Transformation Paper

The idea of an oncoming transformation of society is absolutely fascinating. To me it is very unnerving, but also exciting.

I feel that there is little to no hope in changing the ways of a stubborn culture, or escaping (in time) the addiction to easy paths of development/expansion (oil among them; governmental corruption as well). That stubbornness, along with ignorance and greed (and laziness if there is such a thing) is a terribly insatiable combination which has been known to lead cultures into eventual downward spirals. The civilization in which we live simply cannot be sustained. Growth of our nation has seen rapid success, but the American way of life may soon be forced to a relatively abrupt halt. Unfortunately, along with much of everything that a good deal of people have ever known. As we've discussed in class, oil has been nearly the sole source of fuel for human kinds recent (past hundred years) machine laden prosperity. A movie we viewed in class described the incredible exponential growth of the human population over the last two hundred or so years. During the 1800's, there were approximately one billion people in the entire world. Since then, the earth's population has septupled. In more recent years, the growth has been faster and faster - truly an exponential incline of population. By 1930 there were about 2 billion people, and by 1960, 3 billion. Since 1999, the population has increased by over a billion in less than a decade. All of this has been possible as a result of humankind's use of those fossil fuels. This extremely accessible and fertile outside energy had allowed for far less to be done for a far greater production. Kind of like ridiculously cheap, efficient labor.

Global warming and other earthly issues have been topics of concern for hundreds of years. Public concern seems to fluctuate for some reason, and we've seen recent interest although the economic downturn seems to have swayed focus on it. Even so, the problem persists, and it can be widely blamed on careless mistreatment of our environment. Abuse that has come with to the rapid expansion of industrial society and the burning of fossil fuels.

The human population has seen steady escalation for the past while. This is partly due to the popularity of agriculture. Agricultural communities are stationary. Domesticated crops and livestock make for a greater supply of food that requires less physical work. This permits a greater number of mouths to be fed. Not many bad things can be said about bountiful production of food; but when the mass production that allows a population to grow massive can no longer be upheld, there is a problem.

It is difficult to predict the future and most people tend to live for little victories. it is very easy to grapple on to an easy way out and just go with the flow. Living life against the grain - whatever it may be during a lifetime, is simply more difficult. The tendency to do this explains why even people aware of a global problem might watch bad things happen with their mouth's shut and their hands off.

People are impossible. A graphic and extreme change might be needed to save humanity from itself. For years a fight has been fought to control society's dependency on oil. Any success there has been will apparently not be enough. Hybrid cars are not the answer. Running out of oil may be the kick in the balls that people need to experience to allow for change to happen. When an addict is deprived of heroin it can be painful. Addicts think that they are going to die if they don't get the drug they desire. It might honestly feel just so. The brain will tell you "if you don't eat you will die!". A person addicted to heroin has a voice that says "if you don't do this you will die!" It's not true (although I've heard of a body shutting down as a result). Society is in a way hardwired, after such a feeling of progress, to burn incredible amounts of energy - energy which is most easily obtained from limited sources. To stop using energy in such a way would cause a massive withdrawal - arguably similar to that of a narcotics user. Parts of society it would shut down, and the healing process could be very slow and gradual.

A recent thought: We pave over a lot of space. Of course there is very much surface area on the planet, but as humanity grows so rapidly we've seen humanity's footprint on the world deepen further than most could have imagined. Anyhow.. that space we pave over, or effect by other means (I am picturing cities), that won't get fixed. I can't imagine anyone tearing down a city to allow the earth to heal. And in those locations, miles of the ground completely covered and destroyed. Before pavement, previous cultures remains have been buried by layers of earth and soil, allowing for a renewed surface area. Never before has the earth seen a New York City. It's so dead that that I believe hope of renewal is a bit diminished. It seems like massive irreversible damage, and although we've seen that before, this one gets to me. Whose idea was that anyway? God, we suck. I'm going to go watch Life After People now. (I've never actually seen it).

Humanity can NOT keep building towards the sky. As much as we don't want to hear it, entropy will always take effect : ) . The higher we build, the farther we must fall to be on the ground again, where our feet belong. Peak oil may mean the peak of industrial growth. We may just fall. My mother agrees.

Of course, this is all hypothetical.