You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'future' tag.
When I was going into Quiznos today for lunch the lady who went in right before me held the door open after she stepped inside. This seemingly inconsequential nicety represents a much more profound truth that is the reason I’m not worried about the future of the country. There is a lot of fear right now about a coming recession that is going to hit all of us very hard. Personally, I don’t think it is going to be as bad as people say, but I’m not exactly a paragon of financial knowledge so don’t take my word for it. That said, the sky isn’t falling. If a recession really does hit and the economy slows, there will be a few hard years, maybe some tight budgets, but we will pull through and be alright because we are a country of people who inherently want to be nice to each other. Sure there are greedy and less altruistic people who are only interested in others based on what they have to gain, but by and large, people want to help each other out. We know that at the end of the day, come recession or economic boom, we are our best assets. I think as Christians this is one of those great times where we can lead the way as the example of how to treat each other with love and respect, to show the light of Christ to those around us who might take a big hit. This is also the reason that I’m increasingly drawn to support Obama for President. As was referenced by Ted Kennedy today (who thought I would see the day where I agreed with that guy!), Obama is offering people a platform of change and hope. He is hearkening back to Presidents like Reagan and JFK who lead the country through dark times with messages of hope. Men who reminded us of why we, America, are the greatest country in the world. I don’t mean that in an arrogant ethnocentric way, but rather in the sense we can be that City on a Hill, that Camelot, serving as a beacon to a world full of war and famine. He is the only candidate that I see as someone who gives us a legitimate chance at a New Politics, a political landscape where we no longer are bickering over party lines but having substantial discussions of foreign and economic policy. Maybe we can finally do something about Stage 2 subsidies, maybe we can finally find a real, lasting solution to illegal immigration. Maybe we get policies that are more than just vote grabs. We have had nearly 10 years of fighting over which party is the most corrupt and sleazy and with Obama we get someone who has no reason not to throw open the gates and run a transparent government that values truth and openness over deceit and bureaucracy. This is the future I want to live in, this is the country I think we can be. Will you join me?
I read through this article on Rolling Stone after seeing a blog post about it on Dan Kimball’s Vintage Faith blog. The article is an interview with a British scientist named James Lovelock who believes we are all doomed and that the end is just a few brief decades away. Lovelock has argued, beginning in the 1970’s, the Earth is a giant superorganism we have pushed past its sustainable tipping point. Since I am not a climatologist, it is a little hard for me to argue with Lovelock’s science, what I can debate him on is call to action, or rather lack of it. For someone who is so convinced we have caused the end of life as we know it, Lovelock is surprisingly cynical about what we can do to stop or reverse the damage we have done to this point. I do agree with him when it comes to how sincere the “green business” movement is. Ever since I learned about the Step 2 Cotton Subsidy program and the power of the corn and sugar lobbies in Washington I’ve been skeptical of the long term practicality of things like e85 Ethanol as an alternative fuel (same with hydrogen fuel cells for cars). But this doesn’t mean we should abandon movements by large businesses to switch to CFL’s or run their AC a little less during the summer. I think Lovelock is right about nuclear power too. People see Chernobyl and mushroom clouds every time someone mentions building a new power plant but the fact remains that it is one of the cleanest and most efficient ways of generating power. Hydro is not a growth market because of the huge environmental footprint of new dams and wind and solar are far from able to generate power on the scale needed to completely replace fossil fuel based technologies. I also like that he takes issue with Christians who say we should only concern ourselves people because God will take care of the planet. God may have given man the ability to subdue the planet but we have been woefully silent when it comes to being good stewards of Creation.
The other problem I have with Lovelock is the way he can’t see past the impending disaster. If large portions of China become un-inhabitable like Lovelock says, are the Chinese really going to invade Siberia? Unlikely. Issues like this can and have been worked out. The population of the island nation of Tuvalu already has standing plans to move to New Zealand (among other Pacific island locations) should the sea level rise to the point of covering their islands. Now, obviously it is easier to move 10,000 people than 1 billion, but when faced with either finding a diplomatic solution or going to war, governments will overwhelmingly choose the diplomatic solution. Human civilization is a “living” superorganism just as as Lovelock argues the planet is. Lovelock views humans and their actions as predictable and fixed rather than variable and independent. People will adapt. Will their be massive famines and huge losses of life in the third world? I don’t doubt that. You don’t have to look further than your daily newspaper to realize that the West is largely indifferent to loss of life in Africa and South Asia. Time and again the West has proved that if you aren’t one of us, you are on your own. My point is, though, I see it more likely the West will retreat into technology based communities than collapse into hunter-gatherer tribal societies.
I’m certainly not perfect when it comes to my energy consumption. I certainly use a lot more power than I need to with my love of computers and other gadgets, but I think it is important to take small steps at reducing our personal footprint. Maybe Lovelock is right and simply changing your light bulbs won’t make a difference at this point. But if that is the case, then ever time you turn the thermostat down and put on a sweatshirt instead of cranking up the heat, think of it more as training for the future when we all live in Canada and Siberia than doing your part to save the environment.
