Nexus - 0101 - New Times Magazine-pages

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DOOM AWD GLO A CALL FOR RESPONSIBILITS by R. Ayana —. : ——— al — =. Bo =>S— . =v ms Information currently available indicates that we are pushing the planet beyond its ability to cope with human activity. In its latest State of the World report, the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute presents an alarming (but not alarmist) scenario of mass extinction of animals and plants, climatic change, lack of food and fuel, overpopulation and contamination of the biosphere on a global scale. "No generation has ever faced such a complex set of issues requiring immediate attention,” the Institute reports. "Preceding generations have always been i concerned about the future, but we are the first to be ' faced with decisions that will determine whether the Earth our children inhabit will be habitable. “The threats that emerge as we cross these natural thresholds are no longer hypothetical. “We have inadvertently set in motion grand ecological experiments involving the entire Earth without having the means to systematically monitor the results...” ‘Greenhouse’ warming due to industrial waste ases threatens to make the Earth hotter than it has een since humans first appeared. Global’ carbon dioxide levels are now the highest they have been for | (at least) a hundred thousand years (The US, China ; and the USSR produce half the world's carbon dioxide emissions). The world sea level is already rising as a result. Ozone layer depletion (due to human chemical changes in the atmosphere caused by our refrigerators and spray cans, among other things) is ; Worse than all projections and is seen by Worldwatch president, Lester Brown, as one of the most worrying developments in that it will cause an increase in cancers, blindness, droughts, crop damage and impairment of the human immune system. In Europe alone, 20 million hectares of forest (an area the size of East Germany and Austria combined) stands dead, sick or dying due to atmospheric pollution; to meet firewood demands India has lost a quarter of its trees in the last eight years. A massive Global Change study is proposed, but in the face of impending disaster we have that Supreme folly the arms race, with Star Wars drawing More scientific dollars than any other project in history. Nexus Ne ILL FOR RESPONSIBILITY Ayana HOOT GLOOM? AND by R. Ayana Western expectations (and Third World dreams) of improved living standards are unlikely to be fulfilled, and .are primarily responsible for the depletion of Earth's resources. Since 1950 the world population has doubled and fossil fuel usage has quadrupled. "A frustrating paradox is emerging. Efforts to improve living standards are themselves beginning to threaten the health of the global economy. The very notion of progress begs for redefinition in light of the intolerable consequences unfolding as a result of its pursuit,” the Institute warns. Economic and political issues will dissolve under sudden environmental pressures which "could overwhelm the capacity of governments and individuals to adjust adequately." The report concludes that in order to build a sustainable society we must restore forests and soils, protect the atmosphere, stop population growth, use renewable energy resources and become more efficient with energy; "Societies faced with multiplying, self-generated stresses have two options: initiate the needed reforms in population, energy, agricultural and economic policies or risk deterioration and decline”. This means me, you, all of us; if we do not begin to willingly and actively explore alternatives to our own economic rape of the soil and forests, grid-fed power hunger, and support of ecologically immoral institutions, companies and lifestyles, we will not be given a choice. The natural balance which we have disrupted will simply take all these things from us, sooner or later. We still have freedom in the products we buy, the people we work for and the governments we elect. It is time people began to base their beliefs, lifestyle and voting power on real issues, not economic or political power games which scek to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic. Even institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF are beginning to pay heed to what their environmental researches are telling them; it is time we the public accepted the fact that we are responsible for the current state of increasing global breakdown. In our search for a better way of life, we and our parents have so far built a society hooked on the consumption of largely useless and downright toxic commodities. We are this society; is this what we want? We are, after all, the ones who decide. _ 3q own 39 A CALL FOR RESPONSIBILITY Nexus New Times