Can We Survive the Next 100 Years?
I wish the world would become more secular. Instead of ghting each other over fundamentalist ideology, I look forward to a planetary civilization that is scienti c, multicultural and at peace. Just maybe, if we don’t kill each other o , we could all concentrate on building a sustainable life on our Earth. Up to now we’ve been tearing it apart and polluting it in the name of Growth and Pro ts.
Earth’s problems are man-made, but they could be solved by science with an overwhelming populous support for change. But, therein lies a challenge. Politics is the hurtle, especially the conservative mindset harboring intrinsic opposition to change. Any change raises a ag, a red ag. Conservatives have been conditioned to deny changes. eir rich constituents, the aristocracy in the Republican Party who hold sway over Congress, are never keen on paying more money for social improvements. In 1953 the conservative philosopher Russell Kirk, in his book “ e Conservative Mind,” explains this conservative a iction of denying change, in great detail. Basically, “change always drains their wealth.”
Growth has been the agship of capitalism. It creates an e ective demand for expanded products, resulting in higher pro ts. But uncontrolled growth on a planet with nite resources irts with death. Over-deforestation, overpopulation and diminishing resources due to res, oods, freshwater contamination and droughts create havoc. Some initiate mass migration. If all the ice sheets in the world were to melt and ow into the ocean, the global sea level would rise, ooding every coastal city on the planet. Uncontrolled growth is slowly killing us like the two proverbial frogs not jumping out of a heating frying pan. Growth needs to be stopped. It must be replaced with rules and measures that sustain life and sustain Earth’s resources into the next millennium.
e question is, how do we start acting responsibly today to get the changes necessary that will allow life to continue on Earth, say, for another 1,000 years? How do we stop the wars and ghting that now consume our thoughts? ey seem so trivial compared to the real thoughts of progress needed to sustain humanity. President Joe Biden has set “an ambitious goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.” Maybe it’s time to vote “Blue” to overcome “the Red a iction.” Changes are hard to come by, but if the average voter understands the solution to non-action, the lives of our great-grandchildren can be assured in the centuries that follow.
Gerald Staack Wilmington, North Carolina Former Santa Clarita resident
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