30 Jan 2013

The Myth of Progress: 100 Global Mega-Crises all attributable to Civilisation…



The following is a list of just some of the truly serious problems we face today.  They are not in any particular order. Some are huge, some maybe not so.  But they are all part of the growing multi-faceted disaster that can be attributable to one cause; Civilisation.

And most significantly this convergence of these crises cannot continue for another 30 years without threatening the very survival of our species on this planet....

1           Climate Change, Sea Level Rise and Arctic Melting
2           Peak Oil and Gas
3           Resource Depletion
4           Over-population
5           War
6           Growing Gap between Rich and Poor
7           Famine
8           Increasing Desertification
9           Coral Bleaching
10        Tree Death
11        Rainforest Destruction
12        Topsoil Erosion
13        Habitat Destruction
14        Loss of Biodiversity
15        6th Mass Extinction of Species
16        Increasing Waste Arisings
17        Radioactive Waste
18        PCBs
19        Dead Rivers, Lakes and Oceans
20        Increase in Auto Immune Diseases
21        Heavy Metal Poisoning
22        Increasing Pollution
23        Obsession with Economic Growth
24        Ponzi Economics
25        Unsupportable Debt (Government, Business and Personal)
26        Poor Diet and Deteriorating Health (Physical and Mental)
27        Reliance on Pharmaceutical Drugs
28        The Surveillance State
29        Corruption of Politicians
30        Media Control of Politics
31        Global Power Elites
32        The Arms Trade
33        Narcotic Drugs and Desire to Escape
34        Terrorism both Real and Induced, the Culture of Fear
35        Global Corporate Monoculture
36        Sweatshop Economies
37        Torture in Prisons
38        Alienation of the Dispossessed
39        Destruction from Mining Operations
40        Increasing Complexity of Technology and Society
41        Trivialisation of Lifestyle, Celebrity Culture
42        Increased Gambling
43        Child Pornography and Exploitation of Minors
44        Nuclear Weapons
45        Nuclear Power Station Safety
46        Nano-Particles
47        Genetic Modification of Food
48        Extreme Energy – Fracking and Tar Sands
49        Geo-Engineering
50        The Love of Money
51        The Gun Culture
52        Water Stress
53        Global Food Shortages
54        Graffiti and Vandalism
55        Sexualisation of Children, Sexting
56        Over-Fishing of the Seas.
57        Exploitation and Killing of Indigenous Peoples
58        The Israel-Palestine Problem
59        Homelessness
60        Advertising Everywhere
61        Street Riots
62        Obesity
63        Christmas Consumerism
64        Infringement of Civil Liberties
65        Racial Hatred
66        The Plastic Island in the Pacific
67        Bullying
68        Loss of Children’s Play
69        Light Pollution
70        Climate Denialism
71        Food Waste
72        Retail Therapy
73        Human Selfishness
74        Free Market Capitalism
75        Suicide
76        Mass Killings
77        The Revolving Door: Big Business and Politics
78        Right Wing Extremism
79        Intolerance of Organised Religion
80        Planned Obsolescence
81        Institutional Violence
82        Apathy
83        Lack of Purpose in Life
84        Cheating
85        Irrational Love of Technology.
86        The Desire for More
87        The False Need for Full Employment
88        Mistrust in the Police
89        The Blame Culture
90        A Sense of Hopelessness
91        Growing Gang Culture
92        Antibiotic Resistance
93        Chemicals
94        The Theft of the Commons
95        Acid Rain
96        Authoritarian Bureaucracy
97        Security Mindset
98        Rape
99        Excessive Television
100      The Inability to Connect the Dots
101      … add your own.


The network of mega-crises above covers both cause and effect, and the issues are interlinked and converging. All the predicaments very often appear to be unsolvable, and in many cases are not even being tackled by society as recognisable problems. 

But they are in effect the same problem.  The Problem of Civilisation.

And it’s important to realise that our current Civilisation cannot be saved.  It is – by definition – unsaveable.  It can be blunted, however, and that is our immediate priority for survival.  If we fail here then this Civilisation we have created, will take us into a new Dark Age, marked by chronic warfare, starvation, ecological collapse and abject misery for the world’s population.

Underlying this “Problem of Civilisation” is in fact just one solution;  Re-connection.
Re-connection with nature. Re-connection between ourselves. And re-connection with the spirit of life itself. 

In reality what this means for each and every one of us is two-fold.
  1. Resistance:  We must resist wherever possible the worst examples of civilisation.  Not to reform civilisation (that is impossible) but to prevent civilisation’s destruction completely engulfing us.
  2. Rebuilding:  We must rebuild communities from scratch with shared values of sustainability, equity, simplicity, and peace.
Well before the end of this century, whatever happens, civilisation in its current form cannot exist. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: “What will we choose to take its place?

More details on our choices will appear in future posts.

We leave you with some wise words about a beautiful world that our hearts tell us is possible …

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing
… Arundhati Roy

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.  To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete”
… R. Buckminster Fuller

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