Concerned People say “Change is Needed”

Two very different people…

Two very different years…

A common message: “WAKE UP!”

1992, the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (Brasil).

A 12-year-old Canadian girl, Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s speech:

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJJGuIZVfLM

TEXT: http://www.thinkglobalgreen.org/suzuki.html

Future,

Environment,

Species’ Extinction,

Humankind,

Poverty,

Inequality,

Solutions.

“At school, even in kindergarten, you (grown ups) teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us to not fight with others. To work things out. To respect others. To clean up our mess. Not to hurt other creatures. To share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?” … “You grown ups say you love us, but I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words.”

20 YEARS LATER:

2012, the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Brasil).

77-year old Uruguayan President, José Mujica’s speech:

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCEgcd7G9Bg

TEXT: http://thewanderlife.com/human-happiness-and-the-environment-address-by-uruguayan-president-jose-mujica-at-rio-20-summit/

Humanity,

Sustainable Development,

Poverty,

Consumerism,

Resources,

Waste,

Competition,

Material Progress,

Globalisation,

Solidarity,

Political Challenge,

Environment,

Human Happiness.

“… the problem we are facing is political. The old thinkers, Epicurus, Seneca, the Aymara put it this way: ‘A poor person is not someone who has little but one who needs infinitely more, who desires more and more.’ This is a cultural issue.

So I salute the efforts and agreements being made. And I will adhere to them as a ruler. I know some things I’m saying are not easy to digest. But we must realize that the water crisis and the aggression to the environment are not the cause. The cause is the model of civilization that we have created. And the thing we have to re-examine is our way of life.”

“… These things I say are very basic: development cannot go against happiness. It has to work in favour of human happiness, of love on Earth, human relationships, caring for children, having friends, having our basic needs covered. Precisely because this is the most precious treasure we have; happiness. When we fight for the environment, we must remember that the essential element of the environment is called human happiness.”

I have very little to add to this.

WORLD POPULATION GROWTH (and its consequences)

For Centuries on end, since the appearance of man on Earth, all the way up to the aftermath of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions (around 1780), Global Population Growth was painfully slow, and the total amount of people on Earth didn’t exceed 1,000,000,000.

Some 160 years later, my Dad was born (in 1940) and experts calculated the Global Population for that year at 2,300,000,000 people. The Second World War had not ended and Europe’s and US’s Economic Growth had not yet been as great as it was after that.

During 2010, the year my dad turned 70,  the Global Population was estimated to have reached a staggering 7,000,000,000 people.

Today we are at the Hinge between Past and Future, and things are looking interesting.

http://www.populationaction.org/Publications2/Data_and_Maps/Shape_of_Things_to_Come/Summary.php?gclid=CIv6jefSubYCFQ2znQodKl8ABw

http://www.populationmatters.org/?gclid=CO6moOnSubYCFQc3nAodeB8ATQ

The Projections for the Future are varied.

They go from the ones that say that growth rates will level out soon and population growth will come to a stop, leaving the total population below 10,000,000,000.

Some others say that population will keep on growing but at a much lower pace that it has been doing so up to now.

And yet others say that population growth will continue its vertiginous climb, 10,000,000,000, 15,000,000,000, 20,000,000,000, 30,000,000,000, to stop who-knows-when (if it ever does).

But Whatever it is that eventually Ends up Happening will inevitably be linked to all aspects of Individual and Social Life: Available Resources, State of the Environment, Global Warming, Consumption Rates, Wars and Conflicts over Resources, Public Policies, Governments‘ Effective Power, Migration, Job Availability, Lifestyle, Quality of Life, Ever-Increasing amount of Restrictions (on mobility, migration, jobs, consumption, reproduction), Hunger, Poverty, Economic Growth, among so many others aspects.

Overpopulation is a possibility for the future, together with all its consequences.

People’s curiosity about the topic has increased lately. You might have seen Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth (https://vimeo.com/16335777) or maybe HOME (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU&wide=1), both worth watching.

In a controversial yet interesting documentary, Collapse, the detective Michael Ruppert shares the idea that Infinite Growth (of population, of economy) is not possible in a Finite World. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7WLCEUi7vk)

“The challenge being faced by the human race now is either evolve or perish, grow up or die”

“We are all collectively responsible for what may be the greatest preventable holocaust in the history of planet earth”

I’d like to quote TruthMove International, “an organization dedicated to personal and social change through the process of truth”:

“The key to understanding the problem of overpopulation is that resources can be exploited at a much faster rate than they can be renewed. If we exploit all the soil, fish, animals, fresh water, forests, and petroleum at as high a rate as we can, we may see a boom in population over the course of a couple thousand years, as these resources continue to support us and we discover more “efficient” ways to use and extract them. However, there will come a point at which the demand of these resources begins to outstrip supply. Some of them may begin to collapse altogether. This is where we are headed and an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence shows that all the natural resources and systems of our home planet, which we have carelessly used and wasted and destroyed, are in decline or collapse. It is not difficult to understand that our population may be soon to follow.” (http://www.truthmove.org/content/population/)

Maybe the Key to face this Issue is to think about our children and our children’s children, and think about their right to a Life.

Choose Sustainability, responsible use of resources, conscientious living, and sharing and spreading of ideas. Be Optimistic, but the positive type, the active living out of a dream, not the blind passive wishful thinking.

“In trying we do not fail. Hopelessness; not trying, is the path of failure. Progress is a process; utopia is not reality. If the goal seems unattainable to you, or if you don’t see the point in trying, you have lost sight of the moment and the possibilities. If you refuse to try and discourage others who do, you have lost. We have not.” (http://www.truthmove.org/content/optimism/)

WEATHERING CHANGE

Our Planet is Changing

Our Population is Growing

Each one of Us is Impacting the Environment

But not Equally

Each one of Us will be Affected

But not Equally

WEATHERING CHANGE

Stories about Climate and Families from Women around the World.

http://populationaction.org/videos/weathering-change/

Climate change impacts are great and disproportionately affect women

When empowered, women and their families are better able to adapt to climate change

Family planning is part of the solution

A great video about 

Farming

Climate Change

Lack of Water

Loss of Soil Fertility

Migration to Cities

Raising Children

Education

Family Planning

Birth Control

A film by Population Action International