What choices do we have for a brighter future?
If fruit flies are placed in a jar with food, air and water, they will quickly multiply to the maximum capacity, then slowly pollute and ruin their environment, after which they will die.
Similarly, the human urge for population growth has always been greater than the urge for subsistence growth. As we increase our food supply, our population increases in proportion to that supply. Factors that depend on that growth, such as income, food and the need to support our children, then becomes more limiting.
Eventually, the standard of living diminishes for all, even as we build more houses, roads, shopping centers, schools, water systems and farm more land. At some point, we will “hit the wall,” because we are marching in the direction of that limited growth.
Water wars, job security, poverty, hunger, chaos, disease and pestilence all hang in the balance. What are our options to promote a brighter future of all life on earth?
Wilfred Laemmlen, Sanger
This story was originally published September 12, 2016 at 11:50 AM with the headline "What choices do we have for a brighter future?."