Obviously this is an AI generated image of a future world, but it really is not that much of a stretch of the imagination to see how this is very possible from where the world is at right now in 2024.

The entire fabric of human society is changing, but not appreciably for the long term good. If there is going to be any positive movement of the human species toward long term sustainability, then governments need to finally bite the bullet and start working taking into account the real-world facts as follows:

- The root of all the world’s problems is that there are too many people in the world. All problems with pollution of the things critical for all life, air, water, forests, and oceans, is entirely due to the fact that there are simply too many humans demanding their share (and then some for the rich) of the available resources.

- The aging society is not a problem to ask the next generations to solve. They will already have to cope with the many disasters caused by their forbears. Demanding that they also nurture and prolong the lives of those old people is absurd, insulting, and totally selfish on the part of those doing the asking.

- Achieving economic success through continuous compounding growth through demand for ever more natural resources is (obviously) unsustainable in a very finite world and coming to an end whether we are prepared for it or not.

- There is plenty of money available for everyone which is obvious by the excesses of super wealthy. Example: The growing number of super yachts owned by a few who then tour the world demanding respect from the less economically advantaged. The antics flaunted by the super-rich is a hideous obscenity and a blight on the human species.

- During the pandemic, we are constantly informed about the “plight” of the wealthy class because their hotels (which were built through exploitation of the landscape and workforce and are now an eyesore in the once pristine environment) now have some empty rooms. And then these wealthy profiteers expect handouts of public money explaining that they need to keep their maids and ground staff employed? If they made a profit, it was their right through their astute investment – but if they make a loss, it is everyone else’s fault, and they must be handed free money from the public purse.

- The approaching and inevitable disasters for the human race are already known but ignored. Political expediency demands that everyone just kick the impending crisis a bit further down the road – again, leave it for the next generation, we will not disturb our comfortable lives for it now.

- All achievements of mankind are entirely due to the use of fossil fuels. It is only trendy to talk about alternative energies, not helpful while the growth of demand through increasing number of people outstrips that initiative by a large margin.

- What is obvious is that the planet has had enough of the pestilence of the plague of humans and simply will not and cannot tolerate it much longer.

- Save the planet? Until the root causes are removed, people will not save the planet. But Planet Earth can and will save itself! It has survived much worse that what we are doing to it, and it will do so again. And like a dog with a bad case of fleas that it manages to shake or wash off, we will not be invited to return.

CONCLUSION:
Real change has only ever come through tribulation affecting everyone, not only the poor. The sound of mankind flushing itself down the toilet is already in our ears. We can feel the swirling movement as we start to go down the drain.

And yet we are still so arrogant and self-focused that we prefer to think that it will all be fixed if we just separate our cans, bottles, plastic, and paper for recycling as we throw out the absurd amount of garbage we generate every day, even though we all know full well that it will ALL end up in a gully somewhere euphemistically called landfill as if it is being put to good use.

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

As long as it is out of our sight, just like all the other problems we are deliberately causing through our selfishness and apathy, we can pretend it simply does not exist and carry on ensuring the status quo can be maintained for ourselves, and don’t worry too much for the neighbor... and the poor... and certainly not future generations, they are not a problem we should have to waste any of our precious time worrying about in our busy lives today.

EPILOG:

The premise at the beginning of this text “governments need to finally bite the bullet and start working in light of the real-world facts” is not going to happen and we all know it is not going to happen.

We, right here right now, are in the last decades of the current world situation of what I refer to as oil age madness. The exponential growth of the last century thanks mostly to the unrestricted consumption of fossil fuels is unsustainable and everyone on earth knows it is unsustainable! And we all know full well that the end is in sight; a disaster of trying to live on an exhausted planet that is grossly overpopulated and starving to death. Amazingly, the world leaders and influencers are all collectively stepping on the throttle getting what we can while we can thus ensuring that ultimate ultimate disaster sooner rather than later.

I am over 70 years of age, so probably one of the lucky ones who will live a good long life benefiting from the many positive achievements of the human society. But I am also old enough to have the benefit of more than 7 decades of hindsight.

Undoubtedly, I am as much the cause of the problem as everyone else. But unlike everyone else, I can wake up and recognize the looming crisis that is coming for our children and grandchildren and am sad to know that they will not have a life with as many opportunities as I and there is nothing other than write this essay that I can do about it.

We, you and I and our everyone in the recently past generations, whether consciously or not, have used a disproportionate amount of the earth's resources and left a legacy of polution and mountains of garbage for them to have to deal with as they try to build their lives. At the same time, we are instilling in them the same attitudes, prejudices, and greed that we all lived our lives by and in the beginning said was good for us because it “kept the balance”.

Those who follow us will literally have to wallow in our garbage with few natural resources left to use for building a sustainable future.

And we, (almost) everyone on the planet today, simply do not care. Sir David Attenborough has been a small voice shouting as loudly as he can, even to world leaders and at climate change conferences – a man who has been there, watched first hand and documented the decay for nearly a century. But no change comes. All we get is more platitudes to soothe the fears and let the status quo not only prevail, but to be expanded, further exploited for profit to be gained in the here and now...

…but not for long.