The Desolation Of Earth

John Berge

1989

Published in:

The Northwest Technocrat, 4th quarter 1989, No. 317

Humans have in some cases been prone to create havoc on the Earth, and their tendency to desecrate and ruin things has been an occasional behaviorism throughout the long history of Man. But it is only now in these last few years that the bad effects of Man's careless behavior toward the earth has become so rapacious that it is becoming a problem of actual survival of the human species and of other life as well.

When Man's numbers were few and his technology primitive, he could pretty much do as he pleased and the earth could repair the injury to natural systems. Now, however, things are different -- Man has become numerous and has developed the effectiveness of his technology to the point where he endangers his own survival. Let us cite a few examples.

The oceans are not an inexhaustible source of food for man to plunder. They can be overfished and poisoned. The oceans can be denied the part the wetlands play in their life; the oceans, too, can become a desert. Indeed, the wetlands, according to what some biologists suspect, are the fountainhead of the life of the ocean. Those little organisms that grow in that mud could very well be the beginning of the food chain that ends with us. Yet, we are paving, draining, dredging and destroying in every way what may very well be something of value to us. Nature seems to be ``in the way of progress.''

Our plentiful supply of water isn't so plentiful any more. It has been diverted to irrigating huge tracts of land, and salt, downstream draught and, perhaps, uncontrollable and irreversible land changes are the result. Cities have been built expecting water to come from somewhere; and it has, so far, but in lots of cases, only with great difficulty.

The Aral sea, one of the largest landlocked bodies of water in the world, in southwestern U.S.S.R., has shrunk to less than two thirds its previous size, and the volume of water has been reduced by 60 percent. The water level has dropped 377 feet and is falling over 3 feet per year. The sea's coastline has receded about 120 statute miles. And the salt content is now more than two and one-half times the previous nine grams per liter. Soviet officials state that the ecological losses exceed several times over those resulting from the Chernobyl disaster.

The two rivers that fed into the Aral sea have been reduced to a trickle because the water which once irrigated only 2.9 million hectares of land now irrigate 7.2 million. [a hectare is equal to 2.471 acres]. In addition, those rivers are polluted by soil salts, defoliants, insecticides, chemical fertilizers, industrial waste and sewage discharges. The three million people who live in the area are consequently suffering health problems: increased infant mortality, cancer of the esophagus, hepatitis and stomach disorders.

Water is going to be a source of argument in the Near East. Syria is upstream from Israel, and Turkey has already upped its use of the water needed by Iraq and Syria. The increase in population causes a pressure that is increasing. Egypt, whose only water is the Nile has an exploding population as well. With water problems, a diminishing food-producing land area and that exploding population problem; there are grim prospects ahead, indeed.

The land areas of Earth have not had the careful stewardship they have needed. Increases in population have pressed on nature -- perhaps past the point of no-return, and deserts now exist or are forming where they need not be. The tonnage of top-soil that flows down rivers or is blown to where it cannot be used is astronomical. Agro-biological decisions must not be made by farmers in pursuit of the dollar; a wider, better educated vision is required.

The San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys in California, whose farms are increasingly owned by corporations, are run largely by managers who must produce -- dollars. The care of the land could be vastly improved, but techniques that could be implemented to save the land are prevented from being used by Price System factors.

Well meaning advisers to African people in some cases caused them to abandon their pastoral life-style and adopt agriculture, a poor idea. Other western-world practices and influence was largely responsible for a poplation explosion that, in the Sahel, caused an increased need for firewood that was, in turn, responsible for denuding a forest, which then brought on desert.

An exploding population in Asia has brought on practices which result in famine, floods and pressure on the earth's ability to rejuvenate itself.

When we speak of plunder, the idea is implicit that there are some "goodies" taken, Is that really the case? Did the public enjoy a long-term benefit? We think not. One piece of plunder was nuclear-fission power-generation. One would think that the consequences of our acts would occurr to someone. But can you recall anyone even suggesting that the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant would involve such herculean effort and such danger? Now we have 360 nuclear reactors to decommission in the next 25 years with no safe place to put the scrap. Remember, that scrap is radioactive and will be deadly for a longer time than words can describe.

Meanwhile, we really aren't working very hard at developing a non- polluting substitute; it must be profitable before we really get to it.

There are responsible people who are beginning to talk of a world- wide control of those factors which threaten the survival of our species. We are quite sure that such talk will increase and possibly have positive results. But North Americans are in a unique position; they are in a position to take a step upward in their method of social operation and become an example for the rest of the world. The problems of this planet are difficult problems; they seem to be insoluble problems. But, no matter how well-intentioned people are, if they try to resolve difficult problems with a further application of what caused the problems in the first place, they will meet failure.

The Price System method of social operation is not compatible with technology, and the social problems we see today derive from attempts to solve such problems by innappropriate techniques. A Technate may not save many of the World's people from a terrible fate; things may have gone too far, but it will be the best we can do -- for them and for ourselves.