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A lot has changed on Earth in the 10,000 years it took humans to grow from a few million to 8 billion. While our numbers have increased several thousandfold, green-growing plants and forests have been reduced by half; rainfall has decreased by at least half; wildlife, insects, and songbirds have decreased by more than half; and topsoil and soil organic matter have decreased by two-thirds. In short, the Earth is less than half as alive and productive as it was 10,000 years ago while it is being asked to support an unprecedented outbreak of human organisms more devastating than any pandemic in history. Civilization is ailing, and the Earth itself could well be dying. Her fever is accelerating. Her vitality and energy are being consumed and depleted faster with every passing day.
The time for self-congratulation is over. The time for business as usual is past. The need to get serious about changing our ways is screaming for our attention.
Congress must act immediately. We must demand that they:
- Put a high and progressively rising tax on fossil fuels to rein in energy consumption.
- Use revenue to pay farmers, ranchers and foresters to regreen the Earth through reforestation and regenerative agriculture, thereby restoring rainfall, Earth’s most effective cooling mechanism.
- Restructure the tax code to encourage no more than two children per family.
- Ration household energy consumption for greater equity.
Contact your representatives in Congress. Then hope that this is enough.
Donovan Wilkin