I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
Allen Ginsberg, Howl
Any sane and well functioning individual would have to agree that this stanza published over 55 years ago is more pertinent to the circumstances of the present than it was in the day.
I have watched some of the most respected scientists of today, in the social, chemical. and physical realms, state in very clear and compelling language that they truly believe the human race is facing a certain apocalypse in the relatively near future as a direct result of our contemptuous and narrow minded activity with respect to the environment.
Now, how could any rational and influential individual be predicating the apocalypse upon our very negligence while knowing that the means to ameliorate the impending catastrophe lie within our reach but are being abjectly ignored not go mad?
I have also observed a steady, albeit meandering, progression towards the enevitable conclusion revealed to many who have chosen to study in broad and global perspectives the effect of negligent environmental stewardship on the part of the industrial nations, by now almost ubiquitous.
Ever since Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring", was published in 1962 the question of anthropocentric activities impacting nature has become part of the collective unconsciousness of humanity. In the last 50 years, the words employed in the transmission of necessary knowledge to the masses have become less gaurded and more desperate.
I have heard Stephen Hawking, reknowned English cosmologiast and astro-physicist, suggest that the only hope for the continuation of humanity is the colonization of other planets. Of course, this is contingent upon the continued development of space exploration and travel. What Mr. Hawking is implicitly alluding to is the mountain of evidential scientific data which clearly indicates that the human race is perpetually engaged in a unsustainable destruction of the environment cloaked in the guise of technological progress. He is wise enough to realize that this trend in human behaviour is normalized but self-limiting. He is also wise enough to understand that all the wisdom of Solomon will not change the petulant greed and desire of modern technological society. Thus, Mr. Hawking offers a potential solution to an inevitable problem without concerning himself with the root causes of the gaia pathogenesis.
Others are not so kind and point more proverbial fingers than they can even muster up at the political and social perpetuators of the problem of environmental degradation. Just recently, I saw Stephen Lewis, Canadian politician, diplomat, and UN Secretary-General's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, rale on against the pussillanimity inherent in the Canadian federal government under de fuhrer Harper with regards to the protection or even the acknowledgment of the environment. Mr. Lewis decried the present Conservative (aka REFORM) party's lack of agenda with regards to environmental sustainability at the national level, accusing the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, of contributing to and thus perpetuating the political indifference towards the ramifications of carbon-based energy economies. This pervasive political indifference inherent in all industrialized nations, according to Mr. Lewis, is the biggest impediment towards curbing climate change. Once considered speculative by the petrol industry, climate change is now universally accepted by anyone of sound mind as fact, contibutable almost exclusively to humanities self-absorbed activities on the 3rd stone from the sun. In fact, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) used its strongest words to date recently in its 2013 report when it stated that there was
incontravertible evidencethat climate change was caused by human activities.
Mr. Lewis, just as Mr. Hawking, clearly envisioned the pending carbon-based apocalypse but did not leave his meanings implicit. He repeatedly became very emotive and excited while speaking about the political indifference towards the future of the environment and humanity during the talk put on to the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, repeatedly pounding his clenched fist on the podium as if it were a pulpit and stressing the term "apocalypse" with regards to the unavoidable outcome to the planet if the present addiction to carbon-based energies was not immediately pushed into recovery mode, having found and promoted alternative forms of energy.
Of course, even the sometimes irrational optimism inherent in Mr. Lewis could not hide his desperate fear of the future if humanity does not change its course presently.
Others have expressed this fear in the form of frustration and disbelief.
I have read the great Canadian environmentalist, David Suzuki, speak of his confusion with regard to the inactivity displayed by the world community in response to climate change. The apocalyptic consequences of coal, oil, and natural gas dependency are avoidable, if only the political and industrial will were nascent. Mr. Suzuki used an allegorical example of the misdirected concerns of humanity in a an anecdote whereby he likened the behaviour of humanity towards our inevitable catastrophic path of ostensible progress to a group of people driving a vehicle at break-neck speed towards an impenetrable brick wall and spending their time and energy arguing about who was going to command the wheel rather than how and when they were going to apply the brakes.
Indeed, the petro-chemical and carbon-based economic impetus of modern day industrial society spends all of its collective energy considering capital rather than consequence. One need only direct attention to the meter and rythym of the global stock markets to clearly witness this phenomena in dynamic motion. The industrio-death machine does not have an app for self-attrition or self-sustenance.
Only death and profits,
It's the big race to the finish line to see whom can build the most luxurious casket from the profits made raping the planet of her resources.
The poor will receive tin coffins, the privileged will lie in plattinum.
Why is this all necessary?
Seems like a foolproof plan to exterminate the entire human race, more pervasive than genocide, more consequential than homocide.
It is a truly pernicious and malevolent demi-urge which has led us down the prim-rose path to self-destruction. And it is truly an apoplectic, self-absorbed and indifferent populous which has enabled this devastation.
I have seen the future, and it terrifies the shit out of me.
