Well you've nailed it. It's good to know others are seeing our situation as I am. I'm afraid to share this and at this point I wonder what would be the point. I've decided to do what I can to buy time for myself and others and go peacefully into oblivion when my time is up however that happens. Peace out!
Would it be so bad for humans to go extinct? And if so, why?
Nuclear energy may be one of the solutions to reduce carbon emissions drastically, and quickly - at the cost of the well known risks.
What the planet needs is a drastic reduction in people in this "spaceship"! Why all the reproduction? Are we preparing for an intergalactic war anytime soon?
The corporate mantra of sustained growth is bs. Everything in nature stops growing at one point in time - even the homo sapiens and his brain.
Well it seems people are taking this in their own hands (especially women in advanced economies). Reproduction has fallen sharply and well below replacement levels in these countries despite efforts to turn it around. That makes sense to me. Why bring anyone else into this shitshow?
Thanks for that effort. You, however, are a latecomer to this party. "Better late than never", my ole Ma used to say. I wrote a 623pg. book along the same lines as you, but focused on health and survival, and the good folks out at Stanford give it away for free as a PDF, "Stress R Us". A group of medical anthropologists wrote "The Paleolithic Prescription" in 1988, Eaton, Shostak, and Konner, and drew their conclusions from field research in SW Africa living with the !Kung San in their migratory Hunter-Gatherer clans. Marjorie Shostak returned to live with them later and wrote two amazing books, "Nisa" and "Return To Nisa". Simply put, which I have repeated innumerable times here and elsewhere: too many humans are using too many natural resources and producing too much pollution, including heat and GHGs. Today, we are 3,000 times more numerous than were our ancestral H-G clan/band living predecessors (never larger than the Dunbar number of 150) and, as you astutely noted, we are utterly alienated from what precious little of the natural order remains. So, what do we do about the inevitable collapse already underway? CONTRACEPTION, return to the land and work to preserve/restore it, or, if you're a 79 yo LONG COVID and prostate cancer survivor like me, take a walk (not a drive) to the closest natural area and pray/meditate for the sake of Mother Earth and our Creator. I, also, commune with my Better Angels and express my gratitude, as well as my desire for their guidance. Have a blessed day and know that you are not alone! Gregg Miklashek, MD
I think it was David Holmgren (one of the co-originators of permaculture) who said that it is important that if we are trying to fight against the system, that we find a way to live without it. I know this is outside of the realm of what a lot of people want to do, as you illustrate here. But there are some of us waiting in the wings, practicing those skills for when they're really needed.
If people were willing to adapt to a different diet from the one most of us were raised on, we could feed a lot more people without fossil fuels. I think the most resourceful and flexible among us will do best moving into a fossil fuel free future.
Great summary of our inescapable predicament. The terrible consequences of our collective folly are upon us. The only thing that remains for us to decide is, Will we die with grace and dignity, or will we die throwing a suicidal tantrum? While the latter seems inevitable for the masses, we each have the potential to choose otherwise.
I enjoyed the part where he describes how, when he takes off the blinders and looks around, he sees primates that have lost their minds. I think I experienced something similar once after getting really high. I had a vision of primates walking around in human clothes, reminiscent of the old Planet of the Apes movies. Humans really are delusional primates.
I don't disagree with anything you wrote, I just wonder what we can do. If it's really nothing, which it seems we have collectively decided it is, then... what? Make the best of it? Love our people and have an exciting plan?
Best I can come up with is be grateful for what you’ve got and enjoy it while you can. We are literally riding the crest of the wave of human civilization (those of us born into first world luxuries).
Live, love, laugh. Cherish every moment you can. It’s all downhill from here.
Margaret Wheatley suggests we create "Islands of Sanity" where we can focus on relationships, community, and care as we go through the collapse. That's where I'm putting my energies.
First, thank you for writing this wonderful piece. You sure can write!
I will distribute it to my dearest non-MAGAT friends…as a bright light in the morass of cultism and disinformation.
It is simply incredible that the men and women actively “leading” our planet are content with their momentary figment of power, while allowing the biosphere to be ravaged for profit.
Is there not one responsible “leader” on our planet? Someone who will scream it from the mountain tops, “Our planet is dying and posterity is dead!”
Nope, not one. They will cling to power, never breathing a word of the horrible future we have in store.
Drill baby drill. Put that on the Bloated Yam of Scam’s headstone. It sums him up perfectly.
Add this to all the other intelligent rundowns of where we are and what got us here and then join me in looking to create the system change where we become a human family where humanitarian, altruistic ends supersede self-serving, economic ones.
I think this idea of “it’s too late, we are 100% screwed” is a very defeatist and doomerist take. That we only have a few decades left of human existence is a terrifying prospect.
I agree, it is. But if you have a terminal disease, wouldn’t you prefer your doctor tell you the truth, or would you prefer fairytales? Not saying I’m an Earth doctor, but reading the science, considering our predicament, and looking at current events, there are no good ways out of this. Hopefully we can choose a path with the least suffering. Collapse is 100% coming and it always was. I call this acceptance.
Umm-have you taken a look at lately at the doings and sayings of those who have ascended to socio-political power? There is no “we” that will pull the corporate supersystem out of its rule by cooperative psychopathology. you are doing admirable work, though there is no need to pull any punches at the end.We are all thinking adults here.
Well, I was given a DX of a terminal disease by my PCP and instructed to follow his 'standard of care' acceptable approach - radiation, chemo, and/or surgery or I'd be dead within 6-12 months. That was almost 4 years ago. I chose another path - a 'do no harm' approach and have had some of my best years yet. I know this will sound overly simple (because it is) but I do believe that we each have the opportunity to move in the direction of a 'do no harm' approach to our lives on planet Earth. Is it too late? Likely...possibly...but just like I wasn't ready to just give up when I was told I had cancer, I don't plan to give up now. I'll continue not for myself but for my daughter, and my two grandkids. I will NOT go quietly into this good night. Well, maybe quietly since I do meditate a lot more these days, but I won't give up and just veg out on Netflix or endless games of pickleball. :-)
The earth does not care if we or all other life are here or not. It’s not like economics where more is better - it’s a system of physics where change begets a response to balance , conservation of forces and energy .
Well you've nailed it. It's good to know others are seeing our situation as I am. I'm afraid to share this and at this point I wonder what would be the point. I've decided to do what I can to buy time for myself and others and go peacefully into oblivion when my time is up however that happens. Peace out!
Excellent article! 👍👍
Would it be so bad for humans to go extinct? And if so, why?
Nuclear energy may be one of the solutions to reduce carbon emissions drastically, and quickly - at the cost of the well known risks.
What the planet needs is a drastic reduction in people in this "spaceship"! Why all the reproduction? Are we preparing for an intergalactic war anytime soon?
The corporate mantra of sustained growth is bs. Everything in nature stops growing at one point in time - even the homo sapiens and his brain.
Well it seems people are taking this in their own hands (especially women in advanced economies). Reproduction has fallen sharply and well below replacement levels in these countries despite efforts to turn it around. That makes sense to me. Why bring anyone else into this shitshow?
And sperm counts are plummeting - that's nature for you
Thanks for that effort. You, however, are a latecomer to this party. "Better late than never", my ole Ma used to say. I wrote a 623pg. book along the same lines as you, but focused on health and survival, and the good folks out at Stanford give it away for free as a PDF, "Stress R Us". A group of medical anthropologists wrote "The Paleolithic Prescription" in 1988, Eaton, Shostak, and Konner, and drew their conclusions from field research in SW Africa living with the !Kung San in their migratory Hunter-Gatherer clans. Marjorie Shostak returned to live with them later and wrote two amazing books, "Nisa" and "Return To Nisa". Simply put, which I have repeated innumerable times here and elsewhere: too many humans are using too many natural resources and producing too much pollution, including heat and GHGs. Today, we are 3,000 times more numerous than were our ancestral H-G clan/band living predecessors (never larger than the Dunbar number of 150) and, as you astutely noted, we are utterly alienated from what precious little of the natural order remains. So, what do we do about the inevitable collapse already underway? CONTRACEPTION, return to the land and work to preserve/restore it, or, if you're a 79 yo LONG COVID and prostate cancer survivor like me, take a walk (not a drive) to the closest natural area and pray/meditate for the sake of Mother Earth and our Creator. I, also, commune with my Better Angels and express my gratitude, as well as my desire for their guidance. Have a blessed day and know that you are not alone! Gregg Miklashek, MD
As always I appreciate your comments to these pieces.
I think it was David Holmgren (one of the co-originators of permaculture) who said that it is important that if we are trying to fight against the system, that we find a way to live without it. I know this is outside of the realm of what a lot of people want to do, as you illustrate here. But there are some of us waiting in the wings, practicing those skills for when they're really needed.
If people were willing to adapt to a different diet from the one most of us were raised on, we could feed a lot more people without fossil fuels. I think the most resourceful and flexible among us will do best moving into a fossil fuel free future.
Great summary of our inescapable predicament. The terrible consequences of our collective folly are upon us. The only thing that remains for us to decide is, Will we die with grace and dignity, or will we die throwing a suicidal tantrum? While the latter seems inevitable for the masses, we each have the potential to choose otherwise.
I enjoyed the part where he describes how, when he takes off the blinders and looks around, he sees primates that have lost their minds. I think I experienced something similar once after getting really high. I had a vision of primates walking around in human clothes, reminiscent of the old Planet of the Apes movies. Humans really are delusional primates.
Do you think this might be a bit self-indulgent?
I think your audience already knows this. You're preaching to the choir.
I realize and accept there are no "solutions". But there may be many different coping strategies. How about surveying those in an article?
Thanks Jan, that’s a good idea!
One coping strategy I can think of is to "be empty" which is what the Buddha taught because it is the illusory self that suffers.
I think Buddha was operating higher up Maslow's Hierarchy than we'll be able to. He came from a rich family.
Pema Chödrön said, "Pain is. Suffering is optional." But I think it would be hard to tell someone from Gaza or Ukraine that.
I don't disagree with anything you wrote, I just wonder what we can do. If it's really nothing, which it seems we have collectively decided it is, then... what? Make the best of it? Love our people and have an exciting plan?
Best I can come up with is be grateful for what you’ve got and enjoy it while you can. We are literally riding the crest of the wave of human civilization (those of us born into first world luxuries).
Live, love, laugh. Cherish every moment you can. It’s all downhill from here.
I'm playing pickleball with my friends.
Margaret Wheatley suggests we create "Islands of Sanity" where we can focus on relationships, community, and care as we go through the collapse. That's where I'm putting my energies.
First, thank you for writing this wonderful piece. You sure can write!
I will distribute it to my dearest non-MAGAT friends…as a bright light in the morass of cultism and disinformation.
It is simply incredible that the men and women actively “leading” our planet are content with their momentary figment of power, while allowing the biosphere to be ravaged for profit.
Is there not one responsible “leader” on our planet? Someone who will scream it from the mountain tops, “Our planet is dying and posterity is dead!”
Nope, not one. They will cling to power, never breathing a word of the horrible future we have in store.
Drill baby drill. Put that on the Bloated Yam of Scam’s headstone. It sums him up perfectly.
Add this to all the other intelligent rundowns of where we are and what got us here and then join me in looking to create the system change where we become a human family where humanitarian, altruistic ends supersede self-serving, economic ones.
I think this idea of “it’s too late, we are 100% screwed” is a very defeatist and doomerist take. That we only have a few decades left of human existence is a terrifying prospect.
I agree, it is. But if you have a terminal disease, wouldn’t you prefer your doctor tell you the truth, or would you prefer fairytales? Not saying I’m an Earth doctor, but reading the science, considering our predicament, and looking at current events, there are no good ways out of this. Hopefully we can choose a path with the least suffering. Collapse is 100% coming and it always was. I call this acceptance.
Umm-have you taken a look at lately at the doings and sayings of those who have ascended to socio-political power? There is no “we” that will pull the corporate supersystem out of its rule by cooperative psychopathology. you are doing admirable work, though there is no need to pull any punches at the end.We are all thinking adults here.
Well, I was given a DX of a terminal disease by my PCP and instructed to follow his 'standard of care' acceptable approach - radiation, chemo, and/or surgery or I'd be dead within 6-12 months. That was almost 4 years ago. I chose another path - a 'do no harm' approach and have had some of my best years yet. I know this will sound overly simple (because it is) but I do believe that we each have the opportunity to move in the direction of a 'do no harm' approach to our lives on planet Earth. Is it too late? Likely...possibly...but just like I wasn't ready to just give up when I was told I had cancer, I don't plan to give up now. I'll continue not for myself but for my daughter, and my two grandkids. I will NOT go quietly into this good night. Well, maybe quietly since I do meditate a lot more these days, but I won't give up and just veg out on Netflix or endless games of pickleball. :-)
Fantastic! Yes, the standard of care very often kills people.
The earth does not care if we or all other life are here or not. It’s not like economics where more is better - it’s a system of physics where change begets a response to balance , conservation of forces and energy .
Well said. Once again.
Exit plan..
Capitalists/psychopaths are trying to get the environment to adapt to them. Which isn't only impossible, it's fucking delusional🥴