Is it all just Doom and Gloom?

“Why isn’t everyone as scared as we are?” – from the Population Explosion by Ehrlich (1990). 

There is something to be said about sticking your head in the sand, putting on blinders, ignoring the world.  I know that young children can often play hide and seek by merely closing their eyes.  If they cannot see you, you cannot see them, right?  Well, when you look at the state of the climate crisis, one certainly would like to just close their eyes and believe that it is not there.  Still, I cannot take up the stance that Ehrlich phrased in the chapter title above.  I cannot believe that there is no reasonable way forward anymore.  If everyone were as scared as they, there would be no sense in going forward, and we may as well just off each other. 

From this, I am an admitted technocratic optimist.  I know that our ambitions and innovations have brought us to this point, likely beyond the tipping point.  I see also the potential of humankind, and that we will find a way out. 

I offer this story… I heard it long ago and found it in many places online


There is an old Jewish story about a rabbi who was talking with God about heaven and hell. "I will show you what hell is like," God said. They went into a room where there was a large bowl of soup. The smell was delicious, but around the bowl sat people who were very thin and starving and hungry. They were all holding spoons with very long handles which reached to the pot. The handles were longer than their arms. So it was impossible for them to get the soup into their mouths. "That is what hell is like," God said.

      Then God took the rabbi to another room where He said, "Now I will show you heaven." There was a similar pot of soup. And the smell was just as delicious as the first room. And the people had the same size spoons. But these people were all well-fed and were smiling and laughing. Everyone could eat. "I don't understand it," said the rabbi. "Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room?" The Lord smiled," Ah, don't you see?" He asked. "It's simple. Over there everyone only tries to feed himself. Here in heaven, people have learned to feed each other."


The hope and inspiration here is that we find that way to feed each other