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Wayne Miller's avatar

I'm afraid we've technologically evolved a lot faster than we have socially and ecologically. We see evidence of advanced civilizations that disappeared. Usually they just sucked up the resources available locally and moved on. Now that we've gotten planetary we're still in the same loop. I've read that Easter Island cut down most of it's trees to made rollers for the statues. My statue is bigger than your statue syndrome? The morbidly rich will always feel they can buy their way out of it and the masses think God will save them because, of course, God made all this for us.... So I had to write a song. https://waynemillersongs.com/track/2999925/momma-don-t-care

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Teach1's avatar

During the 1970-2022 America's population has grown from approximately 209 million to 334 million people. The EU's population has increased from 656 million to 747 million. Canada's population has increased from 21 million to approximately 38 million. The projected immigration surge into the Western Developed areas is projected to add similar growth patterns by 2050, bringing the US above 400 million.

The impact these huge population explosions have are accurately described by Mr. Hartman. We are pouring asphalt over an increasing area of former farm land building mega cities, and nature is being destroyed as a result of our demand to live in urbanized areas holding millions and millions of people. The compounded stress factors experienced across Planet Earth by families and nature cannot be solved by just moving away from a petro-oil-and-gas economy to a sun and wind economy, unfortunately. We may already have exceeded the carrying capacity of Planet Earth with 8 billion - a number that is projected to reach 12 billion before 2100.

Many of us have been contributing to www dot kiva dot org to help people make a safe livelihood where they are, but ultimately, unless we stop all these wars, the EU, the US and Canada will be overwhelmed by people fleeing intolerable conditions. Educators across the US, Canada and the EU are already seeing a more and more of their K-12 classrooms populated by +50% of students whose first language is not English, or German, or French.

Thanks for an excellent and timely article, Mr. Hartman.

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