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.
- 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.
- 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
