There is a picture in my kitchen, its not very original but it needed a home so I hung it in the kitchen. It’s a common image of the Beatles created by a mosaic of their album art, in this case it is block mounted and laminated. Arguably one of the most revolutionary bands to emerge since the last great war, the Beatles rode to stardom and beyond largely due to the songwriting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Of course John is dead which is probably why this train of thought left the station this morning, destination unknown.
A flickr friend of mine posted a picture the other day which sowed the seed. Death. The state of un-Being that waits for us all. Now I am not going to get overly morbid but things aren’t exactly rosy right now. Locally we are enjoying another mini drought where it hasn’t rained properly for something like six weeks, courtesy of the threatening climate catastrophe that is global warming. Economically we are all up shit creek and politically we are stuck with models which seemed destined to impoverish almost everyone at the expense of the few. OK so situation normal, except things look very much like getting worse, and a whole lot worse before they get better.
The New Scientist is talking about global warming of 4 degrees by the end of the century. No one it seems is really prepared to act as though this is going to happen which I find very scary. Does anyone really believe that the world as we know can continue business as usual. The truth is that comfortable middle class lifestyle so prized in the west is paid for by the huge inequality in global living standards. The massive national debt run up by the US demonstrates just how far things are out of kilter. The collapse in economies around the world had to happen because at its core the economic system is unsustainable and it is the question of sustainability that is studiously avoided in public debates. Not only is the economic model seriously flawed but the conversion of environmental assets into things with a monetary value, clean air and water turned into deadly smog and polluted drains for the benefit of industry for example, is equally unsustainable.
Our principal transport infrastructure, wedded as it is to fossil fuel, is clearly unsustainable. Our electricity generating plants, mostly fueled by coal, are likewise unsustainable. Our urban infrastructure based on cheap supplies of both of these and an abundance of cheap mass produced food is also unsustainable. Sure, these issues are not today’s problem but at some stage they will become today’s problem and when that happens it won’t be pretty. Thirty years ago everyone thought they were tomorrow’s problem, unfortunately tomorrow has arrived. What is most uncertain right now is will we avoid the time honored solution to large scale problems and find peaceful solutions before its too late? If the behavior and leadership shown by certain company executives is anything to go by, there is no reason for confidence.
If the predictions of catastrophic climate change bought on by global warming are correct then there will be major disruptions to the world. Peace, law and order and trade will be quickly tested. Add to the mix a collapse in the prevailing economic order and the storm clouds grow even darker. If a mad man with no worthwhile talent, psychotic delusions of grandeur and armed with a handgun could end the life of one of the most significant popular artist of the last century on a whim, what chance does peace have?
