
My co-workers thought I should write a note to explain the context of yesterday's conversation at the watercooler so that some anonymous fellow wouldn't think I'm an asshole. About 90% of the world believe that Americans are all assholes, so I don't really care about having one more anonymous fellow added to the list, but here it is.
We were having a conversation about the rise and fall of civilizations. The Mayans, the Egyptians, the Romans, etc...and we got around to the possibility of the eventual fall of our new "global society". Of course I've very opinionated on the subject and was pointing out that all of these civilizations began their decline, and actually hastened it because of their care of the environment and farming techniques. Some of my co-workers answer was that we are WAY more advanced and that (even if it were true) our science would create some technology that would save us.
My response was that each of those cultures had people and systems that were really advanced and folks that were genius, and yet they still allowed something as silly as soil salinification (for example) to derail their entire civilization. So if all of those cultures had folks that were top notch at their fields, creating pyramid's we still can't reproduce with the same primitive tools, mathematics way beyond their time, etc....what makes us think "Technology" will save us.
We then went into a discussion about how today's "Technology" belief is a replacement for the "God" religious belief of former generations. So what it boiled down to is them asking me then if all this crud were true, and if nothing can save us, what should we do? We came to the conclusion that we could do nothing, except try to help those around us, and to try to hurt the earth or society less than those around us.
Neither God, nor technology can make it possible for everyone to live consuming resources and living like kings. Yes, we may think so....everyone in our culture might think so, but that doesn't make it so. The Mayans thought the sun was a god and that sacrificing virgins would bring back the harvest. So they kept on pumping and ruining the soil and kept on sacrificing folks (who were mostly slaves). "Nothing to fear....our God will save us...just a few more virgins is all it'll take." Today we do the same thing. Keep driving everywhere, keep being "consumers" the virgins we sacrifice mostly live in Africa or South America and the God we worship (technology) just can't get enough of them.
So, what I was saying was that we can't really change anything. Smarter folks than me are out there trying. Rome still collapsed, Egypt....gone, Mayans....nope, but yeah...we'll figure it out and turn this ship around.
None of us can live carbon neutral. The more you consume the fewer the population of the earth needs to be to support it. So..we can all live like bushmen and have billions of us, or we can live like Americans and have about 2billion....but in my opinion the current situation isn't going to work. Of course, it's just my opinion. Studying history and listening to scientists is all I can do. I'm not advocating killing off folks (although if a bunch of you want to commit suicide...I'm cool with that). I'm not advocating living in huts...I'm just saying we need to try. We need to care a bit.
What am I doing about it....very little. I still drive a car, I still watch TV and "consume" I'm just as guilty, but I feel a bit better because I try to consume less. Less than you. So MW (helpdesk guy) and I were joking around because he thinks all of this is BS and that the earth will fix itself (yes it always does....over millions of years and after mass extinctions).. and I said....in the evenings I try to ruin the planet less than you.
List of things to write about to piss people off....
1) Religion - check
2) Politics - damn, not enough
3) Treehugging- check
4) trying to make people think- full of it
5) not sticking to cycling and telling Chuck Hutch how great he is - check
yep, I'm screwed, the anon's are after me....Somebody save me!!!

