That is the Earth, our home, it is not our mother, it does not think or care about us, it is just a rock that will go on without us if we disappear one day. We are the biggest and most important resident of this house, this abode for life in an otherwise (apparently at least) deserted neighborhood. We have also started renovating the place, slowly at first (Agriculture, fire, preindustrial civilization) but now picking up at ever increasing pace (industrial revolution too now) and affecting the lives of almost every single resident. Some have adapted, adopted (domestication) or simply moved out (extinction) of the house due to our changes to it. The problem of course is that their is no one to tell us when to stop, when we are in danger of collapsing the house on top of all of us, or making the residents we depend on move out. No one has ever seen the blueprints to the house, been shown its weak and critical points and systems to us or even given a decent tour of the place. We are in effect building on what could be very shaky foundations and are unable to put on the parking brakes lest we risk a chaos that could still bring down the roof on all of us anyways. We only barely missed (several times) blowing up our entire section of the house years ago. Our people demand that we improve the lot of everyone and peacefully correct the gaps that separate the winners of our history from the losers. They will not stand for any halt of that process and especially not for one that will keep them in poverty. The 5-6 billion poor in the world will not accept a cap on their standard of living especially if the rich billion get to keep theirs. Stagnation has always led to chaos down the road, faster when that stagnation is self-imposed. We are in effect unable to change course but we can still avert disaster if we can just figure out the right pace to go forward with.
With this analogy I have shown to you that we are in a vice of both having a possibility that we will collapse the resource and ecosystem base that keeps modern civilization and the process of globalization going due to over eagerness. While also having the problem that we can't really put the brakes on that process unless we want to risk social chaos that could collapse civilization all together. This is problem with modern global civilization it is no longer resilient to things that in more primitive economies and civilizations could of endured due to our interconnectedness. The world economy is now much like the economy of the late roman empire, where all sections were utterly dependent on each other for survival. Any collapse of the global economic network and brittle support structure would likely result in a new dark age. But this time made a thousand times worse by its global reach, the looming threat of environmental catastrophe following it and finally the fact the loss of resulting from the chaos will make it seem like the end of days. Billions would die and the survivors would have little to look forward to other then picking through the rubble and trying rebuild while anarchy rages all around them. The few remaining lights of civilization that survived the fall would soon find themselves swamped with refugees and be subject to constant raids by roaming groups of pillagers. A Neo-Feudalism is likely to follow that would likely hold back civilization for millennia and would be unable to deal with the problems that we have created for them. This Dark age scenario could be the result of a myriad array of problems and likely to come unexpected and catch us unprepared. Global civilization must walk a high tightrope for mankind to succeed, nay to survive this harsh universe. Because it is likely that the universe will not give us a second chance, nor forgive for our transgressions.
So then why I am addressing you guys, members of my fellow generation, what makes us and our children so important? It is not because we are the last born but rather that we are the first-born of a new age. An age of novel opportunities and terrifying prospects that could make or break humanity. We are the first generation who may be able to permanently end the Malthusian trap that has held back mankind for so long. If we can keep Malthus and the forces of nature at bay until 2050 when the UN predicts population will peak then we my friends have largely succeeded at our goal. For a peak in population would allow us to put on the brakes on growth without having to worry about having to care for more and more people. It would allow mankind in effect to take a collective breather and take a look around at our surroundings and assess what must be done to repair the damage of climb upwards.
We my friends must also work to keep men from destroying their own creation and prevent it from collapsing. The only way we able to fix the damage from our development is by completing the process and preventing global regression. Global problems require global solutions that will involve all nations. We therefore must work our hardest to build an effective global governance structure that can deal with all global issues and keep a handle on global activity in order to prevent a world dominated by private interests. A global market must have a global government to effectively regulate and stimulate it. The alternative is a chaotic world economy whose crisis's will make the financial crisis look like hiccups. Those potential crisis's also will carry with them the potential to collapse and set back civilization something that must be prevented at all costs.
None of this will be easy as the inertia of the current global system and disorganization of global power make reform and change difficult to accomplish. Yet we can't just give up as every future generation will either celebrate or condemn our deeds. If we can rise above history and overcome the challenges that face us then mankind and life on in general will have a much better future and will be given the possibility to spread beyond the Earth and achieve true glory as a mature space faring civilization. Should we fail and let disaster take hold then we condemn our descendent's to lives of poverty and mankind to a likely eventual extinction.
It is likely that the vast majority of civilizations in the universe reach this point and fail to go to the next step considering the fact that no one seems to be nearby. If we can make that next step then we will prove to the universe that we are not like the others and that we deserve to survive and thrive.
The choice of course is ultimately ours.
Chose wisely, friends.
