Environmental Alert! July 2021
Basic Thoughts
By now most people reading this have accepted the idea that there are major, worldwide environmental problems. We have personally experienced the “heat dome” and temperature extremes as well as the ash and destruction of devastating fires. A majority of us have also accepted the fact that human activities have caused many major environmental problems. We see that humans thoughtlessly pollute and alter the land, water, and air around us. Many of us see that the widespread use of fossil fuels and minerals is the physical base of modern society and their use has grown exponentially along with that of human population, and most goods and services. Some of us can see the direct relationship between humans’ incessant energy demands and the basic processes of the natural world. The laws of physics and chemistry when placed within the intricacies and immense extent of natural ecological systems are fundamental to understanding the environmental problems we now face. Our cultural world of politics (power, democracy, order, justice), economics (capitalism, consumerism), social institutions (equality, community, peace), as well as science and technology must also be fully integrated within the world of natures’ ecology. [See diagram below.]
The environmental questions we must address immediately are how do we stop consuming and polluting the Earth while maintaining a peaceable society. To do so, we must understand the physical world of matter and energy and its limits at the same time as we reevaluate our worldview of what is most important to be human.
