re-posted from Kerr Cuhulain's blog:
Malthusian Collapse
I heard a Christian on the radio the other day going on about how it was right and proper that we all should be having lots of children. I sat there in amazement, wondering how a person like this could justify this position in the face of the current global situation. The population of the world is now approaching 9 billion people. Our food reserves are down to record lows: In 2007 the carryover stocks were down to a 61 day supply, the lowest on record. As a result food prices have skyrocketed and there are more poor people than ever. Ever increasing populations are consuming ever increasing amounts of fossil fuels, resulting in global warming. This world of ours is being pushed to a breaking point.
Decades ago agricultural scientists came up with a “Green Revolution” involving monocultures, fertilizers and industrial type farming. This increased yields alright, giving many the impression that the crisis was over. What actually happened is that we ended up driving water tables down, pushing water resources to all time lows and leaving many rivers and bodies of water polluted with chemical runoff. Monoculture crops took everything out of the soil and put nothing back in, leaving soils depleted and eventually driving crop yields down. Much of our grain, instead of going to feed people, is going to feed animals and produce bio-fuels. The grain that it takes to feed one animal for food can feed 5 people. As Thomas Robert Malthus, in his 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population, pointed out that human population increases at a geometric rate, doubling about every 25 years if unchecked. On the other hand, agricultural production increases arithmetically. Thus unchecked population will always outstrip agricultural production. And if the population just keeps on growing, taking up more and more land, where exactly do you figure we are going to be able to grow this food?
It is time for a change, people. We have to abandon the current idea that we are “rulers of the earth” and replace it with the idea that we are “stewards of the earth”. We need to switch to sustainable farming, involving interplanting with plants like legumes to put things back into the earth. We need to compost and reduce our reliance on pesticides and fertilizer. We need to engage in smarter irrigation practices and use mulching and cover crops. We need to come up with alternative, clean sources of energy. And I really think that we need to start paying attention to the concept of zero population growth. We’ve reached the point of Malthusian collapse. We need to do this now, before we push our dear Mother Earth past the point of no return.
BB Kerr
originally posted at http://kerrcuhulain.blogspot.com/
Here are my comments in reply to Kerr's post:
I agree with this on each and every count!
I also agree with Gaelan in that, when I come to decide if I'm going to have children, I am very very likely to adopt a child that already exists on this planet, instead of creating another one to increase the population.
I also believe we (globally) should actively encourage negative population growth. Perhaps making contraceptives free or extremely cheap, so the "default" in a financial crunch is not to get pregnant but instead to NOT get pregnant. Or abolishing "child tax credit" because many poor people have children JUST to get more free money from government programs. We need to stop pressuring our children and peers to "give us grandchildren" and "don't be selfish, have kids like you're supposed to". We need to make zero/negative population growth the "norm", not continuing to breed uncontrollably and mindlessly.
And no more of this "in the future" and "our kids' generation", it's NOW, TODAY, OUR generation. We can't keep living like there's no tomorrow, or that someone else who comes along tomorrow will be able to clean up our mess. We as a planet have run amuck and it's time we gave our heads a shake and realized that our actions come with hefty consequences.
For example, the reason we're getting more cancers is due to the processed foods we're consuming, as opposed to our grandparents who lived off the fresh produce, grains, and meats on their farms.
And the reason we're getting more skin cancers and extreme sunburns is because we no longer have an effective ozone layer to shield us from the sun's RADIATION. And why is that? We destroyed our ozone in the 80s and 90s. How? Pollution that was excessive and uncontrolled and mindless of any consequence. Commercialism, Industrial Revolution: finding ways to produce consumables quickly, cheaply, and on a large enough scale to accommodate our growing population.
We need the Powers That Be to aggressively pursue a change, and to educate the people. The planet needs to pull its collective head out of the sand.
I repost this in the hopes of spreading the word and encouraging discussion and awareness.
As the First Nations people believe: we are the Caretakers of our Mother the Earth. She has given us the gift of this bountiful planet that can sustain our People and provide all that we shall desire... so long as we care for it.
Showing posts with label awareness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label awareness. Show all posts
28 July 2009
22 April 2009
Earth Day
Today is Earth Day. This is how I am environmentally-conscious and eco-friendly:
1. I reduce, reuse and recycle like mad, buy in bulk with less packaging, and only make 1 small/white garbage bag of garbage each week.
2. I shop local farmers markets and buy organic whenever possible.
3. I (re)use my own cloth bags at the grocery stores and said farmers markets.
4. I use my Brita water filter in the fridge instead of bottled water.
5. I wash all my laundry in cold water, and hang dry 90% of it. The 10% I put in the dryer, I put the dryer on low temperature.
6. Now that I have a minivan (eek!) I carpool by loading up all my friends and coven-mates in it every chance I get. EDIT: Since I've lost my minivan, I now drive a very fuel-efficient Toyota Tercel... and still carpool to make the most out of it being another car on the road.
7. I use those power-smart efficient light bulbs, a photosensitive night light, and turn off all lights when not in use. My outside lights are motion-activated AND have those power-smart bulbs in them.
8. I vote Green Party.
9. I manually shovel snow and rake leaves and sweep the driveway instead of using a gas-powered snowblower and leafblower.
10. I use commuter mugs instead of disposable cups when going out for coffee.
11. I keep the thermostat low and just layer on more clothing if I'm cold.
12. I use a small toaster oven instead of the regular oven when baking smaller items.
13. I'm planting my own vegetable & herb garden this year.
What do you do?
12 January 2009
Indifference
re-posted from my coven's e-mail list:
By Kerr Cuhulain, author of Wiccan Warrior and Full Contact Magick
Last night at our Scathach training meeting at the Motherhouse I addressed the assembled members. Here is what I told them:
On January 10 I worked police dispatch for district 3. This is the south east corner of Vancouver, a large and busy district, especially so on a Saturday night. At about 2230 hours it was raining mixed with snow. A lady was walking home with her child in the 7800 block of Champlain, which is a major thoroughfare in this part of the district, composed of townhouses, a school, a community center and some minor businesses. Suddenly a 12 year old Asian boy ran up to her dressed only in flannel pajamas in his bare feet in the rain, telling her that his parents were fighting and begging her to help him. She refused, pointing to the Royal Arch Masonic Care Home that they were in front of, and telling him to run there, as they would help him. She then walked on, leaving him to his own devices. She told us later that she last saw him running towards this care home. About 15 minutes later she arrived home and, starting to feel a bit guilty I suppose, called 911.
Needless to say the call taker that took the call was appalled. So was I when the call appeared on my dispatch screen a moment later. The call taker immediately tried calling the Royal Arch home to see if the staff had the kid with them. No one would answer the phone there.
Meanwhile I’ve got the sergeant heading over with multiple police units, one going to the complainant’s home to get more details and one straight to the care home to see what they could tell us. The staff came to the door when the police officer buzzed the intercom. The duty nurse told this police officer that yes, the boy had come to the door soaking wet in his pajamas, crying, begging for help. The care home staff refused to open the door for this boy as it was “against their policy” and told him to seek help elsewhere. The last that they saw of him he was running away from their front door. Needless to say the police officer at the door blew a fuse and demanded to know why they didn’t call 911. If you can believe it, the nursing supervisor then told this police officer, “Oh yes, we did call 911.” The police officer got REALLY angry then. He told her that we WERE 911 and we knew for a fact that they had made no such call. They hadn’t. I can’t imagine how they thought that we’d think that they had.
Due to the bad weather our helicopter with its infrared scanning equipment was not in the air, but I threw every other resource that we had at this. Units checked every single street and the dog unit checked all the trails in the vicinity: Unfortunately our dog unit couldn’t track the boy because by the time we got this call and he’d got to the scene so many people had come and gone from the care home that it would have been impossible to tell who he was tracking.
Assisted by the call taker, I checked the history of every block of houses out several blocks in every direction looking for any residence that might have a history that would give us a clue where this kid might have come from. Even if the family involved had an extensive history, all that it would take is for them to move to a new house where we hadn’t had any calls yet and we’d never be able to find them that way.
The call taker and I found nothing useful.
The initial area search produced no results.
The duty officer (basically the acting chief constable) arrived on scene and got units to go door to door from the care home outwards looking for anything that would help. In the first 15 minutes of this door to door search we discovered 6 witnesses, all who had seen the following: Our Asian boy in his pajamas in the middle of Champlain Crescent, trying to stop passing cars, yelling and calling for assistance.
All of the cars drove around him and went on.
Not one of the 6 witnesses called 911.
After three hours of searching we never found him.
The dispatchers and call takers in the ops room shook their heads and said things like: “What is this world coming to?”
Some people in the Pagan community have asked me: “Why would you want to create an order of Knights?”
Because this is what the world is coming to.
I heard a lot of people on the ops floor say things that night like: “When you hear of things like this you wonder what hope is there for the world.”
Some people in the Pagan community say: “An order of Knights? That’s rather archaic. What use is it?”
Why are we all gathered together as an order of Knights?
WE are the hope.
We came together, attracted by the precepts and principles of our order. WE stand for honor and responsibility. WE are the example for the rest of our community and the rest of the world.
I know that every single one of you in our Order would have done everything you could to help this poor boy. We have ALL taken an oath to help the weak. That’s just one of the reasons that I’m so proud of you all.
I can only imagine what he must think having reached out to so many who simply turned away. Let us all hope that this boy is found safe and that a solution is found to his problem.
BB
Kerr
By Kerr Cuhulain, author of Wiccan Warrior and Full Contact Magick
Last night at our Scathach training meeting at the Motherhouse I addressed the assembled members. Here is what I told them:
On January 10 I worked police dispatch for district 3. This is the south east corner of Vancouver, a large and busy district, especially so on a Saturday night. At about 2230 hours it was raining mixed with snow. A lady was walking home with her child in the 7800 block of Champlain, which is a major thoroughfare in this part of the district, composed of townhouses, a school, a community center and some minor businesses. Suddenly a 12 year old Asian boy ran up to her dressed only in flannel pajamas in his bare feet in the rain, telling her that his parents were fighting and begging her to help him. She refused, pointing to the Royal Arch Masonic Care Home that they were in front of, and telling him to run there, as they would help him. She then walked on, leaving him to his own devices. She told us later that she last saw him running towards this care home. About 15 minutes later she arrived home and, starting to feel a bit guilty I suppose, called 911.
Needless to say the call taker that took the call was appalled. So was I when the call appeared on my dispatch screen a moment later. The call taker immediately tried calling the Royal Arch home to see if the staff had the kid with them. No one would answer the phone there.
Meanwhile I’ve got the sergeant heading over with multiple police units, one going to the complainant’s home to get more details and one straight to the care home to see what they could tell us. The staff came to the door when the police officer buzzed the intercom. The duty nurse told this police officer that yes, the boy had come to the door soaking wet in his pajamas, crying, begging for help. The care home staff refused to open the door for this boy as it was “against their policy” and told him to seek help elsewhere. The last that they saw of him he was running away from their front door. Needless to say the police officer at the door blew a fuse and demanded to know why they didn’t call 911. If you can believe it, the nursing supervisor then told this police officer, “Oh yes, we did call 911.” The police officer got REALLY angry then. He told her that we WERE 911 and we knew for a fact that they had made no such call. They hadn’t. I can’t imagine how they thought that we’d think that they had.
Due to the bad weather our helicopter with its infrared scanning equipment was not in the air, but I threw every other resource that we had at this. Units checked every single street and the dog unit checked all the trails in the vicinity: Unfortunately our dog unit couldn’t track the boy because by the time we got this call and he’d got to the scene so many people had come and gone from the care home that it would have been impossible to tell who he was tracking.
Assisted by the call taker, I checked the history of every block of houses out several blocks in every direction looking for any residence that might have a history that would give us a clue where this kid might have come from. Even if the family involved had an extensive history, all that it would take is for them to move to a new house where we hadn’t had any calls yet and we’d never be able to find them that way.
The call taker and I found nothing useful.
The initial area search produced no results.
The duty officer (basically the acting chief constable) arrived on scene and got units to go door to door from the care home outwards looking for anything that would help. In the first 15 minutes of this door to door search we discovered 6 witnesses, all who had seen the following: Our Asian boy in his pajamas in the middle of Champlain Crescent, trying to stop passing cars, yelling and calling for assistance.
All of the cars drove around him and went on.
Not one of the 6 witnesses called 911.
After three hours of searching we never found him.
The dispatchers and call takers in the ops room shook their heads and said things like: “What is this world coming to?”
Some people in the Pagan community have asked me: “Why would you want to create an order of Knights?”
Because this is what the world is coming to.
I heard a lot of people on the ops floor say things that night like: “When you hear of things like this you wonder what hope is there for the world.”
Some people in the Pagan community say: “An order of Knights? That’s rather archaic. What use is it?”
Why are we all gathered together as an order of Knights?
WE are the hope.
We came together, attracted by the precepts and principles of our order. WE stand for honor and responsibility. WE are the example for the rest of our community and the rest of the world.
I know that every single one of you in our Order would have done everything you could to help this poor boy. We have ALL taken an oath to help the weak. That’s just one of the reasons that I’m so proud of you all.
I can only imagine what he must think having reached out to so many who simply turned away. Let us all hope that this boy is found safe and that a solution is found to his problem.
BB
Kerr
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
