So, whats up with this planet and how is it fairing in this new year of the lord 2012?

Well, firstly, it makes not enough sense to number this year after any Lord. Besides, it appears kind of silly, to follow a calendar starting from the death of Christ, as if there was nothing before that. And since there was quite  a few historical events before that, there is this mathematical anomaly of a missing zero. I mean, there is year 1, and the year previous to that is year -1. The year zero is missing – a mathematical impossibility.

Apart from that, ideally the year should have been representing the age of the planet, and if we wish to avoid a lot of zeros after the number 4, we could have found a way to do that, just like the number 12 represents the year 2012 today.

This is not to criticize the life or efforts of Jesus Christ, or against the Christian faith system. It is just a view that, for the world to follow a calendar, the death of Christ appears to be an inappropriate datum line for either the planet, or the history of human presence on this planet.

It is easy to guess that hardcore believers of other religions also wishing that the calendar be shifted to the times of Budhha, or Mohammed or Krishna or Zoroastra of Cyrus the great. And while we are at it, why not Gengis Khan or Confucius or Tut Ankh Amen for that matter ?

Anyhow, this issue is not going to be resolved by tonu rambling on a blog, so I shall move on, removing mention of the lord, and just calling it year 2012. So then, what is the state of the planet?
Do we have a clear indication from any source, anywhere, that can be taken as a standard measure of the state of the planet? Is there any common platform and mass appeal to consider the state of the planet ?

Is it important at all ? After all, the planet has been here for over 4 billion years, and likely will be here for many billion years more, even if you and I shall be gone, and even if humans will have probably evolved into something else before dying out, while life form as we know it is snuffed out of the planet, and as the planet loses its habitable environment, and as the sun dies out eventually, plunging the whole solar system and this corner of existence into deep darkness.

Well, for some, it is not important to consider the state of the planet, because, on a short term basis, nothing is particularly wrong with it – even if in the long term everyone and everything must die. But for others, the state of the planet, that of the well being of its inhabitants, particularly of humans and human induced changes to the environment that affects flora and fauna as well as global climate – is a hugely important issue, and things are changing rather rapidly, so much so that a changes during a single human lifetime is at times too great to really comprehend.

Is there a historical precedence of species overpopulating itself and over-developing itself to extinction ? I believe there are, and that humans are proving no better than lemmings or cockroaches, technology and God notwithstanding.

So, what is the state of the planet ?

Too long and evolved a subject – so I shall come back to this time to time. This writeup is just a musing of 20 minutes at lunch break. I was actually having a dish of Bibim Bam – its Korean. If you never had a bibim bam, you should try once. I mean, just for the name itself. How can anyone refuse a dish with a name like bibim bam ?

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So what is the matter with the planet ?
What is the matter with its climate, its environment, its air, water and soil ?
What and how much have we, the humans, done to preserve, or destroy it ?
At what rate are species going extinct in this age of human technology ?
What awaits us down the line ?
Is there a population bomb waiting to take everybody down ?
Is there reason to worry?

Living in North America, there are scores of people around the world that think coming to North America is the next best thing to going to heaven. And within the continent, it is USA in particular, that appeals to disgruntled folks around the world as a magnet, a mecca of freedom of speech, human rights, and the chance for everyone to rise to his or her potential – its the American dream.

Today, the affluent society around the world, and particularly of old Asian nations such as India,  appear to be blindly in love with a rather shallow version of the western pop culture and superfluous extravaganzas. But, is the American dream really sustainable over the long run ?

Is it repeatable on lands other than the US? Is it sustainable even within the US ? For how long and in what fashion ?
Meanwhile, what is happening to the planet, to the civilization, and indeed, to the future of our race and our ecology ?

I have a lot more questions than I have answers.

Tonu