I wonder what the corporations would do if people ever refused to invest in them by supporting only clean or renewable resources? I wonder what governments would do if we refused to re-elect anyone who didnt significantly impact our future, and did not renew politicians who have sat for years in the same office while making little headway except for approving raises for themselves and their corporate friends? What might the world be like if just for one day (24 hours) everyone picked up trash and practiced better disposal and recycling of waste? What would it be like if for 2 years we cut fishing harvests down by 50%? What kind of self healing could nature do if we gave it a real chance and a proper nudge? What kind of political and social reforms would happen if we weeded out political and corporate dead weight? How much of an impact could we make if humanity tried a bit harder and focused just a little more? The truth is that we are destined for mass extinction. Thats not me being pessimistic, its just a numeric and natural fact. We havent reached the PONR (Point Of No Return) yet. But its coming up. Faster than most people realize. If you watch or study programs about science you will see that we are working on all sorts of wonderful innovations. That in perhaps another 50 years or less we will have greatly increased cryogenics, space craft propulsion systems, medicine, genetic knowledge, genome understanding, communications, etc. In 50 years or so we will have increased our capacity to do all sorts of things. IF we have 50 years before we deplete our resources. You see at our current rate (and this is not factoring in population increase, thus increased consumption of resources) we will have emptied the oceans of all major fish species that we consume as food by 2050 CE. We will have destroyed more wild lands, increased our carbon dioxide pollution, seen far more dramatic climate change, and have a lot more instability, famine, shortages, and unrest. We have 36 years (roughly) until that ocean depletion. Who knows how long before the nonrenewable resources we rely on so heavily are used up or diminished? The fact of the matter is that theres no viable alternate world we can travel to to lighten the load. (And if we could Id feel sorry for whatever other world were out there because wed just screw the new planet up after a little time had elapsed). I dont believe we deserve a second world. We cant work in conjunction with the one we have right here. Turning the tide on so many issues is far simpler than people might imagine. How about creating more marine and coastal preserves? Oceans comprise 72% of our planets surface. Yet while 18% or land mass is set aside or protected as parks and sanctuaries, less than 1% of oceans are protected. But imagine if we set aside 10% of our global oceans and waters as protected marine and coastal parks and preserves. Imagine if governments and citizens got serious about protecting these resources. Imagine how quickly these nurseries and ecosystems would rebound and start to produce excess fish and marine stocks. With 10% of the oceans set aside wed see a massive change in marine ecosystems. Make it 20% and we could feed the world and still have a flourishing environment. Even with a much larger global populace. If we went to 30% we could turn the tide on climate change. Because yes boys and girls, sharks and other apex marine predators would rebound in these sanctuaries and preserves and the food chain would see a restoration in the balance that allows phytoplankton (our greatest resource and safety net) to grow and flourish. That means more oxygen and less carbon dioxide. Since this is the primary greenhouse gas fueling global climate change the rebound would be incredible. Nature could actually thrive and replenish stocks. Everyone would benefit. Milder climate would mean less crazy storms and weather, more productive agriculture, less coastal and geographic storm and hurricane/tornado damage. Imagine that. And all wed have to do is protect 10-30% of our oceans and coastal wetlands, marshes, and estuaries. Even the corporations would win because fish stocks dont stay behind imaginary man made boundaries. Fish would return to many areas in which they were fished out. Its not that difficult to see and to understand. A child can do it. So whats our excuse for not doing this?
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 03:18:10 +0000
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