I used to think the most critical problem in the world was overpopulation by humans. My interest in systems dynamics and the understanding of complex systems pointed to a haunting concern about positive reinforcing loops that have exponential growth. Because my party, the Republican Party, has a seizure any time the words “control” or “regulation” are used, we cannot have a discussion about this. Every religious, racial, or ethnic group thinks having more babies than any other group is good. We have run out of time to realize that it’s immoral to have more than two children. Let’s feed the loop: Have more babies! Party on dudes.
We’ve already lost, the cat is out of the bag. Even mass species extinctions are nothing to worry about, as one of the county commissioners told me recently, and I guess we can ignore the 10 million years it took life to recover from the previous six mass extinctions. The heck with grouse: The Bible says man is to have dominion over all life, though there are a couple of dozen biblical references about life as sacred and requiring responsible stewardship. These we can ignore too. We don’t belong to creation after all. And I guess we can ignore the 9,970 articles in peer-reviewed journals that indicate man-caused global warming is occurring and endorse the 30 articles that dispute this. Party on dudes. So it really is hopeless and we are helpless. Light the coal fire, fire up the engine. There will be time, however, to kiss our children and grandchildren goodbye. In the meantime, let’s party on dudes!
Wayne Keene
Cortez
