An uncertain future

“Death focuses the mind on the things that really matter: why are we here, and what should we do?” ― Arthur C. Clarke, Songs of Distant Earth

It seems an odd title to lean my rickety Substack post upon given that we’ve seen a landslide victory in the United Kingdom (“UK”) of a new government – Labour – and no doubt there will be a heightened expectation in the population at large that things will now (and must) get better.

But, here’s the thing: I have witnessed many governments come and go, and yet nothing has changed, really. The mantra is still the same; namely, we need growth if we’re going to continue with the experiment called ‘progress’. And if any political party changed their message, well, it would be just this side of the apocalypse – i.e. they’d be wiped out on the altar of voters’ wishes, needs and demands.

And…?

Quite.

And what?

(Sorry for the cliffhanger.)

Well, as I see it there is such a thing as too late – i.e. you pass a point of no return.

And that dear readers feels where we’re at despite or in spite of the change of government.

Two things: a) population (circa 8.1 billion); and b) atmospheric carbon dioxide ("Each year, human activities release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than natural processes can remove, causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase. The global average carbon dioxide set a new record high in 2023: 419.3 parts per million." – Climate.gov)

So, in the case of the Labour government and all political parties, it’s not that they can’t do anything about (a) and (b) above – they can and should – but the dominant narrative, hubristic in every way, is premised on (inter alia) all of us living up to our god-given potential, a better quality of life (upwards only in other words), well-paid jobs for everyone, a fully funded National Health Service, social services to care for all of us, good quality housing, a decent State pension; and the list goes on and on. 

My point is: assume that the entire world was living the same way – middle-class sounds a bit tendentious but you get my point – and there was an expectation that that MO would go on forever, what then? How do you feed, clothe and provide shelter to an expected population of 10 billion people on a planet that is finite, limited and slowly but surely being decimated by our needs and wants?

The short answer is, you can’t. 

And therein lies the rub.

Namely, our trajectory is already set in motion to eventual, if not annihilation, then a ravaged world that will not be able to support the lives of 8 or 10 billion people. 

Where then?

Mars?

Who the hell knows but something is going to shift – not in my lifetime – but certainly the next generation will see many more ‘adverse’ weather events, wars and economic challenges that will make the banking crisis seem like small change. Weave into the mix the price of food, clean water and those wretched forever chemicals and that doesn’t allow for the catastrophic effects of our reliance on oil and gas, and you can already see how films like The Book of Eli might not be that far-fetched after all.

But, hey, what do I know?

And today of all days is no time to pour cold water on the election result.

Then again, none of this ‘stuff’ is going away and much like the pandemic showed us, it’s going to have to get a lot, lot worse before we wake up and smell the coffee.

Take care dear readers.

Much love,

Julian 

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash