A throughout, integrated view
From the total confusion that seems to reign the world currently, we can say one thing for sure: old ways do not seem to work anymore.
We can see it in the way the often hollow phrases about global and economic politics recently bounced off a Great Wall of new realism. Or we can see it in the contradicting signals in the talks about economic recovery whilst unemployment and poverty is rising in hitherto rich countries. Or we can read that an economy is already coming out of recession when the things are not collapsing anymore or declining less, with the accompanying juggling of percentages in such a way that no-one anymore can have a clear view on the reality of things.
And is Peak Oil now imminent or here now, notwithstanding the recent discoveries, or can we say that we may have a few more years before the situation becomes tight for real, measured in barrels available, not data on a screen?
We can also read about an upcoming new “scapegoat” that diverts the attention away from the real issues: based on statistics, extrapolation and percentages we are being told that we may be too many people in some years and that this will be the major issue concerning food and energy-shortage.
Fingerpointing away from oneself is always easier than realistic self-assessment.
Because if we look for example to real issues like “energy-usage per capita” or “food-usage per capita” or “energy needed for food per capita” the real issues are completely somewhere else than where the “pundits” put them, and for the largest part they end up with the still very wasteful way of living that is practiced in many rich countries, where up to 30 % or more of the food is being wasted, where many millions of computers, servers, household-machineries, air-conditioners, and billions of lights are wasting energy, and where in some hot countries it is even forbidden to dry your laundry in the sun!
From the food that is wasted by the few hundred million in the rich countries, billions of others can be fed. By just slightly adapting our way of life, hundreds of millions of barrels of oil could be saved. As long as producer-countries are still wasting, flaring off, about 2 tcm of gas per year, can we really talk about energy-shortage?
It seems that the more data we have, just for simplicity-sake, we concentrate ever more on just a few (that can then
also be easily “adapted” to serve the wished-for purposes), the narrower the view becomes (and the
mind-set) and the further the solutions presented seem to be away from reality.
But of course, a lot of money can be earned, others can be blamed, and things can go on as they always have gone on.
And exactly this seems to not work anymore as well as it has done for a long time. Too often the big name-pundits have been proven to talk what is expected from them, not what is the case, (or just been talking plain nonsense) and too often big-name institutes have needed to retract on what they had said or expected, clothing in nice and complicated language that actually they had been quite “off the mark”).
What is becoming clear is that we need to find integrated views, with throughout perception and analyses that include the many factors of life and living on this planet for ALL, instead of some data on a screen. But of course we need thinking, feeling, humans for that and exactly these seem in short supply.
Stay alive,
Alexander
