CIVILIZATION

A preview of the unpublished book A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A VISION WILL PERISH: AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH by David Willis. CHAPTER 1: INDIFFERENCE (Part 1)
In 2011, Ian Chambers and John Humble published Developing A Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for Sustainable Living. Below is a summary of Part I: Understanding our current situation.

The human race has shown an amazing ability to adapt
The human race has come a long way as a civilization in the last 10,000 years, with major breakthroughs in food production, health, longevity and technology, demonstrating the remarkable innovative and creative powers of the human race. In the last 200 years, this innovation and creativity has accelerated at an even greater pace with aviation, a man on the moon, space exploration, the Internet and global communications, contributing to the age of a true global village. The human race has shown an amazing ability to adapt, to cooperate, to develop, to create and to deliver when confronted with challenges whether they be environmental, social, cultural or spiritual.

The perfect storm and the perfect opportunity
The wonderful advances in civilization and technology have created challenges on Planet earth that threaten to undo the work of centuries. These challenges are all converging right now. Their interconnectivity is creating what some call the ‘perfect storm’. This also creates the ‘perfect opportunity’ for the human race to ‘grasp the nettle’ and cooperate on an unprecedented scale to build a better, more sustainable world.

The perfect storm?
As human population increases, more people use carbon-based fuels, resulting in more carbon emissions and more global warming. When global population triples during a single human lifetime – from 2.5 billion in 1950, to over 6.8 billion in 2010 – carbon emissions triple. The problem is compounded as carbon footprint increases when people move out of poverty, having more disposable income which generates more greenhouses gases.

The changing flow of tides and currents affect weather patterns
Increasing population impacts other resources such as land and water, causing deforestation and desertification and reducing the natural ‘sponge’ that trees provide to absorb CO₂. Earth’s vast oceans absorb huge amounts of CO₂, becoming more acidic, leading to sudden changes of certain aquatic species and the destruction of coral reefs. The salt content of the oceans are changed by the increasing levels of fresh water pouring in as glaciers and as the Arctic and Antarctic ice melts, threatening not only marine life but also the flow of tides and currents, affecting weather patterns.

Food riots
Agricultural production uses 70% of water and water scarcity reduces food production, leading to shortages and potential conflicts that can exacerbate those shortages. Bio-fuels produced from such crops as corn increases pressures on dwindling land, food and water supplies. An increasingly affluent population demands a greater supply of meat and other food resources, leading to more demand for animal feed and fewer crops available to feed humans. The recent food riots seen in developing nations in Africa, Asia and South America reflect the social consequences.

Conflict
The rising scarcity of valuable resources increases the likelihood of conflict. The unprecedented destructive capabilities of modern weapons and the greater concentration of populations in urban centers could cause irreparable damage to our survival at the very time when unprecedented cooperation is required to ensure survival.