Planet Earth -A Sinking Ship?

                                                                                                  

Dysfunction of Human Mind

The humanity's ancient religions and spiritual traditions, point to fundamental truth, of realization that  'Normal' state of mind of most human beings contains a strong element of what we might call 'dysfunction' or even madness. Certain teachings of Hinduism see this 'dysfunction' as a form of collective mental illness, called 'Maya' the veil of delusion. Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest sages, bluntly states "The mind is maya"

Human Actions

The achievements of humanity are impressive & undeniable. More recently, the way we live and have enabled us to do and create things that would have been considered miraculous, even 200 years ago. No doubt, the human mind is highly intelligent, yet its very intelligence is tainted by madness. The destructive and cruel wars, motivated by the desire for power, greed and fear, had been common occurrences through out human history, as widespread violence inflicted for religious and ideological reasons. The history of 20 th century was where that dysfunction, that collective insanity, can be most clearly recognized. Humans suffered more at the hands of each other, than through natural disasters. Further this dysfunction is actually intensifying and accelerating.

Impact of Science & Technology

Science & Technology have magnified the destructive impact that this collective dysfunction of the human mind has upon the planet, other life-forms and on humans themselves. It helped human species to be an agent of change of geologic proportions. Literally move mountains to mine the earth's minerals, redirect rivers to build cities in deserts, torch forests to make way for crops and alter the chemistry of the atmosphere by disposing of wastes generated. In our efforts to make the earth yield more for our needs, we are diminishing its ability to sustain life of all kinds -humans included.

Impact of Human Actions

Another aspect of the collective dysfunction of human mind is the unprecedented violence that humans are inflicting on other life-forms & the planet-the mindless depletion of natural resources, destruction of oxygen-producing forests and other plant & animal life and poisoning of water bodies, Rivers, Oceans, the Air and the Soil. If humans, driven by greed & ignorance, are permitted to continue unchecked, in this collective madness, it can only result in their own destruction. The doubling of world population, the quintupling of global economic output and the widening gap in the distribution of income, since mid 20 th century, are the main factors that are contributing, most directly to the excessive pressures being placed on the Earth's Natural Systems. The environmental impact of the population growth has been vastly multiplied by economic and social systems that strongly favour growth and ever-rising consumption over equity & poverty alleviation. They fail to discriminate between means of production that are environmentally sound and those that are not. At humanity's hand, the earth is undergoing a profound transformation-one with consequences, we cannot fully grasp.  

Planets Carrying Capacity

The outer limit of the planet's carrying capacity is determined by the total amount of solar energy converted into biochemical energy through plant photo-synthesis minus the energy those plants use for their own life process. This is called the earth's Net Primary Product (NPP) and it is the basic food source for all life. As per one estimate, humans have destroyed outright about 12% of the NPP and directly use or co-opt an additional 27%. Thus one species have appropriated nearly 40% of the terrestrial food supply, leaving only 60% for millions of other land-based plant and animal species.

One may be tempted to infer that at 40% of NPP, we are still comfortably below the ultimate limit. But this is not the case. We have appropriated the 40% that was easiest to acquire. It may be impossible to double our share, yet theoretically that may happen by mid 21 st century, if our share rose in tandem with population growth.

Lightening the Load

"As a society, we have failed to discriminate between technologies that meet our needs in a sustainable way and those that harm the earth". We have let the market dictate which technologies move forward, without adjusting for its failure to take proper account of environmental damages. Now that we have exceeded the planet's carrying capacity, and are rapidly running down its natural capital, such a correction is urgently needed.

The Ship Captains pay careful attention to a marking on their vessels called the Plimsoll line. If the water level rises above the Plimsoll line, the boat is too heavy and is in danger of sinking. When that happens, rearranging items on board the ship will not help in reducing the total load, which has surpassed its carrying capacity. The answer is to reduce the load by jettisoning the cargo items in a selective manner, till the water level goes down below Plimsoll line.   

The ecological equivalent of Plimsoll line may be the maximum share of earth's biological resource base that humans can appropriate before a rapid & cascading deterioration in the planet's life-supporting system is set in motion. We may be close to this critical mark and the challenge is to lighten our burden on the Planet before it sinks.

(References: "A New Earth"--Eckhart Tolle & "Carrying Capacity: Earth's Bottom Line"- Sandra Postel, Worldwatch Institute)     

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