A reader sent me this story sans an
author: "If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and inside the cage,
hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set of stairs under
the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the
banana.
"As soon as he touches the stairs, you
spray him and all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another
monkey makes an attempt with same result ... all the other monkeys are sprayed
with cold water. Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the
other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put the cold water away.
"Remove one monkey from the cage and
replace it with a new one.
"The new monkey sees the banana and
attempts to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap
out of him. After another
attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be
assaulted. Next, remove another of the
original five monkeys, replacing it with a new one.
"The newcomer goes to the stairs and is
attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Then, replace
a third original monkey with a new one, followed by the fourth, then the fifth.
Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked.
"Now, the monkeys that are beating him
up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do
they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. Finally, having replaced all of the original
monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold
water. Nevertheless, not one of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway for
the banana.
"Why, you ask? Because in their
minds...that is the way it has always been! This, my friends, is how
Congress operates... and this is why nothing changes for the better, and from
time to time: all of the monkeys need to be replaced at the same time if you
expect change for the better."
Which brings me to the point of this
column: our country, because of our "monkey" leaders and most of our citizens, is
not prepared and will not prepare our civilization's survival in the 21st
century. We stumble into each decade without a plan or clue as to the impact of
adding the projected 138 added population within 38 years
Present U.S. population: 315 million. Projected in 38 years by 2050: 438 million. Environmental, social, quality of life and
standard of living expected in 2050: degraded, dismal, depleted and unfortunate
for countless millions of Americans. Sources
for 438 million figure: (Sources: US Population Projections by Fogel/Martin,
PEW Hispanic Center, US Census Bureau)
A reader responded to one of my environmental-population
pieces by saying that if we conserved more water and energy, and utilized our land
more equitably, population wouldn't be a problem. In other words, he advocates for more and
more people living on less and less. Never mind the strangled cities, species
extinction rates, water shortages, air pollution, energy depletion, carbon and
ecological footprint facing our exploding numbers. It's amazing how people
overlook the details.
Every single environmental, resource, water, quality of
life and energy crisis facing America in the 21st century stems from
more population than the carrying capacity of North America can handle or the
planet for that matter.
In the Denver Post last Sunday, "Dropped cell phone
calls, delayed text messages and choppy video streams could become more
frequent occurrences because the airwaves on which that data travel are nearing
capacity." Can you imagine in 2050 with
138 million more folks using cell phones?
International
overpopulation consequences
Author Juliet Eilperin said, "In Peru, fishing vessels
haul 7.5 million tons of small fish out of the water every year. The Peruvian
seabird population that used to number in the tens of millions has dropped to
two million."
Robert Engelman of www.worldwatchinstitute.org
noted, "When you have China out roaming the seas looking for anything they can
get to feed their population of 1.3 billion (and growing by 8 million annually,
net gain on their way to 1.5 billion in 38 years), that's increasingly
affecting any local resources anywhere in the world."
Africa, India, China and America create the most disastrous
population growth in the 21st century. Africa will grow from nearly 1 billion today
to 2.4 billion within 88 years. Do any
of the animal species in Africa stand a chance against such ravenous human
onslaught?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
