Chapter Five: Balance the Equation
Balance
In anything, when there is imbalance, instability will naturally occur. Imbalance given enough time will naturally lead to instability if there is not rebalance beforehand. The natural conclusion of continuous instability is a fall or collapse. Falls are inevitable when instability is unresolved, especially beyond the tipping point. In other words: without balance a fall or collapse will become inevitable.
There are those who believe in the theory that things in life will naturally seek balance. It could also be said that balance will naturally find its own way. If this is true, when balance does occur it may be a balance that we may not appreciate. The balance that does occur may not always be a joy to us. We may not favor the balance that occurs. Or worse, it may not favor us. If this is true, then we have even more to fear.
Instability and imbalance go hand in hand in life and are sometimes necessary. Many forms of balance are necessary for the healthy development of this world. But our social, spiritual, moral, and economic future also depends on growth, not stagnation from within. And when balance is too prevalent there will be stagnation, which often leads to suffocation. An overly balanced culture is one in stagnation, and continuous stagnation within a system has a high likelihood of resulting in suffocation of that system. Some instability forces questions to be asked, thus possibly preventing any future crisis. Without some instability to show flaws within a system or pose suggestions to that system, a system may become susceptible to events, unexpected or not, when they do occur. There is a line between the need for balance for basic survivability, and the need for imbalance to initiate abilities necessary for adaptation.
Imbalance Leading to Extremism
When there is imbalance, some may be naturally drawn to the extremes. In the search for balance some may be drawn to an extreme in the hope of combating what they feel may be a different extreme. Or, the conditions of the environment could cause an individual to choose the side of an opposing extreme or viewpoint simply because of the apparent lack of balance, while leading others to an extreme of where they already stood. There are many situations of imbalance that can lead some to fall victim to the influence of the extremist.
When there is this general attitude of extremism caused by the instability of imbalance, middle ground and even common sense can become jeopardized. Those caught in the middle face many risks. Because of this pressure to take a stand, people who would normally find themselves within the middle ground can feel forced to align themselves with groups holding ideologies or beliefs that they do not agree with. Or those who firmly resolve to take a stand in the middle may potentially be viewed as having sympathies where they do not, simply because they do not follow certain views of a representative extremist. There may also be those on both sides who become forced or deceived into capitulation. Some who take a side may not consider the consequences, and this also applies to people who would be drawn to a more radical change. Others may become just simple innocent victims who are caught in the middle of the various extremes confronting one another. There could be countless possibilities. The situation of imbalance can thus have the ability to entice people toward any extreme. When someone is enticed to an extreme there is the possibility of contamination, discreditation, or souring of viewpoints. Both how they see their own viewpoints and how they see the viewpoints of others can be affected. Unfortunately, it does not matter who is enticed to extremism or if only the views of one are changed. The dynamics of how all view each other will be affected because of the mere association of one with the extremists. The interjection of the extremist can also even have the result of blurring the original discussions or disputes beyond reasonable recognition. This environment of extremism can affect both what we oppose and at the same time what we have allied ourselves with. What someone professes may be true, necessary, and correct, but it can become discredited or disavowed in the aftermath of the extremist.
Finding Balance
But in this it is important to remember that as with all cycles, balance will at some point eventually come. However, the balance may not be something that we expect or even can predict. So, logically, would it not make more sense for us to create an equation of balance that is the most favorable to us? Would it not be better to initiate our own balance before balance finds itself on its own? Of course, who said that humanity is logical?
In some cases, perhaps creating balance by the way of an interjection on behalf of what we may oppose may be necessary to restore balance, or at least help us find our own way of generating balance. Or it may even be necessary to help us redefine that in which we agree. An interjection of what we may oppose can have the possibility of reaffirming what we already believe, convincing us to alter or evolve our beliefs, or assisting us in the pursuit of something completely different. It can help us clarify or strengthen what we already believe in by exposing weaknesses of our point of view that we would never have been aware of without that interjection. Thus, it strengthens our own argument by building a stronger foundation against further opposition.
When it comes to change for the sake of creating balance, our reluctance can be a product of our own myopic views, and it can be dangerous. Our reluctance to adapt to new realities or our blind loyalties in support of our own myopic views may be dangerous. When we fail to see the periphery, we can become easily blindsided. We may also not recognize the need for balance in time to take appropriate action, before change occurs without our guidance. Our failure to see upcoming results may lead us to be blindsided by realities we could not foresee. Our reluctance to restore balance and take appropriate actions can also leave us vulnerable to the power and influence of opposing views. We can be blind to our vulnerabilities that can strengthen the opposing views, weaken ours, or any degree of both.
We must at least listen and be aware of any potential imbalance. We must be able to recognize the need for balance before others do so and take action that we may not agree with or appreciate. We may not have time to correct our perhaps glaring errors before they are noticed and used against us. Listening and creating awareness of other thoughts besides our own can mean the crucial difference between a timely intervention on our behalf and an action by those whom we drastically oppose. We must accept that we may have self-defeating actions that may surface in less than comfortable ways, so we can make the alterations ourselves rather than the opposition. We must police ourselves before someone or something else takes care of business. There may be the possibility that a version of balance that is drastically different than ours could manifest. If we do not at least listen to all sides, whether in opposition to our own or not, we may not be aware of our own failings that are self-defeating.
We must be attentive and careful; there may be occasions where we are unaware of what is necessary for balance, or do not even acknowledge its necessity. And when we do, unfortunately, it may not be in time to salvage luxuries or even necessities. Or it may not be in time to salvage what has been accomplished. Or worse, it may not be in time to salvage our very selves. We must accept that balance may be necessary even when we cannot foresee its necessity. Our own concerns are not what is important in the grand scheme of things—what is important is the fate of all.
We must also be wary of interjections to restore balance. We must be cautious of the deception of distorted or nonexistent data being presented, and of conclusions that may be based on faulty or misleading information. We must also be cautious when introducing adaptations. We must be cautious of those types of corrections that may cause more problems than there were before the correction was introduced. Sometimes attempts to help do not have the desired results. Yes, sometimes interjections are necessary and do restore balance, but they can also sometimes cause imbalance. In our myopic sight, we must be cautious of interjections for they can sometimes deepen or strengthen extremes or divisions unknowingly.
The road to balance can be long and seem daunting, arduous, or perhaps even unachievable in our lifetimes. While it is true that the road to balance may not be achieved within our expectational views or even within our lifetimes, we also cannot ignore these concerns as not being our responsibility to act upon. We cannot afford to do nothing; waiting only creates a greater void for others to span later.
In any case, a better world cannot grow in a society or environment bent on self-destruction, inequality, or ongoing instability. For that matter, in such an environment it may not even be able to survive. We must find common ground and prevent social disunity. It is important that balance and cohesion be maintained. Even though various views may seem diametrically opposed, there are always commonalities.
Inequality Breeds Instability
There exists, within any society in our world, the possibility of creating inequality or imbalance in some way. Perhaps the inequality is in the form of secret or outright exclusion, or in the form of promoting superior entitlement or disproportional benefit to a few. Even those who assume that they know what is in the best interest of all, and those who purposely attempt to create equality by suppressing those attempting to suppress others, can themselves ironically be guilty of suppression in some way. And in any human social environment, any form of inequality can breed instability. We also must not forget that when instability occurs, a restoring force or balance can naturally or will eventually follow. And this restoring force may not come in a form that is a pleasant experience for us. It may even potentially manifest itself as a total revolution. In the past, the various processes of societies balancing themselves have had the potential to lead to revolutions. These revolutions have taken on various forms of change, from passive to aggressive. This possibility of aggressive change is one reason we need more balance in our world. The possibility of aggressive adaptations brings forward the need for voluntary balancing. In this new world that we all live in, can we really afford to have aggressive change occur? Can we really risk aggressive change?
We cannot afford to forget that with our current abilities, imprinting onto the children the comprehension that others are equal to themselves is no longer a matter of humanity, it is a matter of human survival. With the new reality of one individual or group having the ability to effect cataclysmic change in a large population base, we cannot afford to have any beliefs of superiority when it comes to human life. In any case, we must be attentive to those in need and to the imbalances within our various societies. We must never forget that the most dangerous people are those who have nothing to lose and something to gain.
Ensuring that our Lifestyle and Quality of Life Survives into the Future
Yes, it is important to utilize the opportunities and conveniences of the present. But we must also be prudent in preparing for the future. We need to balance the needs of today with the foreseeable needs of tomorrow. We must take an active role in the preparation for the future. The opportunities and conveniences of today will be meaningless without the ability to have an acceptable tomorrow. We must prepare for the eventualities of future events and ensure that our lifestyle and quality of life will survive for us and future generations. That requires us to forestall future emergencies by taking actions today. Living in the present, to the extent that it jeopardizes the future by significantly reducing the availabilities of future essentials, enjoyments, possibilities, and opportunities, may jeopardize not only future generations, but possibly ourselves. We must take action in creating the balance between living for today versus living for tomorrow. The balancing act of meeting both the needs of today and the needs of tomorrow is delicate and needs our attention and considerable thought.
We must also rethink what we defend ourselves against. We must not only think of defending ourselves from others, but also think of defending our futures from the reality of the progression of the events we ourselves create and those that naturally occur in the world. We must defend ourselves from the actions resulting from our own myopic visions and aspirations. Instead of primarily focusing and spending time and money on issues affecting only one aspect of progress, we need to think about and address what the world and especially we as a species need. Compared to what we spend defending ourselves from others, we only spend a fractional amount of money, time, and effort on defense from the consequences of our own actions and those events that naturally occur in the world. We only devote a meaningless fraction to defend ourselves from ourselves and the world around us. We spend a meaningless fraction to truly defend or improve ourselves or create backups or alternatives to protect our society and way of life in case of contamination, reduction, elimination, or a myriad of other dangers. We have also yet to fully address adequate means of protecting the world, ourselves, and the future against contamination, depletion, and disasters that are caused directly or indirectly by us, as well as those that can or will naturally occur. We do not even have a system ready in case of depletion of current resources, which is already a problem. We also devote ourselves to responding to issues rather than preventing the chains of events that lead to these issues. Perhaps, when we truly and honestly begin to respond appropriately with what is needed for our current survival, we can begin to prepare for our various potential future paths. We must devote more time and money to fostering alternative and practical solutions for our issues, creating alternative resources to utilize in our lives, solving common problems that plague us all, and implementing backup plans for current and future use. Causes, rather than effects, should be our greatest concern.
We could easily develop and discover safe, natural, and unlimited resources to maintain and improve our quality of life and the conveniences thereof if we were really serious about it. If we hope to achieve more or even to survive our current stage, we must have adequate, safe, and reliable resources. We must have surroundings that are comfortable, safe, and secure, yet still challenging. These surroundings and resources include the ecological, social, emotional, spiritual, mental, and economic, just to name a few. A stable, healthy environment, whether physical, social, spiritual, educational, or otherwise, is essential for the survival of our species. I say, if we continue on many of our current paths, we may not have anything to protect in the future. I personally hope that we may have something to protect in the future. In any case, we must at least protect ourselves and our various environments in ways that are conducive for survival. A saying of mine that I tell myself is, those who prepare the future, prepare us all.
Growth
The stability of all environments is essential. (This means all environments, whether created by humans or not.) Stability in the present ensures a greater probability of stability in the future. This is why stability now, in general, is important to all of us and all of our futures. Of course, we must never forget that too much stability can lead to stagnation which can be counterproductive to our survival.
We must create stability and ensure that all of the gains and progress that we have made thus far in our various areas and societies survive well into the future. We must not just concentrate on the stability of the various physical environments, but also concentrate on the other environments that humanity inhabits, such as societal, spiritual, intellectual, economic, and many other environments not listed here. We must not just mine or harvest for the present but prepare and sow for a future beyond the lifespans of the current generations. We can no longer afford to search for or receive short-term gains at the expense of long-term stability. We cannot afford to continue to allow the rewards of gains in the present to outweigh our responsibilities to the liabilities of the future.
We need and must encourage more responsible growth and development of the kind that is sustainable in the long-term and prepares the future for us. Creating long-term sustainable growth in the present, beyond just short-term fixes, sets the foundations for sustainable growth in the long-term. Our current growth and development must responsibly take into account the future potential growth and development, future survival of the community, and what is in the best interest of all citizens and future generations. The best interest of the future is one of the reasons investments and laying down the foundations for the future is so important. We need to take responsibility for the future. We must respect the integrity of the community and be responsible to that community in ways that benefit all. We must remember that development, growth, and change are all unavoidable. We must honestly devote more of our efforts to focusing, directing, and shaping our future and all of our growth and development toward a stable outcome.
Migration
Migration could be seen as a law of nature. However, this does not negate the fact that migration can sometimes create imbalance. And attempting to stop migration can sometimes be fruitless or dangerous. So, if we honestly believe that a certain migration is dangerous, detrimental, a liability, or malicious, we must logically examine the situation, determine the factors causing the migration, and prevent the reasons and motivations behind that migration. One of the reasons migrations have always been undertaken, whether human or otherwise, is to seek better or more favorable conditions. But when examining human global migration patterns, we must also consider more complex factors and possibilities. However, still considering all of the various circumstances that are currently altering the societies of the world, I sometimes wonder if this time it is fundamentally different. If we were insects I might say that, on a global scale, we were beginning to “swarm.” Or, at minimum, possibly at the point of a splitting of society on a global scale. The problem is, we have nowhere to physically go to except within our own existing confines of the same geographical location (our planet Earth).
No matter the reasons, migration—the search for better conditions—is a primal instinct for survival. Those who are migrating may see it as a matter of survival. Yet, those migrating must not forget those people who already inhabit the area wherein they are migrating to. The current inhabitants may fear or at the least resent those migrating into their area, for the same reasons that those are migrating. The inhabitants may believe that their way of life or culture may be severely affected, and they may be correct. For these and many other reasons, those migrating must not forget why they are migrating. So, they must not repeat history by recreating the current situation or circumstance that has brought them to migration. They must remember and not bring with them or recreate the negative conditions, reasons, motivations, circumstances, chain of events, problems, or issues that have brought them to migration. It is paramount that they not even present the appearance of those same, or they may draw resentment from the native population. They must also respect the traditions, values, and way of life of the native populations.
There may be positive and negative repercussions from migration. But it is important to remember that sometimes there is nothing inherently wrong with migration in itself. Migration is a thing which helps us evolve. Sometimes growth and migration are essential for the survival of or benefit to one or all parties. Other times it results in loss or brings negative results to the area into which migration occurs. The conditions that are being escaped from by those migrating or even the results of the migration on the area being left behind may also be negative. There may be less “good people” left in the area that is being abandoned. Perhaps it is best to encourage those good people to stay with a carrot rather than try to prevent them from migrating with a stick. They are leaving those areas because of a stick, and may see the risks of leaving as just a different stick. But an honest carrot for them to stay and not to migrate can be something new to them. If we wish to mitigate the toll that migration may have, it may be best to help preserve or create positive reasons why good people live where they do.
Population
The population of the world is growing more rapidly today than in the past. We are placing more people on our planet and at the same time attempting to increase the lifestyles of all populations while not expanding many of our current finite resources. The constant growth taken together with our resource limitations create a major issue that our planet and humanity face. Many, but not all, of our current problems and conflicts in the world are about resources and the increased need for them. Resource-related issues can evolve into disputes. Such issues can evolve because of a variety of reasons; just a few of these are having limited resources, not enough sustainable or stable resources, belief in the superiority of some to deserve access to those resources, not utilizing our technology to supply additional resources that are needed, and various combinations thereof, in addition to other issues not listed here.
As with all species, overcrowding of humans causes a variety of issues. Overcrowding creates not just mental stress, but also physical stress, and consequences of both of these stresses. Most species, when crowded into limited space in vast numbers, may suffer many casualties. They die from the various mental and physical results of overcrowding. As with most species, overcrowding situations like this for humans can also cause general stress and panic. Yes, it may sound absurd that we can be likened to other species in relation to overcrowding. We are a much more advanced, unique, and sophisticated species, with more difficult-to-meet and advanced needs and desires. Therefore, we have even more complex failings. Everyone needs their own various form of personal space, basic rights, and resources for meeting the necessities of life, thus achieving mental stability. I do not know about you, but my personality can change when I am deprived of the basics of life and face overcrowding with more people, fewer resources, and increased contamination.
Theoretically I believe, under the right circumstances, we as a species have the potential to grow our population without any diminishment. However, this prospect is currently constrained by our current stage of technology and our finite resources. Even increasing the lifestyle of our current population may be difficult with our currently finite resources. Infinite reproduction cannot be sustained within the finite. If we could develop our technologies and sociological attitudes to their full positive potentials, I believe perhaps we may yet be able to adequately sustain our current numbers, maybe even more, and all with a higher quality of life. But without alterations of our current attitudes and actions, I believe we are on a path to being doomed. Remember that with humanity, as with any species, a lack of resources and necessities can potentially lead to social instability. Exponential population growth without alterations or advancements to accommodate it will eventually lead to population crashes.
Education for Balance in the Future
If it truly is the responsibility of the individual to better themselves, or at the minimum provide for themselves, then it only stands to reason that they should be encouraged by society to do so, or at least not be hampered by that society. It is a responsibility of the society, not to do for those who can do for themselves, but to provide the individual with proper access to the necessary tools or skills to do so. Providing educational opportunities or access to training today can help ensure less dependency on a society tomorrow. And providing those opportunities to all in the present is a fundamental cornerstone of ensuring better equality and balance in the future.
As I have stated before, I do not believe in doing for those who can do for themselves. However, I believe it is very important to give individuals the proper tools for doing for themselves and not hinder them if they are not hindering others. Providing educational opportunities and other opportunities for advancement, especially to those who truly need them, is an area in which we have made great strides from generations past. Yet this is still an area in which we do not invest equal to its reward or potential. This is an area that we have significantly fallen short in and there are still ramifications for the generations to come. Providing the necessary education or training to those who would not normally or necessarily have such access helps reduce instability and inequality in the future. To reduce future dependency on ourselves or others and help establish balance in the future, it is a requirement that we ensure educational or training opportunities for those who would not normally have access to them. For security and balance in the future, ensuring greater access to education or skills training for all must take more of a priority in our lives.
Wealth: Perception and Need
There are many types of wealth; I am no expert, but this very small section is devoted to monetary wealth.
•I believe the accumulation of monetary wealth is simply a means to an end. I believe the search for monetary wealth is not a search for monetary wealth in itself—it is a search for material possessions, power, influence, security, or any number of other objectives that it can bring. We seek monetary wealth in order to create or acquire these.
•We must not forget that monetary wealth itself is not necessarily evil or good, but the process of how it is acquired or used can be. It can be obtained through virtuous or unvirtuous methods. We can sometimes be blind to how wealth was accumulated if done so through unvirtuous methods as opposed to the virtuous methods of accumulating wealth.
•People can often associate the possession of wealth, consciously or unconsciously, with who should be followed or listened to. I believe this association has contributed to the current negative aspects of the societies of our world. We (as a world culture) still base so many of our perceptions about communities or individuals on how much monetary wealth they have accumulated. For your future and that of your offspring, is it not better to consider the heart and mind of someone rather than their pocketbook?
•We have forgotten the danger of those with economic or monetary influence—their less than reputable reputations have drastically more influence over laws, priorities, beliefs, and/or what should be the responsibility of communities and individuals. We can sometimes forget that when economic or monetary influence has an uneven sway, instability will naturally occur. And this instability is an even more likely result in our current interconnected world of mass communication.
o We must also acknowledge that extreme wealth, in many ways, may have even less constraints now than were present in the past. Some examples include, but are not limited to, the influence of wealth geographically, the ability to influence to a more politically diverse extent with wider ranging results, the ability to affect any society almost anywhere and anytime, and even the ability to perform a quick and easy transfer of wealth with the help of the computer age rather than physically moving it. (In our modern and technological age, even with current safeguards, the ability to camouflage or transfer substantial amounts of wealth has far less constraints than it did in generations past.)
o Arguably, we could also say that a disruptively large amount of wealth has more possibilities than in generations past. The world is changing on a global scale, and never before has there been such ability for quick and diverse change to occur as a result of that wealth.
o Arguably, in our world of today, extreme wealth has the potential to have more of a profound influence on the continuation of our human existence than it had in the past.
The Imbalance of the Pyramid of Wealth for the Individual Globally
In more than one area, the balance between encouraging improvement versus encouraging oppression must be carefully monitored. However, this discussion primarily focuses on this balance as it pertains to wealth. When considering this, some may argue that the disparity between the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor in our world is growing. There is also the case to be made that what we consider to be the quality of life for middle-income levels and even the numbers of the populace that make up the middle-income levels of the industrialized areas of the world are shrinking. Of course, some may even argue that the average quality of life for most all is diminishing in the industrialized areas of the world. There are also others who say that the numbers of extremely poor in the unindustrialized areas of the world are slightly shrinking and there is a growing middle class as these areas become industrialized. I ask, cannot all of these be true? The following assumptions are from my own biased perceptions:
•The numbers of poor in the already industrialized areas of the world, according to how the poor are determined in each area, are significantly growing. Meanwhile the numbers of poor in some of the unindustrialized areas of the world are slightly shrinking by their standard of determination.
•The middle class in the industrialized areas of the world is shrinking significantly by their standard of determination. The middle class in the unindustrialized areas of the world is slightly growing by their standard of determination.
•The wealth of the wealthy and especially that of the extremely wealthy in both the industrialized and unindustrialized areas of the world are growing significantly in proportion to that of all other classes.
Seeing this, some could argue that the imbalance of wealth globally is growing. I personally believe, however, that when the average middle class appears to be growing, it is mainly because the standards of how we view or determine the middle class is being lowered faster in comparison to the overall growth of economic affluency of the world.
Monetary wealth is commonly viewed as a pyramid. From an economic standpoint, the structural stability of the pyramid may appear to be stable and to some even acceptable. But I believe we must not look at it exclusively in terms of wealth, but in terms of population as well. Looking at it in terms of population, we can see large populations with less wealth and a few with substantial wealth. I believe that the reality is best portrayed as an upside-down pyramid, with the population of the poorer people represented by the larger, expanding top, while the wealth flows downward to the few in the pointed base. The few with substantial amounts of wealth and the many with less wealth. A very fine and wealthy point supporting a large and growing section of poor. In addition to this flow is the movement of the population of the shrinking middle class, or the middle of the pyramid, possibly shrinking faster than the rest of the pyramid with its population flowing to the expanding top of this upside-down pyramid.
The pyramid must be balanced, or it will attempt to balance itself. Throughout our human history, scenarios similar to this have often led to the collapse of the current structures of that time. In the past, extreme imbalance has led to redistribution or even revolution. And many of these rapid or dramatic instances of monetary wealth redistributions or revolutions have led to violent outcomes and conclusions. So, I ask, can we really afford a violent conclusion in the world of today?
Wealth redistribution is only a temporary solution. Sudden or dramatic revolutions based on the need for wealth redistribution, even when they have been necessary, have often laid the foundation for imbalance in the future. Redistributions can—and many have—create the foundation for the next imbalance. So, in solving the issues of wealth imbalances, I believe we must think beyond another redistribution of wealth. In solving these issues, we must not allow ourselves to fall into opposite extremes of social or economic systems. What if we could find a system of living that provides for all the aspects of life that are necessary for sustainability, as well as those that are needed to improve ourselves and society? A system that is safe while promoting free thought, creativity and self-sufficiency, and rewarding the ingenious and especially the harder worker. It would need to promote freedoms and responsibilities, encourage people to better themselves, combat laziness and shiftiness, and at the same time help those who cannot help themselves. I would hope that most would agree that we should not have to take care of those who are capable of taking care of themselves. But this does not negate the fact that not everyone has plenty or even that which is sufficient for themselves. We must not continue to deprive those who cannot take care of themselves, or the system will be in jeopardy. Not to mention, helping them is only humane. But until wealth is no longer a major factor in gaining access to opportunity, there may be crime, civil unrest, and general imbalance, among other things. But, until we have a system that simultaneously provides basic needs to all without effort, encourages empathy, does not allow people to become too complacent, and encourages and motivates individuals to provide for and better themselves, we may need some form of encouragement for the individual to strive.
Economics in Tomorrow
Economics can often be just as important for the stability of a society as most other things. Failure of economy has been the prelude to the demise of many civilizations in the past. The balance of the economy is important to the continuation of our society. And the continuation of our society profoundly influences the perpetuation of our species.
We must not deceive ourselves; at our current stage of sociological development we need systems of barter and trade and other economic structures to stimulate livelihoods and stability as well as general motivation. Trade is essential for a developing society and species such as ours. At our sociological stage, we need capitalism and barter to stimulate ingenuity. Of course, just because it is an asset does not eliminate the possibility that it could also be a liability. And, unfortunately, the quest for material wealth may also be needed to encourage motivation in some. In our world, many individuals still require some additional personal reward, incentive, or pressure to motivate their effort, accomplishments, or contributions. The simple motivation of the individual to increase their chances of survival cannot be lost or ignored either. Capitalism must be thought of as not only the search of an individual for material wealth, but also the search for betterment of their situation.
Unfortunately, in the minds of many people, capitalism has moved away from being a reward for motivation to better themselves or their situations, and a means for conquering challenges, encouraging ingenuity, hard work, and industriousness. Instead it has become perceived as a means of punishment for circumstances beyond their control or for their nonconformity. It has also come to be viewed by some as a justification not to care for fellow humans as much as is needed. I believe we must bring back the true opportunity that is in capitalism.
Wealth: Bringing Bigotry or Opportunity?
When we think of bigotry, biases, and stereotypes, race or religion comes to mind for most people. However, there are other bigotries, biases, and stereotypes that are just as powerful, sometimes even more so, and are not commonly recognized or acknowledged. We must be cautious of continuing one such bigotry tomorrow, one that has been present throughout history. At times it has been more prominent than biases regarding skin color, religious faiths, or other things. It even stands between individuals of the same skin color and religious faith. It is the bigotry of economic standing. As the global wealth flows disproportionally to the few and the middle class of the industrialized world dwindles or becomes less secure, we must be cautious. We must be cautious of bigotry, biases, and stereotypes, and particularly of policies flowing from such prejudices and the power of wealth that impact our society. In our society, monetary wealth brings opportunity and determines policies. So, we must be careful not to let wealth determine the balance of opportunities or policies too greatly. As opportunities and policies become based more fully on global monetary wealth and influence, societies of the world will become dangerously unbalanced.
Uniform and stable modes of exchange are essential for barter and trade. But, once a form of exchange becomes unstable, unfortunately imbalance will often be found; then replacement is not far behind. In the past, disproportional imbalance of wealth has resulted in strife and, more commonly, revolution. However, this same disproportional imbalance has also brought some injustices and biases to light. We must take our current situation as an opportunity to reevaluate what is in the best interest of our society. We must use this as an opportunity to reduce all of our various imbalances.
The Future of Wealth
When considering economics, we must not only think of monetary wealth, currency flow, or exchange involving a form of currency. Yes, these are the most obvious forms used to exchange for goods and services. However, it is not just the stability of our currencies that we must monitor; we must not forget that other forms of exchange can become unstable. For the sake of our future we must not forget that there are other consequences of the imbalances of wealth within our society. We must not forget the importance of the continued stabilization of our other forms of exchange that do not necessarily involve an exchange of monetary wealth, such as the exchange of services, commodities, and knowledge, to name a few.
Example: Let us say that two strangers were stranded in the desert, and neither have had anything to drink for days. Then, one noticed an abandoned bottle of water next to some gold coins. Some people would be more worried about the other person noticing the coins rather than the bottle of water. They can forget that without the water, the gold coins are worthless. The dead can have a hard time spending gold coins.
An instance of water being more valuable than gold in a desert is but one example of another type of wealth. There are many types of wealth other than monetary. If you really think about it, monetary wealth is simply used to exchange one form of wealth into another form of wealth. And many times one type of wealth is exchanged for another type of wealth without the use of any monetary wealth. Sometimes we humans have a habit of putting monetary wealth ahead of the other forms of wealth, even the lives of other people, or our own lives for that matter. Now, I am not saying that every human on the planet is willing to slit the throat of another for a little bit of profit. But often, we as a species can justify a slippery slope fairly easily. While there are many in the world who would not hesitate to take advantage of another in some degree, from great to the very slightest, but fortunately there are also many caring people out there in the world as well.
There are many examples of wealth that are not monetary. One such example of another type or form of wealth is knowledge. And some consider true wealth the knowledge of the universe, which is something that cannot be taken away easily. The most secure resource, or wealth, is that which cannot be easily lost. Of course, as I have stated before, improbable does not mean impossible in any situation, including the loss of personal knowledge through, for example, a brain injury. There are many forms of wealth, but all have one thing in common: they are determined by what is most rare or prized in a society. There can be intangible wealth such as knowledge, as well as tangible wealth such as gold.
Economics Other than Monetary
Economics are essential to any society and can even be found throughout the animal world in some form or another. Thus, the economy of a society does not necessarily have to involve monetary wealth. Even an ant colony practices a simplistic form of economics to survive as a society. For example, leaf-cutter ants perform their service of harvesting and transporting leaves back to the colony. Then, they process these “goods” to cultivate a “crop” of fungus. They later “harvest” this “commodity” in order to eat. This is just one small example of why we must begin to broaden our perspective of economics beyond the monetary aspect. Economics are a necessity of survival. This also goes to show why discussions of economics are not simple ones.
When I hear the arguments about protecting the environment versus protecting the economy, I believe they are myopic arguments. In listening to some of the current arguments about protecting the ecological environments and economic environments that are around us, I believe some would have us believe that one must be sacrificed for the other. I believe this is far from the reality, because we need both at our current stage of civilization. We need proper ecological environments around us for the basic survival of our species. And we need proper economies to continue our various societies. At our current stage of civilization, both are dependent on each other. With our current abilities to impact the world around us, we must have stable and flexible economies to ensure the safety of the many types of environments (not just the ecological) that we live in and that we are dependent upon. This is one of the reasons the stability and flexibility of the economies of a society are crucial. It is also important that we maintain not just ecological resources, but all of the other resources around us that various economies and personal livelihoods are reliant upon. Economies and environments are interconnected, and they both can become unstable, corrupted/contaminated, or even collapse; and they each have the potential to bring the other down.
Retaining the Conveniences, Pleasures, and Quality of Life into Tomorrow
When hearing the word “environment” with the word “economy,” there are many who assume one must be sacrificed for other. There are also many who can assume that there is the consequence of forfeit of environmental stability in exchange for our economic livelihood or modern conveniences. This is far from the true reality of the situation. We do not have to give up or forgo our modern conveniences and pleasures or a prosperous economy to gain a healthy environment in the future. Living in the world of tomorrow does not mean the denial or abandonment of our modern conveniences and pleasures. However, we may have to modify or adjust the ways in which we access those conveniences or pleasures. And these adjustments do not have to mean reducing the overall quality or quantity of opportunities that people utilize in order to supply themselves, their families, or their societies with a way of life. In fact, the world of tomorrow can have more modern conveniences with less drain on natural resources.
Changing Our methods in Order to Retain Our Conveniences, Pleasures, and Quality of Life into Tomorrow
We must be aware of the apprehension some have when there is change. People will be wary when there is change, worried that their way of life will be disrupted. When there is a change within a society, people within that society will often expect stability and a quality of life equal to or higher than that which was supplied before. Until it has been successfully demonstrated that their way of life will not be diminished or hampered, people, for the most part, will not accept change—or they will be at the minimum apprehensive concerning the alteration of their access to their way of life. We must first demonstrate to them that their way of life will not be diminished, then supply them with alternative solutions before deterring or especially forbidding them from something within their way of life. It is also best to show them more convenient and practical solutions to access their way of life. But we must also remember that their new way of life will not be accepted if it contradicts or inhibits their current conveniences or pleasures.
If something is forbidden first, even after we show the risks of doing it and the benefits of not doing it and supply alternative solutions, there will still always be resistance by some. I believe that until we as a people are willing to make the necessary adjustments in how our lifestyles are accessed, we will continue to borrow from the future of our children. And I believe that in many of our arguments and in our zeal to conquer the environment around us for survival we have forgotten the obvious solution. That solution is to adapt to our surroundings. We are born to adapt and adjust. We are a very adaptive species.
Balancing the Economy and the Environment for a Future
Unfortunately, at our present stage of development, we may need some things that produce waste or “environmental liabilities.” However, that only means that in the meantime, we must devote ourselves even more to finding alternatives. Of course, in the end, the best ways to not produce these “environmental liabilities” is to use alternatives, reduce, reuse, recycle, and conserve. Reusing things is becoming more of a reality. What was considered waste in the past is being found new uses. There are many different avenues to reuse material that was once considered waste. I believe that eventually we will find that most by-products will have some use, even if the technology of today does not have the answer. But this does not negate the fact that we must be concerned with the environmental safety of the present until the future has the answer. If we are not careful, the expense of cleaning it up in the future may outweigh the profit we are making in the present.
In our current production levels and storage methods of these by-products or refuse, we may cause expenses to outweigh benefits in the long-term. Even if you believe my statements are not completely accurate, I would still hope that you believe that it is our obligation to go out of our way to reduce the production of these harmful by-products, or any waste for that matter that the present or the future would need to deal with. If they are produced, we must also go above and beyond to ensure that they are safely and securely taken care of. They must be properly taken care of until we know what to do with them in the long-term, have the ability to reuse them, and/or truly understand how to properly contain or dispose of them. We cannot afford to have the attitude of primarily finding the least expensive way possible for the present. Often, that kind of way leads to a larger expense for the future.
We need to find ways to create less waste and especially less-dangerous waste, search out more proper storage, and increase our abilities to use what we create. We should make every effort. We cannot afford to continually and irresponsibly devote resources to our own personal self-interests at the expense of areas that provide support for human survival. I also believe that there are better ways of feeding people or growing an economy than resorting to the contamination or depletion of a natural resource base. Therefore, we need to view our use of natural resources more in terms of harvesting than extraction.
When it comes to the debate of environment versus economy, I believe many downplay the fact that we must make sure that we have sources of income and natural environments that are long lasting and stable. We need to make sure that our sources of income as well as our environments are here to stay, do not run out, and are able to support more than just a generation or two. We must have balance between our economies and ecologies. And we must create environmental stability and economic security that are in support of one another. We need both, and it is irresponsible to sacrifice one for the other.
We must not close ourselves off to the reality that as long as there is a need for something, the desire for it will be stronger than most other things. The reality is that much of what we produce, as I mentioned earlier, may be considered a liability in the future but may very well be produced somewhere by someone else if we do not produce it. Yet this does not negate our responsibility to future generations.
In pursuing our duty to create ecological stability, we must not forget our obligation to not thwart people in taking opportunities to supply themselves and their families with a livelihood. We may all be similar in the regard that we just want a better life for ourselves or our families. I believe that in this debate, this is sometimes forgotten. Remember, many may approach the world in terms of just trying to support themselves or their families. In the debate of environment verses economy, we cannot afford to forget that in many areas of the world the average hardworking person is finding their ability to achieve self-sufficiency becoming increasingly more difficult. They are increasingly finding it more difficult to have their basic financial security assured or, at minimum, have their basic needs meet. We cannot forget the vital keys in preserving a middle class and long-term stability of a culture or society.
The balance of the environment is essential to the continuation of our human species. But the balance of the economy is important to the continuation of our society, and sometimes even in a way to the perpetuation of our species as well.
Balancing the Environment for an Economic Future
It is crucial that we have the future resources we need for our society and a stable environment for economic livelihoods in the future. We must protect the economy and resources necessary for our species and the society of the future by promoting sound economic and ecological opportunities in the present. We must create infrastructure in order for opportunities to flourish, so we are better able to protect something for our children and future generations to inherit. We must better explore and increase implementation of the ways to encourage businesses to be more environmentally responsible while being fiscally sound. If we want more financially and ecologically sound production of energy and physical materials, we must meet the production abilities of our new industries with our current and future needs. The support of these energy and material production industries is beneficial in creating environmental stability and economic security. We need to help create and establish alternative resources and industries for economic and environmental security and longevity, both nationally and globally. We need incentives that promote independence and self-reliance in energy and material production. Relying on one particular resource is not the answer, no matter what that may be. The solution will come from utilizing a combination of all renewable and alternative resources. Plus, we cannot forget the security and huge economic opportunity in these relatively new industries.
The Depletion of the Environmental Principal
Natural resources can be viewed as a savings account. If our savings account is sufficient and we simply live off the interest and use only what we need without depleting the principal, then the account could theoretically be around forever for us to utilize. However, if we start living beyond our means and increasingly use the principal, then the principal will begin to deplete exponentially. Soon we will have depleted the account, and our account will be zero. ZERO. In my opinion, this is what we are doing to the Natural Resource Account of our world. I hope you are like me and are tired of our Natural Resource Account being cheaply sold in regard to our future.
Our natural resources are here to be utilized. But the looting without giving proper compensation to all who currently have a right to them or showing unconcern for the future must be stopped, while we still have something left. I believe we do not have to spend our environmental principal—consume natural resources beyond the breaking point—to grow an economy. We must keep our environmental principal secure for the future. When we harvest an environment beyond its ability to regenerate sufficiently, eventually that environment will fail to produce. We must all help ensure that our resources are adequate, clean, protected, and sustainable for use in the future.
Environmental Stewardship
I must ask the question: In general, are we as humanity poor stewards of the ecological environment of the world?
There are many opinions concerning the environment. And our current understandings of the laws of nature and how our planet works are only based on the information we have thus far. So, I can honestly contend that we do not yet understand everything. Yet, we cannot afford to ignore correlations and information that we have gathered. We must take the same approach concerning the stability of the environment that we do with the stability of the economy. We must listen to knowledgeable, impartial, and uninfluenced observers who provide scientific evidence rather than to someone who is looking at it from a strictly rigid, one stance, self-serving point of view, or the all-or-nothing extremist.
There are those who only care about themselves and the present. However, my hope is that most of us do care, that there are also those who have good hearts and wish that they could do more to help preserve, conserve, or better utilize our natural resources. I have observed that there are many different kinds of people who do want to help, and they make their own various attempts to help preserve our planet in their own ways. Now, I am not saying everyone is perfect; most probably do about the same as everyone else does. I am no expert, so I cannot tell us what, when, where, or how to improve. However, we must explore what we each can personally do. More importantly, we must actually act.
However, there are still too many people who are very wasteful and dangerous to the environment, planet, and the very survival of our species. Now, I am not saying that everyone is dumping all kinds of waste wherever, throwing everything into pits, generally disregarding our limited enclosed space that we call our planet, or anything like that. But there are some people who believe that there is no hope and have the attitude of “why try,” there are those who ignore or deny the problem, and even those who do not believe they can make that much of a difference either way. This belief and attitude of “why should I care if no one else does” or “why try” generally does more harm than good. We must all think more in the long-term. We must show and convince all that there is a problem, that there is hope, and more importantly that they can make a difference. I believe it is our responsibility to demonstrate to everyone how they can make that difference. Show them that if they do not at least try, there will be no hope for tomorrow. But how do we do this? One way is to start teaching people from childhood. Show them how and why to be conservative and creative with our natural resources without any decrease to their lifestyle. We must convince them all that there is hope and show them the way to help. Again, I must reiterate our obligation to show them that if we do not at least try, there will be no tomorrow.
As for those people who waste, consume resources beyond their share, or just generally do not care about the environment that we all share—I believe that they are that way out of common greed, selfishness, or laziness. They only care about themselves and what they personally can get out of things, or they only think of today and not of tomorrow. Sadly, they are in it only for what they can get out of life today and are without concern for the consequences of tomorrow. They do not care about the air we all must breathe, the safety of the water we all must drink, or a planet capable of supporting life beyond themselves. We may not be able to change their minds. We may have to allow them to come to realizations on their own. Yet it is still dangerous for us all when they live by this belief. We may have to fight them and show them the evil of their ways. We may have to impose accountability when the survival of humanity is threatened. There is no warranty for our planet. They may not realize how much our planet requires from us or how much we depend on it until it is almost or completely gone in self-destruction. But I hope I am wrong.
Rewarding and Enforcing Environmental Responsibility
We must make more of an effort in actively rewarding those who practice environmental awareness and defense. This can be just as important as focusing on getting reparation from those who practice the negative. Rewarding the positive establishes a pattern of behavior. Rewarding the positive is something that we have failed to fully practice, along with failing to get adequate protection and reparation for the negative.
We must also proportionately place the proper expense on those who benefit more from the use of community resources that we all share. In doing this, we also need the passage of stronger restrictions on, and penalties for, facilities and individuals that have an impact on the ecosystem without supplying adequate reparation or stability for that ecosystem. We must be more forceful in collecting adequate compensation from those who deplete or contaminate the resources in disregard of the common good. Additionally, we must seek restitution for use in repairing the damage of the shared resources of the community. Those who deplete or contaminate the shared resources must be required to provide restitution, repair the damage they inflicted, and restore the quality of life up to the point that it was at when they altered it. This is something that must be required from them until what they have damaged becomes fully restored or until they have provided adequate compensation for what they have damaged. By this I mean fair and truly adequate compensation. We must place the expense for the environmental repair on those who caused the damage, instead of burdening others with this expense. It is unfair to place disproportionate expense relative to benefit.
Environmental Interconnection, Stability, and Future
We each have our own string of life, and we live out our lives strand by strand. We all affect each other, and our own string of life is interconnected with those of others and everything else. If not affecting each other and everything directly, then our strings have indirect effects. When we bring all of the strings together, we form the rope for the planet. Each of the strands comes together to form the great rope that supports everybody and everything. When one strand is broken, it puts more pressure on the rest of the rope, causing the rope to become weaker and weaker. As each strand is broken one by one, the weight becomes increasingly heavier on the rest of the strands, possibly until the rope can no longer support what we know as the stability of our planet. Finally, the Earth becomes too heavy to be supported by this rope; then it will fall into nothingness, to possibly disappear forever. >
Everything that we rely on, that others rely on, and so forth is a part of the interconnectedness of everything. Every loss or death helps to kill a part of the rest of us. In fact, every useless death kills an even greater part of us than what we realize. Every time we take and do not replenish part of the environmental principal we rip a nail out of the foundation of the future, and ruin that which our future will be built upon. Whenever we contaminate natural resources or use them faster than they can be replaced, waste resources by throwing them into a deep pit and just covering them up (literally or figuratively), throw dangerous material into a pit and cover it up and say “that is the end of that,” leave something for future generations to clean up, kill or destroy something for nothing other than pleasure or personal gain, or cause a single causality of war, we rip a nail out of the foundation of the future.
Every species that we save, saves a part of ourselves. Every species that we can save is vital to the survival of our planet and our species, even if we are not fully aware of its significance at the moment. Everyone, everything, and every effort has the potential to be important for the future of us all. In a way, every species and decision could be seen as a link, each affecting the stability of all. For this reason, everyone and everything are important and affect the future of us all. Thus, they are all vital areas for the foundations of our future, and when we disregard them, we ruin that which our future is to be built upon. Perhaps our lost potential for a better world of the future will soon be rebuilt. But in the meantime I ask, what will we be able to give the children of the future if we continue to destroy ourselves, everything we touch, and everything around us, and consume beyond that which can be replaced? So, I ask future generations to forgive us for all the damage we have done.