From: bwhite@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (William E. White )
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Who are we kidding?
Date: 19 Nov 92 21:19:53 GMT
Organization: O.U., Harvard on the Hocking, Berkeley in the Boondocks!

In article <2B0B3079.358@news.service.uci.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
>In article <1992Nov19.021352.25696@leela.cs.orst.edu> casspa@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU (Paul Cass) writes:
>>In article <2B0A8245.16232@news.service.uci.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
>>>
>>>It's finished, people.  We're just not going to change in thirty years,
>>>face up to it.  We're not the first evolutionary cul-de-sac that's ever
>>>come down the pike.  The dice rolled, and we came out, and it just
>>>didn't work out.  If we had 150 years or 200, maybe.  But we are NOT
>>>GOING TO CHANGE IN TIME.  Think about it.  Do you honestly think that
>>>today's 10-year olds are going to suddenly have this mass jump in
>>>consciousness despite being reared by today's 40-year olds and rise up
>>>as one and go back to living in thatched-roof houses or at least give up
>>>their Nintendos long enough to find out what's happening?

>>Janis; You just have to do something about this pollyanna attitude of
>>yours. |B{)  Your article sounds like I felt after spending a summer
>>of reading and researching environmental science.  It took the better
>>part of a month to regain my equilibrium and to decide that if the
>>biosphere was going to go down the shitter at least I wouldn't flush.

>How did you?  I'm wondering and getting worried about how *I*'m going
>to.  This just really knocked me for a loop and had me off-kilter for
>the whole day; it still does.  I hope it doesn't last for a month, but I
>wonder if it's ever going to go away. 

I remember when I stopped to look at the truth about exponential growth
(notice how all predictions of population, food, natural resources, etc.,
all say things like "at current rates of usage, oil will last for 300
years"?  Ever consider that "current rates of usage" go up exponentially
each year?  Do a little calculus and you'll be a bit surprised).  I felt
pretty awful about it all.  Coupled with research into the environment,
I too felt like the world was going to Hell in a Pinto.

But there are some other things to consider.  First off, anyone who tells
you that any environmental change will happen suddenly is trying to sell
you something.  Depletion of natural resources, changes in birth rates,
etc., will all happen slowly.  Extraction of oil, for example, will simply
become increasingly expensive; we'll never "run out" the way most people
think.  There will never be one day when we wake up and the ozone layer
is gone; it'll happen gradually.

Plus which, I don't believe in the "point of no return" philosophy.  I do
believe that, the longer we delay, the more it's going to cost us (both
economically and socially).  I really do believe in the wonder of modern
science, I just think it's the negative aspects which have gotten all the
publicity in the past, say, 2000 years.  Yes, it'll be a long time before
things get bad enough to the point where people all look and say, oh yes
I want to do something about it.  By then it'll take a lot of effort and
a lot of time.  But I think most problems are solvable.

I believe we could exist right now on a solar-hydrogen economy (we can't
*switch* to it now, but if we somehow were magically given the infra-
structure for it, it would be feasible).  We could probably also get rid
of most of the radioactive waste, if we sat down and took the time and
money to do it (I'm personally in favor of gravity torpedoes into a 
subduction zone).  Similarly, I'm also a believer in biodegradation of
toxins -- one of the possible positive benefits of genetics research
may come in better engineered or bred biodegrading microbes.

In short, what's needed is committment.  Feeling disempowered about it
is precisely what you *should not* do -- because then you just want to
curl up and sleep, hoping it will all go away.  This solves nothing, it
helps nothing.  If you really want to try and make things better for our
descendents, work now to convince people that a) there is a problem, and
b) it probably is solvable, but will require of work and research.  On the
other hand, I'm terrified to think of what would happen if everyone does
nothing, until it's painfully obvious that we're on the road to extinction,
and then some neofascist decides to blame the scientists, the thinkers, the
different people among us, etc.

Religion should be empowering, it should enforce one's connection with the
surrounding physical environment and one's ability to influence it.  The
fact that most major religions today are precisely the opposite is, in my
not-so-humble opinion, a big problem.  We may be digging our own grave,
but we're the ones doing it, not some abstract force, and we can undo it
given the time and effort.  This time and effort will happen sooner or
later, I'd just prefer it sooner.

>Janis


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