Special Op-Ed
(Part 1 of 3 )
Special thanks to our friend and colleague, Yuji Ishiguro, for writing and sharing his thoughts and views on the present state of human affairs. There is little doubt that the human predicament is grave on many fronts, while the time and opportunities to remedy the situation are rapidly evaporating. In actuality this discourse is, by far, much more than a dream for peace -
"It is a call for Immediate Action! "
T. A McNeil
July 24, 2016
By Yuji Ishiguro,
Instituto de Estudos Avançados
São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
DREAM OF PEACE
Introduction
Part One
I dream of the world without wars and indefinite evolution of Homo sapiens but the future seems dark. We all know that humanity faces a multitude of difficulties but few people seem to realize that all the problems have been caused by humans and need to be solved by humans.
The biosphere is being destroyed and the equilibrium in the systems of the Earth has been disrupted. The current ways of civilization cannot be continued much longer. In some decades at most, I think, shortages of resources and social and ecological collapse will cause another world war, this time all-out with biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, causing an end to the civilization as we know it. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are just another episode in the long series of madness humanity has been committing throughout history and an appetizer for some people in positions of war decisions who, having known the taste, await the main course. The horrible images and statistics will not deter them.
A large bomb in the current stock can devastate a largest megalopolis but still, if seen on a world map, it would be a tiny dot. Some seemingly rational people and societies are capable of extreme evils.
In order to avoid this future, we need to transform our collective consciousness, recognizing the finiteness of the planet and our dependence on nature and acknowledging the existence of evil and irrationality in human mind. We have to accept that all ideals cannot be realized in the finite world: there are limits to ideals, including the so-called human rights. A fundamental error of humanity, since ancient times, is promoting population growth and countering it with wars on one hand and by ravaging the planet on the other, while clinging to impossible ideals. Humanity has been extremely short sighted and irrational. We need to see the whole in space and time and wake reason that may be dormant but must surely be extant in human mind. Without population control the current ideas and efforts for peace and for conservation and sustainability, such as the Paris Agreement, will be useless. Fundamental concepts of human existence need to change.
I present what I call a framework for sustainability, summarized in twenty short sentences, then a brief review of the current situation and its causes, and finally discuss fertility and population control as the fundamental requirement for peace and for continuity of the environment and civilization.
Framework For Sustainability
1. The Earth is finite in space, resources and capacity of its systems;
2. Man is adapted to the current equilibrium in the systems of the Earth;
3. A healthy biosphere is essential for equilibrium in the habitats for man;
4. The biosphere is maintained by photosynthesis in plants;
5. There is a limit to the size of the biosphere;
6. An increase of human population means a reduction of those of other species;
7. Perturbations in the biosphere as well as in other systems could break the equilibrium;
8. In a closed system the effective fertility rate of each species must be that of replacement;
9. There cannot be human rights that lead to the destruction of the community;
10. The concept of community needs to include all humanity and the biosphere;
11. Ultimately man will have to live with renewable resources;
12. The principles of economy need to be modified;
13. Equity requires a limit to personal wealth;
14. The meaning of life must be found in something other than procreation or consumption;
15. All ideals cannot be realized;
16. Some new rationality needs to be added to the rules of community;
17. Evolutionary success of Homo sapiens will be greater in a small permanent community;
18. The Earth can support indefinitely an abundant lifestyle in a limited global civilization;
19. Many wars were due to mismatches between available resources and human demands on them;
20. Human population must be reduced.
NEXT
DREAM OF PEACE
Current Situation And Its Causes
Part Two
