These problems are all interconnected, fully related, even though the media seldom if ever considers the impacts from one perspective to the other. Problems with oil, war, the climate, the economy, ignorant politicians, all stem from the consumptive desires of humanity, within a system that supports the creation of wealth for the very few regardless of its impact on other humans or the environment in which they live, in spite of grand rhetoric that does not stand up to the reality of how people act.
Our governments and financial institutions and corporations collude to make a new world re-ordered, presumably with another superstructure on top of the current non-democratic, non-transparent, non-rule-following institutions. It will be an attempt by the elites to remain as elites while the gap between rich and poor increases, while the climate continues to rapidly deteriorate, and wars, civil strife, and oppression remain the hallmark of a much of the world's population.
We do not need our current 'leaders' leading us back into the same mess. When will the U.S. drastically reduce its military in recognition that the world is a much safer place without it, that U.S. "full spectrum dominance" using pre-emptive first strike advocacy of nuclear weapons is not a policy that creates global prosperity, democracy, freedom, and equality? When will the U.S. stop supporting governments that despise international law as they have despised international law for so long? When will the global economic leaders truly start acknowledging that we live in a finite world, with finite resources, and then act on that knowledge regardless of its impact on their personal wealth or the wealth of their cronies and partners in corporate crime? Who will be the leaders that put the emphasis on reducing our consumption, reducing our expectations of continued future economic 'growth' based on a monetarist system that exploits the majority for the comfort of the elite?
A human prosperity
Prosperity should not be measured in terms of GDP. It should be measured within the social constructs of society: medical care facilities and medical support programs universally applied; the education system, open, free and accessible to all; workers collective rights to participate in the design of the economy to which they apply so much energy and are generally receiving diminishing returns; safe work environments and healthy work environments; child care, seniors care, care of the disadvantaged of society. Prosperity should also be measured in terms of the basics of life - clean air, fresh water, decent food daily, adequate housing and shelter. The dollar sign should not be the indicator of prosperity; instead the demographics of infant mortality, life expectation, literacy rates, crime and incarceration rates, incidence of diseases should all be considered as measures of how well a society is functioning. One might include poverty rates, but that remains a monetary definition and if all the other items are cared for, poverty will also be cared for.
Other changes are required for humanity to survive and prosper in a limited environment. There are many ways in which the global political/governance structures could change for the better - no colluding corporate governance, a highly modified UN without a security council, but perhaps an elected global cabinet, and a proportional representation in the General Assembly. Significant changes need to be made in the technological infrastructure that supports society especially as energy needs change from oil based to whatever alternates become practical. The urban-suburban-rural landscapes will need to be restructured to provide the necessary transportation structures and food resources to supply a population using different energy sources while protecting the environment.
Is it possible to make any changes as our governments stumble, stagger, and lurch from one thriller moment to the next, zombie-like in their incapacity to act in a forward progressive manner (it's Halloween in North America, the metaphor fits)? Most mainstream pundits, being what they are, envision an economic world much similar to the one that has just crashed on us, but with more colluding governance at the upper levels. Perhaps we do need to go through a time of misfortune and large structural changes imposed on us by our own ignorance, greed, and power hunger.
I have, perhaps, fixed a few short circuits in my own mind while contemplating the global picture. Perhaps the sense to be found in the current insanity of war, economic collapse, peak oil, and climate change is that change will occur whether or not we are ready or capable of dealing with it. This could be read as a pessimistic train of thought, but I remain optimistic that somehow the basic common values of humanity will survive through all the machinations of the elite groups that wish to retain power, to retain the status quo. At the same time, I remain highly cynical of economists and politicians in particular, both being creatures of highly manipulative rhetorical emptiness without much of a foundation in the realities that the majority of the earth's population must live with.
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