If the Mayans are right, this is our last Earth Day ever!
Recently, for the sake of a book I'm writing, I went through this entire blog and read it start to finish. A couple of things struck me:
1. There is information in the earliest posts of this blog that is funny, accessible, and, years later, remains relevant to the challenges we face as the world's population continues to explode (in the last year, we cruised past the 7 billion mark and, tragically, the result has been that people even less deserving of fame than Nick Lachey are now considered celebrities); and yet
2. Much of that information was presented from a simplified point of view.
If we're lucky, as we age, the world ceases to look black and white. I say "lucky" because it's the grayness that makes life interesting. Seeing life through a lens of polar extremes leaves nothing to the imagination, and leaves no room for compromise and innovation. And yet extremism is exactly how so much of the world is operating today. It's all "I'm right and you're wrong" here in the year 2012, and it doesn't seem that we're accomplishing much by it.
This blog - which has been hopelessly neglected but with these yearly Earth Day posts remains, improbably, the longest-running blog in my scattered writing career - has unintentionally become a time capsule, preserving my evolution as a thinker and as a liberal. And you know...with all that time has changed in the world (and in me) in the past six years, I have to say...
Grayness be damned; there are still too many goddamned people on this planet.
And when the outcome of that is that some kid biting another kid's finger gets half a billion views on YouTube (half a billion) I really don't understand why more people aren't concerned about this!
HUMANITY IS WEIRD.
(I apologize for being a few days late [again] this year. I should also probably apologize for the tone of this post, but after reading back through my older stuff about ants and cubicles and the like, it didn't seem appropriate to jump straight back in with the heavy stuff.)
1. There is information in the earliest posts of this blog that is funny, accessible, and, years later, remains relevant to the challenges we face as the world's population continues to explode (in the last year, we cruised past the 7 billion mark and, tragically, the result has been that people even less deserving of fame than Nick Lachey are now considered celebrities); and yet
If we're lucky, as we age, the world ceases to look black and white. I say "lucky" because it's the grayness that makes life interesting. Seeing life through a lens of polar extremes leaves nothing to the imagination, and leaves no room for compromise and innovation. And yet extremism is exactly how so much of the world is operating today. It's all "I'm right and you're wrong" here in the year 2012, and it doesn't seem that we're accomplishing much by it.
This blog - which has been hopelessly neglected but with these yearly Earth Day posts remains, improbably, the longest-running blog in my scattered writing career - has unintentionally become a time capsule, preserving my evolution as a thinker and as a liberal. And you know...with all that time has changed in the world (and in me) in the past six years, I have to say...
Grayness be damned; there are still too many goddamned people on this planet.
And when the outcome of that is that some kid biting another kid's finger gets half a billion views on YouTube (half a billion) I really don't understand why more people aren't concerned about this!
HUMANITY IS WEIRD.
(I apologize for being a few days late [again] this year. I should also probably apologize for the tone of this post, but after reading back through my older stuff about ants and cubicles and the like, it didn't seem appropriate to jump straight back in with the heavy stuff.)
posted by Becky Heineke at 4/25/2012 11:21:00 AM
Comments on "If the Mayans are right, this is our last Earth Day ever!"
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richardfg7 said ... (3:28 PM, June 22, 2012) :
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Daniel said ... (3:37 PM, July 27, 2012) :
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Daniel said ... (3:48 PM, July 27, 2012) :
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wingalaxi said ... (4:06 AM, April 20, 2013) :
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Becky Heineke said ... (8:17 PM, April 22, 2013) :
post a commentSlow down it's just the end of the calender. Are you worried when the monthly calender ends?
fine
I have been very interested in over population for years. Over population is the cause of harsh conditions. Harsh conditions are disease, poverty, crime, indoctrination, sexual deprivation, exploitation, genocide, terrorism, and war. Over population is the only thing that makes harsh conditions necessary.
I would greatly appreciate feed back on regulating population.
Great fun to see your hearty efforts to bring attention to Overpopulation worldwide. Thought you might like to see my Blog:
http://overpopulationtoday.blogspot.co.uk
Amazing how little interest there is in the number one problem!
Thanks for the link!!! And thanks for stopping by. I completely agree that the interest in this issue is shockingly and dismally low. Glad that someone else out there is as interested in it as I am. :)