EnviroLink Forum
http://www.envirolink.org/forum/

Individualism is destroying the world.
http://www.envirolink.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24778
Page 1 of 1

Author:  JPierson [ Tue Dec 16, 2014 7:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Individualism is destroying the world.

We are in an unprecedented, global crisis. The crisis is climate change, global warming, pollution, mass extinction, overpopulation, and the decreasing supply of natural resources. Human activity such as excess consumption, overpopulation, and the burning of fossil fuels caused the crisis. Sometime during the 20th century the crisis began. If the crisis is not solved now then during the next 100 years scientists say that we will probably lose most of the plant and animal life on Earth, lose most of the natural resources on Earth, lose most of the forests on Earth, the sea level will rise so much that many cities and towns will be underwater, and storms will increase in severity and frequency, causing millions of people to be killed, starving, unemployed, or homeless. The crisis will get worse in the future if it is not solved now. To do nothing about the crisis would be a crime against the future. The crisis is not just a future event. The crisis is happening now. Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, recent wild fires, and the drought in California were caused by global warming. The amount of natural resources on Earth is decreasing every day and will not increase at any time in the near future. The number of people on Earth is increasing. The decreasing supply and increasing cost of food, water, gas, oil, coal, wood, metal, and other resources is caused by overpopulation and excess consumption. Prices go up when supply decreases and demand increases. The economy is being hurt by the crisis because when the price of necessary things such as food and gas rises then people have less money for other things, causing people to buy less and businesses to lose money. The stock market crash of 2008 was caused by more than just financial problems such as debt. The stock market crash of 2008 was caused in part by the rising cost of gas and oil. In 2008 the price of oil hit a record high and it remains higher than average today. The economy will get worse in the future if the crisis is not solved now.

Leaving Earth is not an option. We cannot escape the crisis by leaving Earth and going to another world such as Mars or the Moon. Scientists say that it will take at least 1,000 years for us to make another world such as Mars or the Moon like Earth, like a planet that millions of people can live on. Spacecraft design has not changed much since the 1980s. We don't have the technology that is needed to move millions of people from Earth to outer space. Earth is the only place we can get resources. We don't have the technology that is needed to mine the Moon, asteroids, or other planets for resources. Cramming millions of people into spacecraft is a bad idea because people won't have any freedom on spacecraft. Spacecraft are small, enclosed areas. If people on a spacecraft don't do what they are told then the pilots or operators of the spacecraft can turn off the life support system: oxygen, water, heat, and electricity.

Scientists say that because of the crisis the supply of food will decrease while the population increases. What is meant by a decrease in the food supply is that the world's population is growing faster than the world's supply of food causing the amount of food available to most people to slowly decrease as time moves forward. The decrease in the food supply is more noticeable in places such as Africa where people have less money. The decrease in the food supply is less noticeable in places such as the United States where people have more money. In Africa today a decrease in the food supply causes famine and starvation. In the United States today a decrease in the food supply causes a 10% increase in the cost of food, something that most people wouldn't notice. A famine could happen in rich countries such as the United States in the future. The cost of food is rising while most people's income is staying the same. We are running out of water. The world's water supply is decreasing. Most water on Earth cannot be used by humans because it is saltwater. Removing salt from water is difficult and expensive. Two-thirds of the world’s population could face water shortages before 2030. Water shortages can cause famine because water is needed for farming. Earth is running out of natural resources such as oil, gas, coal, wood, metal, fish, farm land, and drinkable water because of overpopulation and excess consumption. There are too many people on Earth today and most people are consuming more resources than they need. If people are allowed to have as many children as they want and if people are allowed to consume as much resources as they want then there won't be enough resources in the future. People in the future will starve because there won't be enough food for everyone.

To solve the crisis we must stop individualism. Individualism is when the individual is more important than the group. Collectivism is when the group is more important than the individual. Individualism says that the wants and needs of the individual are more important than the wants and needs of the group. Collectivism says that the wants and needs of the individual are less important than the wants and needs of the group. Individualism is the opposite of collectivism. The word individualism is derived from individual. An individual is one person. The word collectivism is derived from collective. A collective is a group of people. Collectivism is good. Individualism is bad. Individualism, which is the idea that the individual should be able to do whatever they want, is a threat to humanity. Individuals can do a lot of damage such as consuming more resources than they need for survival which deprives other people of resources, people that will be born in the future and people that are alive now. The crisis was caused in part by the rise of individualism during the last 300 years. The American Revolution in the 1700s was founded on individualism. Individualists say that there should be no limit on the amount of resources a person consumes and no limit on the number of children a person has. Individualism allows people to consume too much resources. Individualism allows people to have too many children. It is no coincidence that the West, which is the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia, the most individualistic places in the world, are consuming the most resources, are doing the most pollution, are causing the most damage to the environment. The West has been becoming more individualistic since the 1700s and the amount of resources that people in the West consume has gradually increased since the 1700s because individualism has spread. At the end of the Cold War around 1990 individualism spread across the world. The amount of resources that most of the world's people consume has increased since 1990 because individualism has spread. The average person alive today consumes more than five times as much resources as the average person did 300 years ago, before the spread of individualism. The individualism that began in the 1700s has gone too far and needs to be rolled back. Collectivism is needed to solve the crisis. The wants and needs of any individual must be made less important than the goal of solving the crisis. Humanity is more important than the wants and needs of one person. Seven billion people are more important than one person. Every member of the human species is more important than one member of the human species. A group is more important than one of its members. 50 people are more important than one person.

Collectivism is right because each person is connected to everyone and everything that exists by the laws of nature. The laws of nature are present at all points in space and time. The laws of nature are exactly the same in all parts of the universe. Collectivism is right because the theory of evolution proves that every human is genetically related to every other human and that we all share the same ancestors if we go back far enough, like 200,000 years ago. Collectivism is right because we are connected to the Earth and every animal, plant, and microbe that lives on Earth. Collectivism is right because we all experience the same thoughts and emotions even though we experience them at different times and places than other people. None of your thoughts and emotions are unique. All of your thoughts and emotions were experienced by other people in the past and are being experienced by other people now. Thoughts and emotions travel from person to person. Each person's mind and brain is part of one group mind that is shared by all humans. Free will is your ability to control your behavior, thoughts, and emotions. Free will is an illusion. Free will does not exist. Nobody has free will. Our behavior, thoughts, and emotions are determined by our environment, our past experiences, and by the chemical interactions and electrical interactions in the brain. Individuality is an illusion. Our perception of being a unique person who is different from everyone else is an illusion. Each person is basically the same as everyone else. There is only one universe. The One Life is the life of the universe and is present at all points in space and time. Every living thing including humans and every material object such as a rock, machine, planet, or star is part of The One Life. The dreams we have while sleeping are part of The One Life. Everything that exists is part of The One Life. We don't have separate lives. Your life and my life are the same life, The One Life. Our lives are part of The One Life. There is really only one living thing in the universe and that is The One Life. The One Life has always existed and will exist forever. Some people call The One Life God. Individualism because of its constant focus on the individual puts people into separate categories and labels people. We need to stop labeling each other. Individualism is bad because individualism magnifies the differences between people such as nationality, race, ethnicity, culture, religion, class, money, age, sex, gender, and personality, which turns people against each other. Individualism causes conflict between people by separating them into different categories. Collectivism causes cooperation between people by saying that everyone is in the same category, the human species. The most individualistic countries such as the United States are the most segregated countries. We should think of ourselves as part of the human species not as part of a subgroup of humans such as a race, country, nation, religion, or corporation. The well-being of the human species is more important than the well-being of a subgroup of humans such as the well-being of a country, nation, religion, or corporation. The similarities shared by every person are greater than the differences between people. We have more in common than most people think. Humans are more alike than they are different. We are all one. We are more than just individuals. We are a group. The human species is one group. To solve the crisis we must stop acting like individuals and start acting like a group. The human species is not divine, special, or exceptional. Being human does not give people the right to destroy the environment. No species should be allowed to destroy the environment. Collectivism tells people that the past and the future exist, that what they don't see right now exists, that a world outside of them exists even though they can't see it, that they are connected to everyone else and everything that exists, and that what they do affects other people. Individualism tells people that only the present exists, that only what they can see right now exists, that what they cannot see right now does not exist, that a world outside of them does not exist, that they are not connected to anyone else or anything else, and that what they do does not affect anyone else. Individualism encourages people to only think about the present and their immediate surroundings such as what they can see, hear, taste, and touch right now. Individualism makes people ignore the future and the past, makes people ignore everything that is outside their immediate surroundings, everything that is too far away for them to see right now. This ignorance of the future, the past, other people, and everything they cannot see causes people to ignore the crisis. Individualism makes people ignore the crisis. Collectivism is good because collectivism tells people that they are connected to everyone else and everything that exists, that what they do affects other people and other things, that other people exist even though they can't see them right now, that the future exists even though they can't see the future right now. Collectivism makes people think about the crisis. Individualism is bad because individualism tells people that they are not part of the world, that they are separate from the world, and should not help the world. Collectivism is good because collectivism tells people that they are part of the world, that they are not separate from the world, and that they should help the world. Individualism encourages service to self. Collectivism encourages service to others. Individualism encourages selfishness and greed. Collectivism encourages sharing and sacrifice. Solving the crisis will require sacrifice. What we need to solve the crisis is an environmentalist collectivism which says that humanity, every human on Earth that is alive now and those who will be born in the future, is a group that is more important than any individual. The generations of humans on Earth today must make sacrifices so that future generations can have an Earth that contains enough natural resources, that has a stable climate, that has enough plant and animal life, that is not polluted.

Millions of people who have heard of the crisis and know what is causing the crisis will not reduce their consumption of resources, will not reduce the number of children they plan on having, and will not make any changes in their behavior so governments must force them to change their behavior. If people cannot be persuaded to voluntarily change their behavior then they must be forced to change their behavior. Educating people about the crisis is necessary but educating people is not enough because many people will not change their behavior after being educated about the crisis. Everyone should be forced to help solve the crisis because it is unfair to the people that make sacrifices to solve the crisis if some people are allowed to do nothing about the crisis because every person will benefit if the crisis is solved including people that do nothing. Forcing a person to do something they don't want to do is not nice but sometimes we have to do things that are not nice to solve a problem. Making new laws is the fastest and easiest way to change people's behavior, to force people to do what needs to be done. Governments need to reduce the amount of resources each person consumes and reduce the number of children each person has because the Earth is running out of resources. Environmental laws are laws that will help solve the crisis. Environmental laws limit how much people can pollute the environment, limit the amount of resources people can consume, limit the number of children a person can have, and put other limits on what people can do to the environment. Governments need to create environmental laws and enforce environmental laws that will help solve the crisis. People who break environmental laws should be fined, arrested, and put in jail. Everyone needs to know that doing something to help solve the crisis is not a choice, is not something they can opt out of, it is a requirement and they should be put in jail if they don't do it. The sooner environmental laws are created and enforced the sooner the crisis will be solved. Environmental laws need to be created and enforced now, as soon as possible. The majority is most people. We cannot wait for the majority to vote for environmental laws because it will probably be too late, like 2050, when the majority votes for environmental laws even if a massive campaign is done now to educate the majority about the crisis and why we need environmental laws. The majority has been very slow when it comes to dealing with the crisis. Huge disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the stock market crash of 2008 did not cause the majority to do anything about the crisis so it is likely that huge disasters in the future will not cause the majority to want environmental laws. A recent survey asked people what is worth saving. Most people said freedom is worth saving. Only one person said the Earth is worth saving. This survey indicated that the majority probably opposes environmental laws. The crisis may take longer than 100 years to solve completely. To get enough people to focus on solving the crisis governments may need to declare a state of emergency that lasts decades. The president should declare a national emergency. Our ideas about democracy, majority rule, freedom, and human rights need to change. We need to move away from individualism, democracy, liberalism, and conservatism. We need to move toward collectivism. Government policy must not be influenced by people who refuse to help solve the crisis. If people who refuse to help are a majority then democracy in its current form must end. Democracy is majority rule. The problem with democracy is that democracy gives the majority what they want even if what the majority wants is bad. Individualists say that democracy is the best form of government. Democracy did not spread around the world until the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s when individualism was spreading around the world. Most people in the world didn't get the right to vote until after 1800. For most of history people lived without democracy and they had good lives. People in the future can live without democracy and have good lives. One reason why democracy is flawed is that rich people have more influence in a democratic system than people with less money because rich people can fund political campaigns while people with less money cannot fund political campaigns. The more someone funds a political campaign the more influence they have over government policy. The Democratic and Republican parties serve the rich because the rich fund Democratic and Republican campaigns. Solving the crisis is not a priority for most rich people which is why Democratic and Republican politicians have done little to solve the crisis. Another problem with democracy is that democracy assumes that everyone's opinion is equal and that whoever gets the most votes should rule regardless of whether their opinion is right or wrong. Opinions are not equal. Some opinions are right and some opinions are wrong. Some people's opinions are right because they have enough knowledge to determine what the right opinion is about something. Voters who choose politicians that deny global warming have an opinion that is wrong. People who say that the crisis being discussed here is not a real crisis have the wrong opinion. A scientist who has studied the atmosphere and says that global warming is real and that humans are causing it has the right opinion. People with the wrong opinions make the wrong decisions. People with the right opinions make the right decisions. A non-democratic government that is run by people with the right opinions is better than a democratic government that is run by people with the wrong opinions. We need a government that is run by people with the right opinions, a government that cannot be voted away by a majority that has wrong opinions. Most people are more concerned with their own well-being than the well-being of humanity which is one reason why the amount of influence that most people have over government policy should be limited.

To solve the crisis governments may have to take away some of the rights of people who refuse to help solve the crisis even if those people are the majority. A majority that refuses to help should not be allowed to govern themselves and should be governed by people who are trying to solve the crisis. The amount of influence that most people have over government policy needs to be limited because environmental laws must not be voted away by the majority. The majority should be forced to obey environmental laws whether they like it or not. Political parties and individuals that oppose environmental laws should be banned from positions of power at the federal, state, and local levels such as the presidency, congress, supreme court, governors office, state legislature, mayors office, city council, and local courts. The only political parties and individuals that should be allowed in positions of power are those who support environmental laws. Politicians who oppose environmental laws are demagogues that don't belong in office, demagogues that only care about getting elected. The days when politicians win elections by telling people what they want to hear must end. Heads of state such as presidents and prime ministers that support environmental laws may have to stay in power for longer than 20 years to keep people that oppose environmental laws out of power. We may need a new constitution that makes these changes legally possible. The people who wrote the United States constitution in the 1700s did not know about the crisis we are in today. We don't have to live by the constitution that was written in the 1700s by people who are all dead now. People alive today should not be forced to live by the constitution that was written over 200 years ago. Nobody alive today had any say in the writing of the constitution. The constitution is not an eternal, supernatural document that will last forever, that has special powers, that follows us around everywhere we go and makes us obey it. The constitution can be changed, disobeyed, or destroyed. We can write a new constitution. The new constitution should be designed to solve the crisis. The first half of the new constitution should be about the crisis. The second half of the new constitution should be about other things. The new constitution should contain rights such as free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to a fair trial. The new constitution should ban torture and slavery. The new constitution should ban punishments that are worse than the crime committed. The right to vote will have to be limited so environmental laws don't get voted away by the majority. The right to bear arms, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association will have to be limited to prevent armed resistance against environmental laws. Armed groups that oppose environmental laws should be illegal even if they don't do anything.

If we don't solve the crisis then our economy, our society, will collapse. Some scientists say that collapse could happen before 2050. We must not allow collapse to happen. Collapse would be much worse than everyone having to obey environmental laws that limit their freedom. Collapse would cause millions of deaths, chaos, riots, famine, war, Hell on Earth. If collapse happens then life expectancy will probably drop below 40 years, where it was for much of history. Medical care such as medication and surgery won't be available to most people if collapse happens.

Governments should require people to use technology that does not hurt the environment such as green technology. Governments should increase funding for scientific research that leads to the development of green technology. The burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal must be phased out because scientists say that fossil fuels are causing global warming. Technology that hurts the environment should be replaced by green technology. Investing in things that hurt the environment such as fossil fuels should be illegal. Wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power are types of green technology that produce energy. Nuclear power is not green technology. Nuclear power is bad because it pollutes the environment with radiation that causes cancer, birth defects, and other health problems. Nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima have caused major damage to the environment. There haven't been any scientific or technological advances yet that will solve the crisis, which is one reason why everyone must be forced to obey environmental laws. We need environmental laws because green technology is not enough to solve the crisis.

The crisis is changing the way the Earth looks when viewed from satellites in orbit above Earth. Satellite images show that forests are shrinking and that deserts are expanding. Deforestation, the loss of forests, is a problem that contributes to global warming and mass extinction. To stop deforestation governments should stop people from cutting down trees. Land that has not been built on, paved over, farmed on, or altered by humans must be preserved in its natural state. The world's deserts are expanding. Desertification is when an area of land turns into a desert. Desertification is happening in many parts of the world because of climate change, global warming, deforestation, farming, and ranching. Desertification is irreversible and permanent. The amount of land that food can be grown on is decreasing because of desertification and because of the growth of cities and towns. When cities and towns grow pavement and buildings are put on land that could have been used for growing food. The growth of cities and towns is caused by overpopulation. The food supply is decreasing and food prices are increasing because the amount of land that food can be grown on is decreasing. The Earth is going through a period of mass extinction that is similar to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The crisis is causing many species to become extinct. Governments should stop people from hunting endangered species.

The Earth is overpopulated with humans. Most countries are overpopulated. Even rich countries where most people have enough such as the United States and Japan are overpopulated. The old ways that kept the human population down for most of history such as famine, disease, and war are no longer keeping the human population down because of advances in science and technology so we need new ways to keep the human population down such as laws that say nobody can have more than two children. Overpopulation has two causes: people having too many children and the fact that people are living longer now than they did in the past. The number of humans on Earth needs to decrease. Governments can stop overpopulation by reducing the number of people who are born through abortion and contraception and by limiting the life expectancy of the average person to less than 85 years. People would be allowed to live longer than 85 years if they are healthy enough but the average person would not live longer than 85 years. Exactly how that would be done is beyond the scope of this writing. The old may have to make sacrifices so that the young can survive and reach adulthood. Resources that are becoming more scarce such as food, water, and medical care should be taken from the old and given to the young. If there isn't enough resources for everyone then the young should get more resources than the old. In the past during times of hardship resources were given to the young first and that's what should happen now and in the future. Abortion and contraception must be free and must be available to everyone on Earth. Everyone should be educated about abortion and contraception. Nobody on Earth should be allowed to have more than two children. In every country it should be illegal for a person to have more than two children.

The consumption of resources should be based on human needs not human wants. Governments should reduce the amount of natural resources people consume and should reduce the amount of pollution released into the environment by limiting how much people can drive, by requiring car manufacturers to make fuel efficient cars, by limiting unnecessary travel, by limiting the size of people's homes, by opening more thrift stores, by limiting the number of unnecessary things a person can buy or have, by forcing people to recycle or reuse everything that can be recycled or reused, by limiting the amount of electricity, water, and gas people use, and by requiring businesses to make products that use less resources, last longer, and emit less pollution. An electronic surveillance network needs to be created that monitors how much resources each person consumes, how much pollution each person causes, and how many children each person has. We need to reduce unnecessary travel because it is a waste of resources. Travel that is not for the purpose of visiting relatives and friends, going to work, or buying something that is needed, is unnecessary travel. Flying 8,000 miles for a vacation is unnecessary travel. Unnecessary travel should be illegal. Most civilian, passenger air travel is unnecessary and needs to be reduced. Airplanes consume a lot of resources and cause a lot of pollution. To reduce unnecessary travel people should live close to their family, friends, and workplaces. People should take vacations close to where they live. We need communities where people can walk to every place they need to go. Public transportation such as buses and trains is a good way to reduce the consumption of resources. Governments must build more public transportation and must make public transportation available to everyone. People should be required to take public transportation where it is available. To reduce the amount of resources used for transporting products and to reduce the amount of pollution created by transporting products governments should not allow people to buy things that were transported long distances. People should only buy things that were made close to where they live. Many people's homes are bigger than they need to be. Small homes use less resources for heating, cooling, electricity, and construction material than large homes. Governments should make people build smaller homes. Governments should force every organization such as businesses, corporations, non-profits, schools, colleges, churches, and hospitals to help solve the crisis. Organizations must be required by law to reduce their consumption of resources, to stop polluting the environment. Organizations should have to obey the same environmental laws that individuals have to obey. Governments must stop people from polluting the environment. Governments can stop climate change and global warming by forcing people to reduce the amount of pollution they cause. Governments may need to increase taxes to help pay for the cost of solving the crisis. Everyone should be forced to pay taxes.

It is the rich and the middle class that consume the most resources. The poor consume less resources. It is the rich and the middle class that must reduce their consumption the most. The lifestyles of rich people and middle class people need to change. The amount of influence that rich people have needs to be reduced. Nobody should be allowed to pay money to avoid following environmental laws. Rich people must be forced to obey environmental laws like everyone else. Increasing the price of necessities such as water, food, gas, electricity, and other things to reduce the total amount of resources that are consumed is wrong because the poor won't be able to afford what they need to survive. To reduce the total amount of resources that are consumed governments should ration things such as water, food, gas, and electricity. Each person should get an equal sized ration including people who cannot afford to pay for it.

Unemployed people should be given environmental jobs that will help solve the crisis. Environmental jobs should be funded by tax money. Taxes may have to be increased to fund environmental jobs. Examples of environmental jobs are enforcing environmental laws, removing pollution from the environment, planting trees, protecting endangered species, building green technology, and doing environmental research.

The crisis is global and affects everyone around the world. Every person in the world must help solve the crisis whether they want to or not. The atmosphere and the oceans connect the environment of each country together. Things released into the atmosphere and the oceans by one country affect other countries. To solve the crisis we need a strong world government that is supported by military force. Everyone in the world government must support environmental laws and must be willing to do what is needed to solve the crisis. The world government can be the United Nations or it can be a global network of political and military alliances between countries that want to solve the crisis. The world government should be created whether or not most people in the world want it. The world government and its military forces should be composed of people from all races, countries, and religions. The world government should punish governments and overthrow governments that refuse to help solve the crisis. Military invasion and regime change may be necessary in countries where the government refuses to help solve the crisis. Governments that will help solve the crisis must be installed in every country regardless of what the majority in a country wants. Every country should be forced to help solve the crisis because it is unfair to the countries that make sacrifices to solve the crisis if some countries are allowed to do nothing about the crisis because every country will benefit if the crisis is solved including countries that do nothing.

If you want to see the sources of information for any statements, facts, or claims made in this writing then go online and Google Search your question. If Google is unavailable then use another search engine. Type the statement, fact, claim, question, or subject that you want to know about into the search engine.

Written by J. Pierson in the United States. This writing is protected by copyright law. This writing cannot be distributed, copied, edited, or changed without permission from the author.

Copyright © 2014
All rights reserved.

Author:  Dingo [ Wed Dec 17, 2014 1:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Individualism is destroying the world.

I'll give you this, you're trying to touch all the bases. Apparently to save us from extinction folks need to do right and government is the agent to make them do right.

I prefer to start from a simple point. Every woman should have the right and the means to determine the number of children they have. Child bearing should clearly be made a choice not a biological necessity or God given mandate. From there we can add on additional priorities. However without the first, the rest really doesn't make any difference in the long run.

MORE TREES, LESS PEOPLE!

TOOLS FOR NEED, NOT GREED!

Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/