A Swarm of Emergencies

Here! Now!! In every theater!!! They are a swarm of converging patterns with down-turning trends, which are slow, invisible, long-term, large-scale, and linked!

We see the evidence, but do not recognize it. We bemoan the destruction, but choose not to change our behavior. We paint a shining future, even as it dries up and scatters. Why can we not act like it is a real emergency? Is it a flaw in perception or greed? Is it overconfidence in science and engineering to fix things at the last minute? Do we understand the risks or possible consequences?!

Perhaps we should start by observing the small emergencies that most people and nations are facing. Climate change is forcing more people to admit and recognize it as a threat, now that some nations have to move to higher ground and many cities have to plan and construct moving barriers to try to control flood surges. Most scientists now agree that the climate change has been forced and accelerated by the overuse of energy and land, and the massive carbon releases that follow. Extinctions on a geological scale threaten the biodiversity of most ecosystems on the planet. While individual extinctions are hard to observe, the changes are obvious; in Africa, for instance killing off leopards releases baboon populations, which are less healthy when more sick survive, and baboon parasites then infect neighboring human communities. Human suffering is at a new high as a result of droughts and the extinctions of old, huge aquifers.

Suffering also results from distribution failures and internal violence over declining resources. Regard Syria, which could be helped with intervention by the UN and neighboring nations. The attempt of societies for diets higher in meats has transformed many landscapes into ecological deserts; and, the oceans are being strip-mined by hi-tech fishing machinery so few large fish and predators are left. Fish farming causes massive pollutions in shallows and open waters. Corals are bleached and killed by pollution from petroleum companies. Certainly, we could keep adding small and medium catastrophes to this list, and we can trace the connections between populations, industrial manufacturing, weak ethics, large-scale, and military expenditures, among the many.

We could create a global plan. We could reconstruct nations to fit their environment. We could demilitarize nations to redirect sums of money for the education, design and rebuilding of infrastructures. We could recognize the value of the wild and set aside a majority of the planet for the health of all. We could!

There are actions that we could take now! Some are listed in the book Global Emergency Actions.

Consider downloading and reading it now. To contribute or edit, write to us (at now@globalemergency.net). Everyone can contribute, but it will not work without you!