By Don Aguiar

Mumbai, Oct. 9, 2021: Well, that’s exactly what we are doing with how we run planet Earth. Did you see the recent photo of the G20 leaders? There were 36 men and 3 women lined up. A few murderers, maybe a genocide or two under their belts…and lots of sticky fingers.

Then we the people go on to explain that on Planet Earth our brightest people are already putting probability figures on an imminent total collapse of our ecosystem. Not enough water or land to support the current numbers of wise ones, not to mention the additional ones already scheduled to arrive soon, let alone all the animals and trees who also need land and water. And not content with that, in our wisdom we have developed a lifestyle that poisons both the land we stand on, the water we drink, and the atmosphere we breathe.

The resulting droughts, floods, rising sea levels, and heat waves are going to threaten everything we depend on to survive. Just one other thing: our species is big on killing machines. We can destroy the whole planet in a jiffy if one of those 36 men and 3 women really get upset about something and decide to hit a button we provide for them that sits on their desk, or close by. It is not surprising people are asking how long do you think we humans have?

As the impacts of the climate crisis become ever more apparent, people around the world, led by Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and frontline communities, are demanding action. In response, Big Polluters and the governments that do their bidding have begun to tout commitments to achieve “net zero” emissions as solutions to the crisis they have caused.

The report makes it clear that Big Polluters’ idea of “net zero” is part of their continued plan to protect deeply unjust global systems, distract from taking the real action needed, and to evade responsibility for the climate crisis and to continue to pollute.

Governments must stop buying into and reinforcing this dangerous scheme, and instead commit to real action to reach the needed emissions reductions by 2030, and to hold Big Polluters accountable for their deception

Have these men and women proved superior at solving problems deceptively, understanding issues and so on, especially since we have so many serious ones to address? Actually no. Unless the function is really mechanical, like being a circus weight lifter, there is little evidence that these “men and women” are superior at anything.

In fact, looking at the state of the planet these men and women have been managing, and the scientific studies on the subject, the ignored population might be rather better than these men and women at any number of valuable functions.

But asks hopefully that if it is already clear that the men and women who are in charge may be a little retarded in some important aspects of their development, then this oversight must be already under review? So that human life could quickly move in the direction that intelligence (you know “wisdom”) would suggest? Well at the present rate of wisdom, it will take many years for us to enjoy ecosystem parity in the management of the planet.

We may have everything we need materially (particularly in the west), but we’ve also got an enormous bunch of unhappy and lonely people out there that for some reason cannot find happiness or are living in pain.

Our ability to sense heat, cold and touch is essential and deeply connected with our ecosystem and underpins our interaction with the world around us. Living in pain and being prescribed medication by big pharma (and their doctors in tow) is another one of the scandals besides the discoveries of non-prescription drugs consumed by many young and old alike of treatments for chronic pain and other conditions.

How we sense the temperature, touch and movement are some of the great questions of humanity maintaining our ecosystem. The sensation that is got at present with climate change is something as unfamiliar as it has such a personal and cultural significance to so many people and they have a story as everyone is experiencing painful climatic extremes like heat, cold…..

I saw a very scary documentary on HBO called “The Crime of the Century” which mainly focused on the opioid disaster in the US. It reported that the total number of deaths from prescription and non-prescription drugs has surpassed by far the number of deaths from wars in which the US has participated.

I ask again: “What is going on?” Indeed, what kind of democracy or system of society is it exactly that some of our leaders feel we should “export” to others? I am not an alarmist, but I do feel that something is not right.

What do we do? We might as well give the poor people of the world the full horror story. So the thing about these men & women is that they are really big on competition, and being first, and being better than everyone else…. Frankly, this endless drive for more and better and so on means we have an economic system based on “Growth.” You know, it is about size matters….

As mankind becomes more and more individualistic and as competition increases, everyone becomes too preoccupied with the question: What is in it for me? Some people even call the modern generation as “Me First” generation. This is the secret of poisoning our ecosystem and its unhappiness, because selfishness is the great enemy of all happiness.

It may be because of insecurity or lack of confidence about the future. Or the unwillingness to think of the needs of ‘the other’ All human relationships, all efforts to promote the common good, flounder on this one aspect of human nature.

Where will their intelligence and wisdom lead us? Whose idea was it to call ourselves “sapiens” or wise? And then developing a lifestyle in poisoning our ecosystem? It seems to be populated by some wild beasts, so let’s compare man and animals….

A drop of water is on a tree leaf and 12 ants gather to drink. What’s amazing is that the ants have divided themselves into four groups. This is to maintain the balance of the water drop from tilting and falling to the ground. It is a science of ants to cooperate and divide the share of water equally among them and give everyone his right. While humans have animal instinct but animals are more human.

The simple truth is selfishness repels, love attracts. Most religions lay emphasis on loving God. Unless this is accompanied by the love of fellow beings and care for creation, loving God will remain a fruitless ritual.