Crying wolf?
Civilisation aims to protect us from the extremes of nature through a system of cooperation, mostly invisible (taken for granted) these days. Research indicates that the more ‘civilised’ we are, the less worried we are.
Civilisation is designed to reduce our need to worry about our environment.
We can worry about entertainment rather than food.
We can concern ourselves with philosophy instead of shelter.
warnings ignored
“For decades, scientists in the US had pointed out that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen.
The city lies in an area that is prone to annual hurricanes, half the city is below sea level, and a force 5 hurricane was bound to hit the city, so drastic measures had to be implemented immediately to avoid disaster.
All the while, politicians and businesspeople countered that it would be economically ruinous to take precautionary action, and carried on with business as usual - no doubt crossing their fingers that nothing would happen during their tenure. We all know what did happen when Hurricane Katrina hit the city in 2005 and confirmed all the predictions scientists had made.”
David Suzuki, one of the world’s leading ecologists wrote this. [more]
warnings ignored
“… we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself …We are challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves.”
Rachel Carson (1907 - 1964) author of ‘Silent Spring’ said this at a conference after her book was published.
warnings ignored
“The soils of the world are either being worn out and left in ruins, or are being slowly poisoned. All over the world our soil fertility is being squandered. The restoration and maintenance of soil fertility has become a universal problem.”
(This was how the enormous dust bowl was created in the American Great Plains in the 1930s.)
Written in ‘An Agricultural Testament’, by Sir Albert Howard, (1873-1947) British botanist, organic farming pioneer, and principal figure in the early organic movement.
crying wolf?
Peak Oil & Climate Change have become SEPs.
(An SEP is Someone Else’s Problem - see Douglas Adams and the ‘Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ series).
While Climate Change has been acted upon to some degree, we are willfully oblivious to the nearer crisis of Peak Oil.
Loading ...