Why are they Deathtraps? Because nearly every city worldwide is built in a geologically unstable location. Oh, it may be stable for decades, or even centuries. But we KNOW that sooner or later, a devastating recurring natural event will occur--earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and hurricanes, fires and wildfires, etc. And yet, we continue to expand these cities year after year. We continue to pack in even more people year after year. We create huge skyscrapers to squeeze in ever more people. Cities are the epitome of high density living.
We consider cities to be exciting and vibrant places to live. Should the natural disaster occur, thousands--hundreds of thousands or even millions--of people will die with no quick and easy way to leave the cities. Cities are built to take in thousands and thousands of people. They are NOT built or planned to allow fast and easy egress from the cities. Skyscrapers in the cities are another layer of the deathtraps. People will pay up to millions of dollars to live in uppermost floors of these skyscrapers. When a disaster strikes, they will be even more vulnerable than those at ground level if that's possible.
Why do humans put themselves in jeopardy daily and on a routine basis? Top reason: Denial. Second reason: They expect their government at all levels will "take care" of them if anything happens. Third reason: Natural disastrous events may have a long-term recurring period so they feel "safe." Fourth reason: They're feeding their enormous egos. These people put themselves in jeopardy, knowing the liklihood of a disastrous event, and these people will cry the loudest when disaster does strike. They will expect everyone everywhere to have sympathy and provide all the help and support they most definitely will need if they survive.
Because, people, these natural events WILL happen. It isn't merely Probable; it's a Certainty. The only uncertainty is: When will it happen? What happens in our cities will affect everyone everywhere.
We, as a specie, continually put ourselves and our futures in jeopardy. We feel that everything we do is an Acceptable Risk as long as our actions provide us with pleasure and comfort...today. Acceptable, that is, until it happens. Then we react as though we were blindsided. We ask, Why didn't our government foresee this? Why didn't our government provide more security? Why doesn't our government provide more help? We put the blame for our huge misfortune upon everyone and everything else. Even then, we Do Not accept the responsibility for our predicament on ourselves. WE PUT OURSELVES IN JEOPARDY with the expectation that someone else (everyone else?) will solve our problems.
For instance Climate Change aka Global Warming. We ALL KNOW that humankind is hurrying it along. True, it's a naturally recurring event in the Earth's history. But the Earth takes hundreds and thousands of years, sometimes millions of years, to phase in and out of these global events. In this particular instance, our human actions are accelerating the change. Humans have very very short lifespans; we may very likely Not Survive a global climate change. But, in spite of all the warnings and information, we are individually doing extremely little or nothing to at least try to avert or slow down this change. We do not want to give up our voracious use of all natural resources. We do not want to change our lifestyle to the extent we need to. We'll do a teeny tiny negligible bit and be proud of our personal effort. We assume and expect our governments can and will do the rest. We will not admit to ourselves that our "governments" are merely people just like us, who think just like us. We pass off our personal responsibility. We expect that someone else will "do something."
We'll buy a vehicle with a higher gas mileage, we'll put in a solar water heater, we'll recycle our glass and paper waste. Then we sit back on our collective asses and pat ourselves on our backs, proud of our effort. This doesn't help at all. Why not? Because when we have a fuel-efficient vehicle, we just drive more. When we have solar energy providing our power, we'll just use even more energy. We will NOT practice true beneficial lifestyle changes. We will NOT give up our electronic toys, our ego-boosting acquisition of material goods, we will not lessen our production of waste. In every area, we voraciously consume any and all natural resources. Our population growth rate negates any minor efforts we individually practice. We will NOT adjust our lifestyles to any significant degree.
We continue to create and consume even more toxic waste. We continue to clear our forests on a devastating scale--the forests that play a major role in providing all life with oxygen. We see and live the signs of climate change--more intense storms and weather patterns. We ignore them. We tell ourselves it's only temporary. If it gets worse, the government will do "something." We won't give up our vehicles. We will not cut down on our waste. We will not cut down on our use of any natural resource. Instead, we continue to burn energy at unprecedented levels. We continue to create, produce, and consume products that are toxic to our environment; that contributes to greenhouse gasses such as many if not all of our electronic gadgets, tools, and toys. Just consider all of the batteries we consume every day for each and all of our electronic stuff. We call it progress. We call it fun. And we continue to want ever more of them.
The environmental quality is steadily and rapidly deteriorating. We see and experience the weather changes, we are constantly reminded that our actions are driving climate change to accelerate ever faster every year everywhere! We, all of us, still refuse to alter our lifestyles to the degree we need to slow and adapt to climate change.
Being specific, our most pressing and serious problem is our uncontrolled and irresponsible population growth! Our ever-burgeoning population worldwide increases our depletion of natural resources exponentially. We profess to love "our children" and yet we're doing everything we can to ensure they have no habitable world and quality lifestyle in which to live their lives. We're causing the problems they'll need to face and solve. We tell ourselves that environmental groups will not "let" "It" happen and we go on our merry though extreme wasteful lifestyles way. How can Anyone say they love their children and not do anything? How can anyone today say that children are precious and our hope for the future? We're creating tremendous and extremely serious problems for them to solve in order to maintain our "quality" lifestyle today. As parents and responsible people, we are not living up to our responsibilities and our promises. Many of us, too many, are not even admitting that there are problems and that we are the creators of those problems.
I am so disappointed in the human race. We do not practice what we preach.
In the end: We will reap the disastrous and well-deserved results of our actions and lack of action today. But we are asking our children to pay for our lack of responsibility. Shame on us!
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