Apocalypse Hope
There is an unmistakable human trait that helps us endure when everything is lost. It's hope. Hope can get us through the darkest periods of our life. Just the mere hope that things will get better has millions trudging to work day after day only to have their life remain exactly how it has and will be: shitty. However, our hope has been our downfall. Too long we have been clinging to a false hope that things are going to be all right. None of the information I am going to present is new yet it is amazing that we just keep going along, oblivious to the signs all around us.
The greenhouse effect has been virtually absent from the media for a couple of years now but does that mean it has gone away? No! Scientists predict that natural variations in temperature will mask the true effects until 2030 but by then it will be too late. So we know at our present rate the planet will be in serious, irreversible trouble in 34 years and that is just from the greenhouse effect alone.
Oil deposits are being depleted at astonishing rates. Oil is a non-renewable resource that once is gone is gone for good. Yet we use it to power almost everything while actively suppressing other forms of energy. I think the U.S. knows exactly when the oil deposits will run out and is avoiding warning the public due to the hysteria it will cause. Not to mention the oil company interests that first forced Ford to switch his engine design from the original alcohol burning one to a gasoline one. People can't imagine life without cars but that will be a reality if measures aren't taken now and alternate energy sources are not found. Even electric cars would require massive retrofitting of America's infrastructure to make them a viable option but we have seen none of this. It we could escape the quagmire of short-term thinking we would start preparing now for the inevitable, and I mean no two ways about it, shortages and crisis will face us in the near future.
The population levels continue to rise almost unchecked. The earth's carrying capacity, that is the maximum number of organisms sustained within an ecosystem, is estimated at 8 billion people with current production methods. That means in a very short time our 5 billion persons population will surpass this and the hunger situations we see now will be grossly amplified as nature corrects itself in order to maintain balance. We always count on new technology to save us but the problem is very simple. We are producing too many humans for the earth to support.
We continue to go about life as usual when all the signs are there. As is typical we continue to be a reactive society instead of a proactive one. Since when have we enacted a law before something serious happened? We react rather than prevent. We wait until a bomb blows up to try and stop terrorism. We wait until countless women are raped to enact tougher laws. We need to react before the problem reaches critical mass. However, this would be a completely opposite approach than we have ever tried and sadly I don't think we will try it now. We will wait until the problem slaps us in the face but by then it will be too late. I am 22 and I guarantee there will be irreversible problems within my lifetime. I think the earth will no linger support us and civilization will be destroyed before the end of the next century (not that it's a hard prediction!) If this is not to be we must realize that our hope is futile and our action is imperative.
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