Don’t get fired up, just yet anyway. I don’t have a problem with the loads of international aid and outpouring of public support toward Haiti after the disaster. It shows the amazing compassion of humans and how cooperative our society can be.
However, the situation in Haiti has been dire for the past 20 years. All the energy and excitement that is being poured into the country now could have been used to prevent the whole issue for the past 20 years. This issue shows one thing; we, humans, are reactive by nature.
Now lets bridge the gap, how are we doing to deal with the environmental issues we face? Climate Disruption (some say Climate Change), Deforestation, Soil Erosion, Ocean Acidification, the spike in cancer rates, species extinction,water contamination.
All of these actions require prevention not reaction. The situation in Haiti is another prime example of our ability to react quickly to situations but not to take necessary action to prevent them. Is there anyway to combat this? After all, these environmental issues are impacting all humans.
If you have any ideas, please, please, please, please, please let me know. Please. Please.
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great point, chris. i've always thought that haiti is a facinating case study of 'waiting too long.' in some ways, the lessons we (humanity) learn over the next decade in helping to rebuild the country can be taken and applied over the next century as we deal with all the issues you mention (not on a political level, but on a personal level. cap and trade won't be a bill, it'll be the thing we wished we did 50 years ago when we had the chance to stop the 'tide')
Jesse,
I agree with you but I don't think the lesson should be 'we need to be proactive' I don't think our brains are wired this way. I think the lesson we need to learn is that humans tend to be reactionary. We need to use this to manipulate them, yes I know it sounds bad, but I think its true.
Chris