November 13, 2004

The Earth in Danger

A sage, wishing to predict the fate of the Earth

Traveled among its inhabitants East and West

His first and perhaps most important observation

Was the disparity in external wealth among the people

The majority were unable to afford a dignified life

A few lived extravagantly, with insatiable wants

Many trends gained their momentum from this fact

The planet=s temperature was spinning out of control

Mostly from the activities of the rich, but to date, their

Response was to sell emission indulgences to the poor

A fifth of earthlings had no access to drinking water.

The rich ate beef, which requires 50 times as much water

To produce as wheat or soybeans. The poor ate grains.

The rich were pronouncing water a tradable commodity

The rich were changing the genetic endowment of life B

Plants, animals and humans B eyeing the day when

Their own children would be whiter, taller and brighter

Than their natural, un-enhanced, AGenPoor@ counterparts

Concentrated in cities, the wealthy were oblivious

To the fact that 100 species were disappearing daily

The planet=s diverse, stable and resistant ecosystem

Turning rapidly into an agglomeration of monocultures

The world population growth was 75,000,000 yearly

Mostly among the poor B whom the rich urged to have

Fewer children, never suggesting, however, that

They themselves might need to curtail their own births

Not too surprisingly, the rich had dreadful armaments

Nuclear, biological, chemical, with which they attacked

The poor, particularly those poor under whose ground

Lay the oil on which the rich depended to stay wealthy

Forgetting that the sage had said, Aexternal wealth@

His disciples were horrified at his description

Of forces, put in motion by humans and now

Escaping their control, which might destroy the Earth

But the sage continued, AWhy do the rich act thus?

Because they are poor in spirit. They are addicted to

The sensible, empirical world and in it, what they call

>Progress= B more leisure, comfort, entertainment@

AThey focus on the horizontal dimension of life

Wishing to deal exclusively with levels of Being

That are either equal to theirs (such as other humans)

Or less than theirs (such as animals, plants and things)@

AThey are neglecting the vertical dimension of life B

Vision, hope, aspiration, revelation, illumination

All essential to make the universe as it is in truth

A sphere B infinite, with each existent at its center@

AThe state of the Earth reflects the rich=s inner state

They think of themselves as superior apes, brutes

Their success at manipulating their environment

Convincing them swiftly that nothing else exists@

AThey have lost their embeddedness in the All B

Negating their human status as the pinnacle beings

A major link in the hierarchy of Being from the

Material to the infinite consciousness bathing all@

AThey are informed and knowledgeable but not wise

They see themselves as separate, self-sufficient units

Ignoring that they could not exist without others

Their self but a meeting place where lives intersect@

ALove is the only cure for such a predicament@

AGo forth. Remind them that their deep Self

Is an essential jewel in the celestial tapestry

In which each jewel reflects every other one

Along with the reflections in every other one.@

References and Notes

Wealth Disparity:

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2003 B Millennium Development Goals, A Compact among Nations to end Human Poverty, (Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y.), 2003, pp. 40, 41, 241-242, 341, 353 and 356.

Excluding China, the number of people worldwide living on $1 a day was 917 million in 1990 and 945 million in 1999 B an increase of 28 million. The largest increase was in Sub-Saharan Africa where 74 million more people lived on $1 a day in 1999 than in 1990. In Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 66 million more people lived on a dollar a day. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 9 million; and in the Middle East and North Africa, 1 million.

Of 133 countries with complete data, between 1980 and 1990, four had a decrease in their human development index, whereas between 1990 and 2001, 21 of them had a decrease.

Of the 46 countries in the Ahigh human development index@ category and with complete data, between 1990 and 2001, all had an increase in their human development index.

human development index: A composite measure of life expectancy at birth; adult literacy rate and combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio; and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in PPP U.S. dollars, where US$1 has the same purchasing power in the domestic economy as $1 has in the United States.

Global Warming:

Arctic Council and International Arctic Science Committee, The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) Report, November 9, 2004. Science Daily, November 8, 2004; CORDIS News, October 12, 2004; and SITNEWS, November 9, 2004.

In the last 50 years, average global temperatures have risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius. In the Arctic (Alaska, Western Canada and Eastern Russia), the warming has been faster B average winter temperatures have increased by 3-4 degrees Celsius.

International Rice Research Institute and University of Nebraska, AGlobal Warming and Rice Production,@ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Free Speech Radio News, WBAI, New York, N.Y., June 29, 2004; and Ritter, Mario, Agriculture Report, Voice of America, July 7, 2004.

Every increase of one degree Celsius in average daily temperature is accompanied by a 15 percent decrease in rice harvest.

Spotts, Peter, AAn Arctic Alert on Global Warming,@ The Christian Science Monitor, November 9, 2004.

AWhile climate researchers agree that the target [of the1997 Kyoto Protocol] will have little effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide, the agreement establishes mechanisms for achieving emissions targets, such as emissions trading, that may be a foundation for future agreements.@

Water:

Barlow, Maude, and Tony Clarke, Blue Gold B The Fight to stop the Corporate Theft of the World=s Water (The New Press, New York, N.Y.), 2002, pp. 6-7, 24 and 47.

The populations of the nations within the basins of five of the world=s Ahot spots@ of water dispute (the Aral Sea region, the Ganges, the Jordan, the Nile, and the Tigris-Euphrates), are projected to increase between 45 and 75 percent by 2025.

AMore than one billion people have no access to clean drinking water@ (p. 24).

Petrella, Riccardo, The Water Manifesto B Arguments for a World Water Contract (Zed Books, New York, N.Y.) 2001, pp. 7, 8, 12-14 and 27.

ADrinking water... is inaccessible to a large and growing number of people B more than 1.4 billion@ (p. 7). AThere are more than 1.4 billion people who do not have access to drinking water@ (pp. 8 and 27). (Note: This is 23 percent of the world=s population without access to drinking water).

United Nations Human Development Programme, Human Development Report 2003 B Millennium Development Goals, A Compact among Nations to end Human Poverty (Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y.), 2003, pp. 58 and 253.

In 2000, 1.2 billion people had no access to improved water sources. World population in 2001 was 6.2 billion. (Note: This is 19 percent of the world=s population without access to improved water sources).

Genetic Engineering:

Silver, Lee, Remaking Eden B How Genetic Engineering and Cloning will transform the American Family (Avon, New York), 1997, pp. 4-8, 13 and 266-293.

Extinction of Species:

Anderson, Luke, Genetic Engineering, Food, and Our Environment (Chelsea Green, White River Junction, VT), 1999/2000, p. 52

Shiva, Vandana, Monocultures of the Mind B Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology (Zed Books, New York, N.Y.), 1993.

Population Growth:

In 2001, the world population was 6,148.1 million. By 2015, it is projected to be 7,197.2 million. This is an increase of 1,049.1 million B that is, of more than a billion.

Much of this increase will be in poor nations. During these years (2001-2015), India=s population is projected to increase by 213 million, China=s by 117 million, Pakistan=s by 58 million, Nigeria=s by 44 million and Indonesia=s by 36 million. Together, these five countries will account for a 468 million increase B 45 percent of the total increase (1,049.1 million).

In the five years 2000-2005, the total fertility rate was estimated to average 5.6 for countries in the low human development category, and 1.8 for countries in the high human development category. The average for the world was 2.7.

Human Development Index: See definition under AWealth Disparity.@

Total Fertility Rate: The number of children that would be born to each woman, were she to live to the end of the childbearing years and bear children at each age in accordance with prevailing age-specific fertility rates.

Armaments:

Caldicott, Helen, The New Nuclear Danger B George W. Bush=s Military-industrial Complex (The New Press, New York, N.Y.), 2002.

Dumas, Lloyd, Lethal Arrogance B Human Fallibility and Dangerous Technologies (St. Martin=s, New York. N.Y.), 1999.

See my summary, ANuclear Power B An Infallible Technology for Infallible Humans?@ May 6, 2004, 16 pages.

In 1998, the eight countries with nuclear weapons arsenals (United States, Russia, France, China, United Kingdom, Israel, India and Pakistan) together had the equivalent of 604,900 Hiroshima bombs.

Oil:

Klare, Michael, Blood and Oil B The Dangers and Consequences of America=s growing Dependence on Imported Petroleum (Metropolitan/ Henry Holt, New York, N.Y.), 2004, pp. 11, 13, 17, 115 and 117.

See also my summary of this book, October 30, 2004, 9 pages.

In 2001, with 4.7 per cent of the world=s population, the United States consumed about 25 percent of the world=s total oil production. American dependence on imported petroleum crossed the 50 percent mark in 1998. By 2001, the country was importing 55 percent of its consumption.

With proven reserves of 113 billion barrels, Iraq has the second largest proven reserves in the world (after Saudi Arabia, with proven reserves of 262 billion barrels). The other three major oil producers are the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iran.

In its 2001 National Energy Policy, the United States lists eight other countries whose reserves are Aof potentially great advantage@ to itself. These are (in order of size of proven reserves), Venezuela, Russia, Nigeria, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Angola and Colombia.

Response of the Sage:

Smith, Huston

The Illustrated World=s Religions B A Guide to our Wisdom Traditions (HarperSan Francisco, New York, N.Y.), 1958/ 1991/ 1994.

Forgotten Truth B The Common Vision of the World=s Religions (HarperSan Francisco, New York, N.Y.), 1976/1992.

Beyond the Post-modern Mind B The Place of Meaning in a Global Civilization (Quest Books, Wheaton, IL), 1982/1989/2003.

Why Religion matters B The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief (HarperSan Francisco, New York, N.Y.), 2001.

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