Earth Day Thoughts: Global Climate and Malthusian Scare

Global Warming.  It’s happening, right?  Ever since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, everyone has just assumed that global warming is a real thing, and based on many scientists’ stances toward climate change, we need to reduce carbon emissions and try to save the world from some kind of The Day After Tomorrow scenario.

Well, perhaps not.  Here’s a post by a fellow blogger which is entitled “Earth gives us an Earth Day present:  Arctic sea ice is highest for this date in 8 years.” In summary, the author points to recent studies that indicate that the ice in the arctic sea has actually returned to a near-normal level.  So…how does this fit in with global warming?  “Well…it’s global cooling, which is caused by global warming, which is caused by people.”  Does anyone else detect something amiss in this?  Because this is really what some scientists are saying:  that global cooling is the natural result of global warming.  So wait a minute…that sounds oddly like a cycle:  a global warming trend causes ice cap melting, which causes in influx of cooler air into the world’s oceans, which brings about a trend of global cooling, which causes the ice caps to refreeze.

Now personally, I at this point have decided that human activity has little to do with this global climate.  I am not saying that human activity doesn’t affect the climate; for certain, pollution, urban sprawl, and other such human issues cause environmental damage.  What I am saying is that, based on the data we have, the climate really is cyclic, not just in that it’s a cycle itself, but it’s built with cycles on top of cycles on top of cycles, and I highly doubt that after 100 years of our current technologically advanced culture, we will have all of that figured out.

Let us suppose, however, for the sake of argument, that human activity does affect global climate.  So the world gets a little warmer…which means that it gets a little cooler next time around in the cycle, which the next warm cycle counterbalances, and so on until we’re approximately where we’ve started.  Now, legitimately, if enough of a global warming trend occurs that all the ice caps melt and the world is drowned, that would be an…apocalyptic problem.  However, that is not what the data we have is forecasting.

Now, if there’s been two alarmist trends over the last 50 years, it has been the fears of the changing global climate (cooling during the 60′s, warming during the 90′s) and the Malthusian scare:  “The world is overpopulated! There aren’t enough resources for everyone!”  As a result, many modern philosophers have proposed euthanasia, abortion, and other such measures to help control the world’s overwhelming population.

Well, it appears that the Malthusian scare might be a total farce as well.  A recent article called “Sleepless in Shanghai” has stated that the very opposite of a Malthusian scare may soon occur.  Instead of world overpopulation, we may soon be experiencing world underpopulation.  Let me explain: in most developed countries on Earth, the birth rates are falling.  I remember when I was younger, the average children per family in the United States was 2.3.  Recently, I’ve heard that it’s dropped to 2.1.  Now, the Malthusian alarmists will say, “That’s good!  We need fewer people to feed!”  But wait a minute, let’s think about the effects that this is having and is going to have.

First of all, overpopulation is a localized problem.  There’s cities in the United States that have hundreds of people per square mile, and there’s places in the United States that have become wilderness because there’s less than one person per square mile, and that’s just in the United States.  The majority of the world’s population is concentrated in Asia: China and India alone have 3 billion people – over half of the human population on Earth is concentrated in two countries that are no larger than the United States and Canada.

Now, the real concern with the overpopulation debate is the need for resources:  The more people there are, the more resources need to be produced for them to consume.  Well, if people are really concerned with this overpopulation thing, then why aren’t people simply suggesting that we stop sending so much food to the United States and send more of it to Asia?  After all, we’re only 300,000,000 people, while China and India come together to possess about 10 times that number of people, yet the United States alone controls and consumes over half of the resources produced on the planet – in fact, one figure I’ve heard says that’s actually closer to 2 out of 3 global resources are consumed in the United States.  But most people don’t want fewer, scarcer resources in the United States.  They see a problem, but they aren’t willing to change their lifestyle in order to help fix the problem.

So, what about underpopulation? To be honest, I think underpopulation may become a far more real problem than the Malthusian scare.  For example, Social Security in the United States is under a constant threat now from the Baby Boomers.  Why?  Because not enough young people are working to support the older, more numerous generation.  (Interestingly, recent statistics have shown that approximately 50 million people have died in the last 50 years in the United States from abortions.  Now, I don’t care whether you think it’s right or wrong; that’s still 50 million fewer people that are working to support our faltering economy).  That’s just scratching the surface too; imagine how bad the housing market will be when we have too many houses and not enough people to live in them.  Yes, this is a financial disaster in the making.

Oh, and this article also points out that China, infamous for it’s famed one-child policy, is now encouraging their couples to have 2 instead of 1.  Why?  Because they’re having the same problems we are.  Their economic system is threatened.  Perhaps we should take some clues from them.

Now, inevitably, some people would say, “Well, these are all problems for the future.  Why should I care?  I like how things are right now.”  Ah…I hear these words, and the word “selfish” sneaks to the front of my mind.  So, I would say that if you don’t care enough for your children to try to give them the best kind of culture and future they can have, then I would say go ahead and don’t have any children.  Live on your thrones of materialism…and don’t expect me to be very sympathetic when you’re freaking out because the world is falling apart.

Okay, rant complete.

SfC

Some Thoughts: Why American Seems to Lack Great Thought and Art (Creativity & Consumerism)

These are some thoughts of mine that have been taking shape for several months now.  I have often looked with awe upon the great minds of our past:  Da Vinci, Jefferson, Washington, Luther, Luther King Jr., Leonardo, Aristotle, Socrates, Moses, Jesus, Chaucer, Milton, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Einstein, Curie, and the brotherhood of great minds that they, along with so many others, have formed in the modern conscious, great men who, with their lives, changed the course of humanity in their respective fields,  changing the face of the globe as a result of their thoughts, words, literature, and convictions.  However, when I look at the United States and simply modern times in general, I see something very curious: there seems to be a diminished respect in the modern society for men and women that are striving toward the betterment of mankind, not to mention that there seems to be very few of this breed left.  I have often wondered why this is the case, and I want to explore this topic.

First of all, I believe that our civilization doesn’t really lack great minds.  I believe that, in truth, great minds have always been among us and always will be among us.  The key to recognizing them, however, is to be listening for them and looking for the signs of a Great Mind.  Let me also clarify that, when I’m talking about Great Minds, I’m not just talking about someone with a high Inteligence Quotient.  Sadly, I have found that some of the high-IQ people I have met in my life are also the least motivated and the least determined to do something with their gifts.  When I say a Great Mind, I’m placing a person in the company of the men and women who have changed the course of humanity by their contribution.  High IQ might have something to do with it, but I’m convinced and convicted that having a high IQ isn’t enough to qualify for this elite-of-the-elite group; one must also have a drive to change something wrong with this world (M. Luther King, Jr.) , to take humanity to the next level of exploration (Hubble), or to simply make the world a better place (Jesus).  In achieving this, I believe that IQ is secondary, and our society’s push on IQ tests totally misses the point of what the point of our existence is.  What am I saying?  I’m saying that the point of our existence does not begin and end on a test score, whether that be your IQ, ACT, SAT, or whatever.  If that was the point of our existence, Jesus would have taken an IQ test, scored perfect, and then gone to get baptized, but he didn’t, so it isn’t.

So, if our civilization really does have some great minds, why can’t we recognize them, or why do they seem to be so difficult to locate?  To be honest, I believe that not all of them are so obscure; there are plenty of effective and pioneering writers, mathmaticians, scientists, and historians in today’s world, not to mention artists, musicians, and every other occupation concievable.  The ones that are obscure are more difficult to find because ours is a large society of 300 million people, and sadly, when you have that many people, locating any single person with any outstanding characteristics becomes categorically difficult.  In a society that is so full of so many people producing so many works of art, music, and thought, I believe that the most brilliant works are obscured by the overwhelming flow of passable or even deficient counter-parts.

However, I believe that the central reason for our apparent lack of great minds and artists comes down to the society in which we live, which has become saturated with a new breed of hyper-individualism, hyper-consumerism, and hyper-capitalism.

This is based on this thought:  I believe, as a Christian, that God created the world (I do believe that God did it in a week as well, but that piece of information is hardly useful for this thought).  Thereby, when I look at the cosmos as a created order -when I look at the Earth and the numerous and complex life that exists here, and look up and see the stars without number that have been placed in the sky -I must draw the conclusion that our God is an infinitely creative and imaginative God.  Now, the Bible tells us that humanity was made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), so it logically follows that our creativity and imagination are a gift from God, having been made in his image.

Of course, creativity is not impervious to corruption.  There are plenty of ways in the modern world in which creativity has been used not for the joy that comes with creating something, but it is instead done out of greed, pride, hatred, or malice.  However, it is also a personal conviction of mine that creativity is a gift to our personalities from God’s personality, that we are most like God when we are being creative out of pure reasons.  These reason could be simply for the joy of creating something, or out of service to Him and His Church.

So, this also brings forth a question that I believe can be answered a couple of different ways:  what is the opposite of creativity?  When I have asked some of my friends this question, most of them responded “destruction,” which is correct.  So, I ask, what is the mentality that accompanies consumerism, especially the hyper-consumerism that has prevaded and enslaved our society?  Consumerism is all about consuming, which is another form of destruction.  In essence, I’m saying that our society is so busy consuming things -food, clothes, vehicles, electronics, and media -that we have lost the innate desire to be building something rather than destroying something.

This hyper-consumerism is a double-edged sword against creativity in this society:  on one hand, it distracts people from recgonizing thruly great minds among them.  This has a lot to do with our standard of living, which is defined by the movies and television shows we watch, the commericals we see, and what everyone else in society seems to by consuming.  You see, we don’t want to fall behind in our work, so we work extra hard to get ahead; we don’t want to live below the standard of living, so we try to exceed it; we don’t want to appear deficient, so we all try to appear superior.  It reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ chapter on pride in Mere Christianity.  The end result of all of this is that we have all become brainwashed participants in a rat race to achieve a standard of living that goes beyond what we need to all of our numerous wants.  We are so busy trying to “live the life” that we miss the real point of living.  So, what is the real point of living?  My answer is based on my Christian faith, but I do believe that the answer is as near a universal answer as possible: relationships.  Most of us know that, that regardless of our faith, color, gender, or personal background, we desire relationships more than we desire money, cars, houses, and wealth.  However, we are so caught up in checking the clock, racing to meet our deadlines, and trying to live luxuriously in-between that we miss real life, and reserve it to the “someday” category of our life.  This last paragraph is a bit of a tangent, but my point is, if people aren’t even willing to slow down their busy lives to really live life, then how much more are they not slowing down to pay attention to the great minds among us when they do speak.

One perfect example of this is a story my old youth leader at my high school youth group has told of a very famous musician who performed one day at one of the Monorail terminals in Washington for a newspaper article.  The man was an exceptional musician, performing on a 300-year-old multi-million dollar violin, performing some of the most advanced and difficult music ever written for violin.  This guy was used to living a very upper-class life, and most tickets for a concert performance by him would start in $700-$900 range.  Yet, of the 1,000-some people who walked by this man during his hour-long performance, less than 1% actually stopped to listen to him.  The other >99% walked by, completely oblivious to what was unfolding in their midst.  One man who was later interviewed for the newspaper article was able to remember every single lottery number he played that morning (10 or more, I believe), but when asked, he could not even remember that there was a musician playing a violin at that terminal.  Unless I’m mistaken, only one person who stopped to listen to the musician and was later interviewed by the newspaper recognized what happened:  when asked, the man replied that there was a musician at the terminal whose performance was absolutely stellar, complimenting the musician’s form, style, precision, and the performance as a whole.  Sadly, I believe that the other 1,000 people who walked within feet of the musician and missed it are the chorus of today’s society:  “I don’t want any fancy art, music, or thought-provoking treatises; all I want is a multi-million dollar lifestyle, whereby I can live as I please.”

The other wound that consumerism deals out to creativity in our society is by distracting not only the public at large, but people who have real potential to be among that brotherhood of great minds.  I honestly believe that, with the advent of all of the technology available to us in these days, there is no limit to the societal flaws that could be corrected, the injustices that could be rectified, and the betterment that could occur in our society if people would only use the tools that have been provided to them for the sake of mankind at large.  However, it isn’t that we own our electronics; ours is a materialistic society as well, so our stuff owns us.  We try to live life by waking up early in the morning, rushing to work, rushing around to our various activities, and rushing home to sit in front of a television screen for a couple of hours before going back to sleep and starting the cycle over again.  I don’t think I’m the only person whose saying, “Surely there has to be something more than all of that.”

That is why I have chosen to pursue that brotherhood, to attempt to change the world for the better.  I might achieve something with my life and I might not, but I find more excitement and happiness in the pursuit of changing the world for the better than I can imagine finding in simply existing.

SfC