging population resulting in a decrease of world population. An entire new set of data and challenges to add into the mix. In order to understand some of this, I watch a documentary by Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs & Steel (unfortunately the movie links have been disabled and I have not yet found replacement links). Following this documentary watch The Future Of Food. This poses more questions.
I returned to Jared Diamond’s work and read Collapse which put more of these things into perspective. Here is a brief summary of the book
but I really encourage you to read it in its entirety. This has not given me yet a lot of hope, but a better understanding of my questions to myself. To really cause me despair, I watched a documentary on the Wal-Mart Corporation and how it conducts business.
I am still an optimist. I still believe in the power of a better world. This I will not give up on. If we are to make an impact on the world, we are to look inward, within ourselves. Progress gets made one person at a time. We can change the world, but we must believe in ourselves. To re-enforce this I watched The Secret and I continue my learning, my journey, my hopes and dreams of a better world.
