I wish the world would become more secular. Instead of fighting each other over fundamentalist ideology, I look forward to a planetary civilization that is scientific, multicultural and at peace. Just maybe, if we don’t kill each other off, we could all concentrate on building a sustainable life on our Earth. Up to now we’ve been tearing it apart and polluting it in the name of Growth and Profits.
Earth’s problems are man-made, but they could be solved by science with an overwhelming populous support for change. But, therein lies a challenge. Politics is the hurtle, especially the conservative mindset harboring intrinsic opposition to change. Any change raises a flag, a red flag. Conservatives have been conditioned to deny changes. Their rich constituents, the aristocracy in the Republican Party who hold sway over Congress, are never keen on paying more money for social improvements. In 1953 the conservative philosopher Russell Kirk, in his book “The Conservative Mind,” explains this conservative affliction of denying change, in great detail. Basically, “change always drains their wealth.”
Growth has been the flagship of capitalism. It creates an effective demand for expanded products, resulting in higher profits. But uncontrolled growth on a planet with finite resources flirts with death. Over-deforestation, overpopulation and diminishing resources due to fires, floods, freshwater contamination and droughts create havoc. Some initiate mass migration. If all the ice sheets in the world were to melt and flow into the ocean, the global sea level would rise, flooding every coastal city on the planet. Uncontrolled growth is slowly killing us like the two proverbial frogs not jumping out of a heating frying pan. Growth needs to be stopped. It must be replaced with rules and measures that sustain life and sustain Earth’s resources into the next millennium.
The question is, how do we start acting responsibly today to get the changes necessary that will allow life to continue on Earth, say, for another 1,000 years? How do we stop the wars and fighting that now consume our thoughts? They seem so trivial compared to the real thoughts of progress needed to sustain humanity. President Joe Biden has set “an ambitious goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.” Maybe it’s time to vote “Blue” to overcome “the Red affliction.” Changes are hard to come by, but if the average voter understands the solution to non-action, the lives of our great-grandchildren can be assured in the centuries that follow.
Gerald Staack
Wilmington, North Carolina
Former Santa Clarita resident
