Quote:
Originally Posted by coberst
Are We Responsible Caretakers of this Planet?
Selfishness and greed are fundamental components of human nature as we squander ours and all succeeding generations’ inheritance. How does a nation convince its people to temper this nature when the payoff goes not to the generation presently in charge but to generations yet to come in the very distant future? Generations too far removed to be encompassed by the evolved biological impulse to care for ones kin.
Would it be possible to convince the American people to reject completely the use of air-conditioning so that generations five times removed could survive? Is it possible to create in a person a rational response strong enough to overcome the evolved nature of greed and selfishness? I cannot imagine any rational motivation of sufficient strength to divert the natural instincts of an unsophisticated people for an extended time. Therefore, the motivation force must be emotionally based or the people must become more sophisticated quickly.
Perhaps a compelling sense of stewardship must come through religion. Rationality appears to be insufficient for creating a compulsion to sacrifice immediate gratification for such remote ends.
Are you a good steward of this planet?
|
Are you asking for a list of items, humanity has already accomplished though technology to enhance the quality of life, in turn to control adverse effects on themselves? Are you thinking that man should revert back to 'say' the fifth century or maybe before history was written and live as the real "caretakers?" lived? How do you think, this human society has grown to give some quality (certainly by comparison) to the 6.6 BILLION people now living on the planet and why on earth would your want to choose which parts of society should sacrifice life itself to establish some utopia which may not be possible, in the first place?
For YOUR information, probably half the people in industrialized nations today, over 60-70 yo could not live WITH OUT air conditioning and I am not sure how many more of all ages would die off for lack of modern hearting systems. Where is your limitation on "greed and selfishness"? If some stranger family with out a home, knocks on your door, will you let them in feed them, educate them or all the things most every modern society does daily in some manner? I doubt it....
Yes, by all means lets give religion the authority over humanity and it's arrogant authority over those that agree with each of the 2,765 different faiths. Go back to the Religious Renaissance of of the 14th-18th th Century where each wared over every little detail, forcing their beliefs and practices on any society they could defeat in war. Where mankind's only existence is framed on the idea of an inevitable end. Hundreds of such wars occured each century, people were born/raised to die for that admirable cause. Frankly to much of that nonsense still exist today.
Don't be quite so hateful of the generations that have not only given you the possibility of a long, productive life, but the right to feel and say openly what you wish or in fact those other 6,599,999.999 individuals, many of which don't have all you have.
As for direct stewardship, you have the right pitch a tent, live off your garden and NOT do all those destructive earthly things blamed on people you can't possibly know and their habits but from some reading or some others opinion have decided, must be correct.
