IPFS
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Frosty Wooldridge
More About: EnvironmentDo not expect the next 20 years to be like the last 20 years
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In this continuing series, Marilyn
Hempel, Executive Director of “Blue Planet United” www.populationpress.org , offers
exceptional writers and videos to educate, activate and engage Americans from all walks of
life. This latest offers everyone a
chance to start out the new year with greater energy toward human population
stabilization and the people bringing it toward fruition.
In her
opening page of the Winter 2011 issue, Marilyn Hempel tells readers that the “THE NEXT 20 YEARS WON'T BE LIKE THE LAST 20 YEARS.”
Why is
that Ms. Hempel?
“Most of us plan for the future,” said Hempel. “We rely upon past experience to make
decisions. If we live within a modern society, we rely upon institutions to
protect our wealth and security. What happens to us when these institutions
(such as banks) begin to fail? Are we resilient—or do we crumble? In the 20th
century, cheap and abundant energy and technology allowed an explosion in
human population and consumption. This growth, which we now know came at an
incredible cost, will end in the 21st century. This issue of the Population
Press explores 21st century 'tipping points' and how we can respond to them
in ways that will build resilience.
“NASA just announced that global surface temperatures in
2010 were the warmest on record, topping off the warmest decade since
record-keeping begin in 1880.”
“If the warming trend continues, as is expected, if
greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for
long,” said James Hansen, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space
Studies.
“What have we seen around the world in 2010-11?” asked Hempel.
“Excessively cold winters, hotter than hot summers, droughts in some places,
floods in others, and massive fires that destroyed precious food crops.”
Get used to climate change.
“Our civilization rose in an era of climate stability,”
said Hempel. “We could count on the weather to be essentially predictable.
That period has ended. Recently, I spoke with Lester Brown about what this
means for the future of agriculture and food.
He said, “As the new year begins, the price of wheat is
setting an all-time high in the United Kingdom. Food riots are spreading
across Algeria. Russia is importing grain to sustain its cattle herds until
spring grazing begins. India is wrestling with an 18% annual food inflation
rate, sparking protests. China is looking abroad for potentially massive
quantities of wheat and corn. The Mexican government is buying corn futures
to avoid unmanageable tortilla price rises. And on January 5, the U.N. Food
and Agricultural organization announced that its food price index for
December hit an all-time high.”
“It’s not just climate disruption; it's also financial
fragility,” said Hempel. “Entire countries are declaring bankruptcy (such as
Ireland, Greece and Spain) and an increasing number of governments are
failing to serve their people. A host of economic and social problems now
challenge us as never before.
“When I become too depressed about the future of human
civilization; when I think it is too late to save the land, the ocean, other
creatures and ourselves; I remember the words of John Muir: 'the world,
though made, is yet being made—this is still the morning of creation'.”
Michael Colebrook, in his essay The Life and Times of John
Muir, observes, “In his writing John Muir was openly critical of the
anthropocentric rationalism and narrow materialism of American civilization.
He recognized, as did Thoreau, that a deep sense of alienation from the
natural world coupled with a failure to recognize its spiritual dimension was
the root cause of the problem. But, like a true prophet, he was not content
with analysis and criticism, he was in a position to propose a solution:
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s
peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow
their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will
drop off like autumn leaves.”
“Through his openness to nature he saw that we are at home
in the natural world. As he wrote, with deceptive simplicity, in his journal
in the year before he died, 'I only went out for a walk, and finally
concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going
in.'” said Hempel.
Muir experienced nature as process, '...the world, though
made, is yet being made; that this is still the morning of creation; that
mountains long conceived are now being born, channels traced for coming
rivers, basins hollowed for lakes; that moraine soil is being ground and
outspread for coming plants,—coarse boulders and gravel for forests, finer
soil for grasses and flowers,—while the finest part of the grist, seen
hastening out to sea in the draining streams, is being stored away in
darkness and builds particle on particle, cementing and crystallizing, to
make the mountains and valleys and plains of other predestined landscapes, to
be followed by still others in endless rhythm and beauty.'”
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For
more information about this project and about the Population Press, contact
Marilyn Hempel, email: info@populationpress.org or telephone: 909-307-6597.
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