Outer Limits

All systems have limits.  Natural and man-made, systems have built-in growth limits that, when exceeded begin to fail.  I believe that we are approaching or beyond the three main civilization sustaining systems on our planet.

Our environmental system is nearing collapse and we are at or beyond the point of no return. As Al Gore says, the planet will be fine, it's just human civilization that's in trouble.  If only 80% of what climate scientists predict is true, the climate extremes heading our way are sure to be catastrophic.  World-wide famine and drought, ice cap melt and health pandemics threaten our very existence.  Our planet is over-crowded and unsustainable.

The economic system is top-heavy and creating far-too many losers.  The wealthiest eight men in the world have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the world's population.  Our economy is giving off all the cues that trigger fear, anxiety and uncertainty in the population.  Economic uncertainty can lead to the paradox of thrift, exacerbating our economic woes.  The economic system known as corporate capitalism, where everything becomes eaten or discarded, is not sustainable.

And, finally, our political system is beyond the limits for which it was intended.  The founders of the US lived in a country with a population of about 5 million people.  The system that they created worked well for a fairly homogenous culture.  Add 250 years, 300 million people of diverse ethnicity race and religion, and approximately 3.4 million square miles, and the system is beyond ineffective and teetering on farce.  It's not so much that the political system is unsustainable, it's more that the system is inadequate to manage and solve the growing challenges we have in the other systems.  It is simply not designed to handle the speed and intensity of the challenges of today.