Now, I have mentioned this before: not only are we cursed with religion; we are also cursed with old prophesies. Like the 2012 frenzy, and the end of the Maya calendar, for example. There is also a lot of whispering going on about the Illuminati, the New World Order, et. al. My greatest fear is that all this spirituality is going to be the perfect obstacles lying between the realization that “we got to do something about humanity’s relation to the ecosystems of the planet,” and the actual fact of doing something abouyt it. I mean: spirituality can make us all petrified with fear, to the point when all climate change action might be seen as a total waste of time.

I only hope you can catch my drift here, as these are very difficult topics to think and write about.

I’m a social anthropologist by education, and I am have always been keen on understanding the differences and likenesses of all the cultural and social fields of this world; be it subcultures and minstream cultures, and be it different ethnic groups from around the world. But then, I must also say that I’m a sustainability philosopher of some sort, and as such, well, what can I say? — I say we’re human beings first and foremost, and that as such — human beings — we are mammals, creatures of nature, belonging to nature, as part and parcel of it. Just like lamas, tigers, elephants and gorillas are creatures of nature belonging to it and depending on it. But when it comes to man (humanity, the human race) it is actually makes much more sense to describe our said belonging to nature in the way of pointing at domesticized animals like cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, and horses: animal species that would not have been around in such a big number if it wasn’t for humanity and human agricultural practices.

It would be wrong to assert that human beings are nothing more than mere apes. We are social creatures too. And creatures of culture and also of spirit. This is the reason why taboos exist.

Now, I mentioned the Revelations and also the Book of Ezechiel, but I am not going to forget about all those other cultures and cosmologies that are around, and be so good to mention that “the end theme” is evident in almost all human cosmologies, including animist or naturalist religions / cosmologies.

Let me also point out that in times like these, when all that is human nature and all that is the nature of nature itself, so to speak, is brought to the table as relevant to the discussion of what we are going through, all of us, whether we like to admit it or not, and whether we are foreseeing a future for humanity in outer space (like Stephen Hawking so often has said) or we are doing the opposite and thereby find ourselves invariably landed in the Lovelock / Gaia tradition. — Well, in times like these, the human (animal) spirit will quite naturally be exposed in people all over the place. It’s a stress function. And yes: it can even be a sign both of warning and of real danger.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6595521.stm

- “I think the human race doesn’t have a future if it doesn’t go into space,” [Stephen Hawking] told the BBC News website.

And I believe Stephen Hawking should have a good time reading NASA medical reports on the unpromising way the human body responds to long periods of wieghtlessness. The simple fact is: it doesn’t.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast02nov_1.htm

“Unfortunately, without the pull of gravity it is very difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate loads routinely experienced by our muscles and bones on Earth. The regimen of exercise that astronauts perform in space has shown some promise as a countermeasure, but not enough to protect long-voyaging astronauts from injury or bone fracture when they are re-exposed to gravity — either here on Earth or on some other planet.”

- —

- —

I am virtually speechless, save for the one wonderful word that comes to mind and seems somehow appropriate to say out loud to you now, a word that all of us will remember coming after timeless words are spoken: amen.

Godspeed,

Steve

Regarding the spirituality I discussed in that article, it turned out what I was originally feeling wasn’t pantheism after all, but rather a spontaneous discovery of the principles of Deep Ecology, brought on by a comprehension of humanity’s existential crisis. Deep Ecology has at its core the same sense of unity as pantheism, but is focused more directly on the web of life on this planet than on the universe as a whole. Both, of course, are attempts to break down the dualistic sense of disconnection of man from the world he inhabits — a dualism that is promoted by all monotheistic religions, and even by the Western worship of technology. The basic understanding of both pantheism and DE is that humanity is “a part” not “apart”.

Needless to say, I feel much more comfortable with this interpretation.

One problem I face is that once some level of awareness has been achieved, it’s thereafter impossible to deny. My partner wants me to stop focusing on the bad stuff and concentrate on being an agent for positive change. I have yet to decide what sort of positive change I should work towards that might be useful in some way, while at the same time permits full recognition of the problems. for now I have decided that personal spiritual growth is probably the most honest and effective answer.

Speaking of “bad stuff”, I’ve posted an updated version of “Africa in 2040″. I was able to figure out how to link the food cost analysis I’d done into a population scenario that I’ve added as a second section of the model. The discussion of the paper has been re-written, and I have some harsh words to say about the world’s financiers in the “Foreign Aid” section.

The population scenario shows a drop from 900+ million today to 400 million in 2040. And the feedback I’m getting is that my assumptions have indeed been conservative. “Bad stuff” indeed.

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Africa/Africa.html

Now, the Book of Revelations’ Chapter 18 is all about the break down of economic systems. I know that most people tend to think in terms like these, and so do I. I remember too well how I, in my atheist youth used to sit together with friends and read that last book of the Bible, most of the time ridiculing the whole thing, but always being brought to some kind of capitalist world culture breaking point where the Revelations reaches it’s poetic peak:

http://www.awitness.org/biblehtm/re/re18.htm

“The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more; merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, all expensive wood, every vessel of ivory, every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; and cinnamon, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, sheep, horses, chariots, bodies, and people’s souls.

The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far away for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls!

For in an hour such great riches are made desolate.’ Every shipmaster, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far away, and cried out as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like the great city?’”

(Revelations, Chapter 18, verses 11 – 18)

- —

Now, I will put it to you in a manner as straight-minded as I can possibly make it. I say those of us who are old enough to take an interest in the history of world philosophy, must surely have read the Revelations of John. And those of us who are head over heals into the destruction and possible restructuring of the world today, as it lies ravaged and raped before us, must surely be familiar with the apocalyptic scriptures of the Bible, and also other religions, traditions, and culturally based cosmologies from around the globe. Anyone who says that (s)he has not even lent the idea a thought does so, I believe and shall suggest, because of personal and communal fear of repercussions.

I put it to you now, that the idea of slowing down on general consumption is a very good one, even if it is noted in the Revelations of John and, for no other reason than just that, can be understood as an endtime sign, and therefore something that people should disregard. As a matter of fact (oh, how I wish there were other ways of putting this straight), the simple fact that a solid reduction of general consumption is highlighted by John the Baptist (?) in the last book of the Bible, does not make it unwise! To the contrary: I will put to you that “the poison”, which is the Revelations of the Bible, can actually and equally come to be “the remedy” for all of our problems. And I will tell you that I do not give a toss about the woes of the political and financial elites, as this miniscule strata of the world population starts to really feel heat here, as more and more people from all over the planet gradually start to question and correct the consumerist societies of our time. And I truly believe that such a move would be a good option here, as we are going to have to start cleaning up the mess of generations, and embark on lifestyles that are conducive to a planet (Mother Nature; the ecosystems; the life-support systems of this world) faced with rather urgent atmospheric and material stress symptoms.

Ahem. Well, anyway. — 8)

This is just a little embarrassing, of course. But I feel — and I know that many other environment bloggers must feel like I do — like something out of the Book of Ezechiel of the Old Testament of the Bible. As we are relentlessly preaching words of Earthly Wisdom — long sermons of impending disaster that should be possible to avert, but only in-as-much as the world population would decide to take steps in the right direction, move on after more than a century of industrialization and seek to reconnect to the demands of the ecosystems, after decades and centuries of artificial cultural and social disconnectedness from the vital life support systems of the planet. — And yet noone, or so it seems, are ready to take us seriously.

“And they to whom I send thee are children of a hard face, and of an obstinate heart: and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: If so be they at least will hear, and if so be they will forbear, for they are a provoking house: and they shall know that there hath been a prophet in the midst of them.” (Book of Ezechiel: Chapter 2, verses 4 – 5)

Now, what scares me the most these days, is my strong feeling that even the most steadfast of all environmentalists among us are starting to show signs of no longer believing that a change for the better can be achieved. I have this stron feeling that we are simply losing it, and that the winning philosophy is that of money consciousness. It is a shame, of course. But we might even reach the conclusion that strict money consciousness and brutal growth madness is indeed modern human nature; nothing more and nothing less. And that, as a matter of fact, it is making it impossible to get the message and the philosophy of wholesale change across to the general public.

I am also reminded just now of Paul’s time in what seemed like a desert. It was a period of two years, as I recall.

Who knows, perhaps many of us are taking very different, individualized paths by which we come eventually to a new place where “reverence for life” in particular is manifestly supported and God’s Creation in general is respectfully preserved. In this place, the short-term, soon to be unsustainable ‘successes’ of an endlessly expanding global economy are no longer of primary importance.

I just read your essay “The Spiritual Effects of Comprehending the Global Crisis”. Let me just say that I understand and agree with everything you put in writing there. As time has gone by, I have also had to discard my previous atheism for some sort of naturalism, animism or pantheism, and I do feel, very strongly, the reverence in all this. Learning about the environmental damage inflicted on this planet is an eye-opener. What is more: learning to cope with the fact that so much of the ecological degradation comes as a result or by-product of human behaviour, habits, routines and even genetics, well, it makes you feel a little strange, now doesn’t it?

Unrestricted migration is the facilitator of maximum overpopulation.

I’m not sure about the facilitator. Seems to me the facilitator is economic injustice.

Thanks for each and every thing both of you are doing. Someone has to do truly the ” vital work of these days” just as you and our friends are doing it.

All of us are being tested by the extraordinary circumstances with which we could soon be confronted, circumstances dimly visible, even now, on the far horizon. It appears to me the elite/leader class of the human community has very literally chosen to “worship” certain highly prized business-as-usual activities which bring us to this point in history when the family of humanity must come quickly to see that too much of good thing can lead to horrendous consequences. What worked so well for so long simply cannot work much longer.

The Greeks taught us the importance of “everything in moderation” but we have evidently forgotten that lesson in living and refuse to hear of it now.

Now, more is better and much more is somehow not ever enough. Perhaps we are a species that is insatiable. If so, self-regulation will be a very difficult goal to achieve, even in the face of species extinction, I suppose.

Hopefully, Homo sapiens are not ultimately insatiable and can make necessary choices of self-regulation, in the light of good science. Then, while the years ahead may not be easy (given a reasonable and sensible assessment of scientific evidence available to us now), our children and coming generations could have a realistic chance of finding a way to a future for life as we know it on Earth and as we wish it to be for all who come after us.

By working together, we have been able to identify daunting aspects of a multi-faceted human predicament, one so large and complex that we are having great difficulty “getting our heads around” the colossal situation, let alone determining what are to be the changes in behavior that are required of us.

On top of all this is another pressure being brought to bear: to immediately understand and respond ably to our circumstances because of the ‘pressure’ presented in the form of limitations imposed upon us by space-time. As Paul and others have been recognizing, some kind of “catastrophic wreckage” could be in the offing. Every time we gain more good scientific evidence of our distinctly human-induced predicament, we come to realize that we do not have time to waste because our adamant and relentless maintenance of business-as-usual behaviors are propelling the human species at an accelerating rate toward some ecologic or economic calamity.

Once again, as Paul is noticing from his fine work, a day of reckoning for humanity and for life as we know it appears to be close at hand…..very close…..perhaps just a matter of a handful of years from now.

Change is coming. We hear the word, change, every day, and everywhere we turn in this election year in the USA.

Even though the challenges mentioned so far are numerous, formidable and enough, there is yet another huge challenge that we face: the incremental changes most people are considering or imagining will soon be seen as woefully inadequate. More fundamental change, based upon a heightened level of awareness of the human condition and the world we inhabit, could be necessary.

Everyone is this small community knows what I mean when I say “fundamental change” that takes us away from the idolatrous “growth madness” seen in the human consumption, production and propagation activities now overspreading, and threatening to engulf, our planetary home.

Let me list them again:

1. Implement a universal, voluntary, humane program of family planning and health education that teaches people the need for setting a limit on the number of offspring at one child per family.

2. Establish an upper limit on the growth of the individual human footprint.

3. Restrict the reckless dissipation of limited natural resources so that the Earth is given time to replenish them for human benefit.

4. Substitute clean, renewable sources of energy, through the use of substantial economic incentives, for the fossil fuels we rely upon now.

5. Recognize that everything human beings do on the surface of our planetary home utterly depends on the finite resources and frangible ecosystem services of Earth. Perhaps the time is nearly at hand when an endlessly expanding, gigantesque global economy on a relatively small planet of the size and make-up of Earth becomes patently unsustainable.

Business-as-usual activities, marked by unrestrained per-capita consumption, seemingly endless economic globalization and skyrocketing absolute global human population numbers, which were once wonderful, are now dangerous, and potentially ruinous of human and enviromental health and, therefore, need to regulated simultaneously……….. and done so with all deliberate speed, I am supposing.

Sincerely,

Steve