Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Indolence of Man

A hundred years ago, the colonists have accused the Filipinos of indolence. Now I wonder if such indolence is embedded in genetics and ran in the family of nations.

Thirty years ago, when oil first found its industrial use, science had already pointed out its limit. For years, the global economy ran on fossil fuels and oil is black gold. Fast forward in time, we see oil prices hiking much more than we thought they should. Transport groups are on the verge of revolution, consumers are bemoaning. Have we really considered the truth that crude oil is limited or have we chosen to close our eyes to an imminent reality? Wouldn't our intelligence be to blame for the current crises?

Thirty years ago, meteorological studies noticed a warmer global temperature and higher carbon dioxide volume in the atmosphere. A question over the existence of human induced global warming was born. The question became a rumor, rumor to debate, debate to concern, concern to issue, issue to global threat.

Every learned man has passed through the classroom and has undergone instruction. Knowledge and morality has not failed to find its way into our educational systems. But when these children grow to become the work force, such education fails to bear fruit or has it? Is man by nature indolent or is this the evil face of our nature?

1 comment:

  1. I can definitely bet my favorite fake pink D&G bag that people and government all over the world have been making waves about this issue and are actually looking into resolving it. However, how to address the issue becomes the springboard of a lot of disagreements. There are those who want to resolve the issues now but there are those who want gradual resolutions. As I understand, the issue here is more than just about supply and demand and global warming but also a macroeconomic one. Resolving the issue would bring immediate and long term effects. The immediate effect is a macroeconomic one and the long-term effect is environmental.

    Say we will use alternative sources of energy effective tomorrow, therefore resolving the oil problem. All those oil-rich countries will immediately experience a downturn in their economy which would mean changes in its fiscal policies. One effect will be decreased spending, consumption and exports from other countries such as the Philippines. Decrease in exports from us would result in decreased production and decrease in production would bring loss of jobs and then less spending power for a lot of people which would then result to more hunger and poverty. Imagine that happening in a large scale all over the world. Remember that our economies are interdependent. Now I understand why those fuel free engine inventions didn’t bring in immediate support from governments to have them mass produced because a downturn in one economy could cause a downturn in other economies as well. However, we are slowly changing that and slowly turning to alternative sources of energy. The keyword here is SLOW……but definitely sure. Enough to give time to those oil dependent countries to change and plan their economies in order not to adversely affect our own. Around the world, people are waiting for the production and commercialization of the first air-powered car. In the Philippines, we have already the solar powered buses & tricycles and the biofuel. In time, we will implement the changes all over the country.

    So my learned and insightful cousin, man is not indolent. We are just cautious especially our world leaders. (We invented work, remember?!) What may appear to be an ideal solution may turn out to be counter productive and have adverse effects in the long run to our environment such as the ones sited in Biofuel. I would like to think that what you have mistaken as indolence is actually CAUTION. I have faith that as a people we can alleviate global warming and not perish because of our mistakes. I can see that our leaders and governments are doing what they can and that each of us is also doing our share.

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