Is there any doubt that planet Earth has been undergoing an environmental armageddon for decades? We are not just referring to the spate of oil spills all over the world such as the BP Gulf Oil Spill, or the many other toxic deluges which go unreported unlike the Hungary Toxic Sludge Disaster, or the ongoing destruction of the world's rainforests like those being systematically wiped out in the Amazon Basin. We are also alluding to the "unseen" worldwide chemical apocalypse, the global proliferation of electro-pollution (EMR), the major uptick in man-made geopathic stress events on both the micro and macro levels, as well as the relentless contamination of living environments throughout the planet with radioactivity.
There are many other forms of ecological apocalypse taking place which, when viewed in the aggregate, are taking an immense toll on human, animal and plant life. Many of these ongoing assaults against the biosphere have unforeseen and collective ramifications which are extremely far-reaching and of great consequence to the viability of the planet. We ignore them at our peril, and will continue to suffer from a plague of alphabet soup diseases, multi-infection syndromes and infectious disease epidemics which have exploded on the healthcare landscape during the 21st century.
Just how far-reaching? How consequential? Are these environmental issues, which have been occurring for well over a century, so urgent that we need to address them now? Does the fate of humankind really lie in the balance? How about the future of the planet Herself our Mother Earth?
May we speak plainly about the awesome challenges which humanity is now facing? Truly, the fate of the planet lies in the balance at this great juncture between the ages. The future of humanity is being determined every moment by the collective consciousness and actions of every resident of planet Earth. As a race, there can be no doubt that we have veered way off the straight and narrow, and have been going in a dangerous direction since the beginning of the industrial revolution. We now "sit in the stink" of all the misguided foundational paradigms, which were laid down throughout this age of commerce and industry.
If one were to just consider the deleterious effects of the Hydrocarbon Fuel Paradigm alone around the globe, they would quickly see the ravages of this single industry - Oil & Gas - which in and of itself has wreaked havoc wherever oil rigs, natural gas platforms or refineries are found. Waging war for oil and gas deposits, oil spills on land and undersea, awesome amounts of water and air pollution outside of spills, oil and gas pipeline explosions, exploitation of precious lands and water bodies for oil and gas, sinking oil tankers, peoples oppressed because they live on or near oil and gas deposits, etc.
But back to the original question: Why is the world rushing headlong into environmental armageddon? How did we get here when the signs and messages at every milestone were so obvious about where the civilization was heading?
What follows is a partial list of major co-factors of environmental destruction which must be considered, if one is to formulate a global response to this predicament.
1. Technospheric Breakdown - the entire planet is blanketed by a multi-faceted technosphere, all of which is in the steady state of disintegration, much of which is unseen
Although this list goes on, we'll stop here, as the scope of this essay is limited to just one of these contributing co-factors, and perhaps the most profound and significant of them all.
Technospheric Breakdown - a major co-factor in societal collapse
Technospheric breakdown is something that occurs everywhere around the globe, 24/7, without interruption, and with tremendous repercussions. Let's start with anything this is manufactured in the factories of the modern world or built on the surface of the Earth. Simply put, everything is in the constant state of breaking down, degeneration, deterioration. Makes sense, you say, but just how does this translate.
What does this really mean when we say that every bridge is slowly breaking down, every road is in greater disrepair with each passing day, every reservoir is gradually degrading, every office building, every factory, every school, every home, etc. most of which adhered to very low building standards in the first place?
What does it mean when the infrastructure for every sewer system, municipal water division, electrical grid, airport, railway station, etc. is in a slow but sure process of degrading and breaking down. You might say, "Well we fix it." No, not quite. You don't just wake up one day and decide to fix the entire New York City subway system. And, yes, that entire system would be found wanting today if subjected to a rigorous safety assessment and integrity testing. Now multiply NYC times all the subway systems in the world in order to understand the enormity of this challenge.
Many will respond to this type of scrutiny by saying, "Well I ride the NYC subway every day for years, and never had a problem." We don't dispute that, but it does not speak for the future. Here's the point.
There are many people today who simply will not fly anymore, unless they absolutely must. They do not trust the airline industry and all the cost cutting and lax regulation and shoddiness of practice throughout the industry. Not a good industry to have run by profiteers. These "Non-flyers" intuitively know that the worldwide fleets of aero-planes and jumbo jets and turboprops and helicopters is an aging group of flying dinosaurs, especially given the extraordinary assaults of the ever-changing weather patterns around the world. Everything about the entire airline industry is in continuous technospheric breakdown. This is not an area where many people feel comfortable cutting any slack, because the very slim margin of error can easily translate to a major airline catastrophe, and often does.
If we look at this issue from an industrial viewpoint, we need to look no further than the recent Hungary toxic sludge disaster. This aging reservoir, whose massive size just about guaranteed a collapse of this nature, especially in the absence of any effective regulation or maintenance, is a perfect example of the many other failures and accidents waiting to happen around the world. This deluge of toxic, chemical sludge was the result of systemic failures across the board, where everything probably went wrong at the perfect time. How often do we hear about the Perfect Storm that has been brewing for many days, months or years.
Clearly, the incidence of these perfect storms has increased geometrically over the past many years, and not without much input (misguided initiative) and inaction (willful neglect) on the part of those most responsible. Whether this responsibility lies with a corporate overlord, government authority or other bureaucratic entity, it is virtually always the same story.
As a nation, India illustrates just how much can go wrong in a single day due to these various perfect storms coming out of nowhere. Whereas the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal is a dramatic example, one need only scan the daily national headlines to read about the latest train wreck, ferry sinking, bridge collapse, bus-over-the-cliff, chemical plant explosion, or GMO crop contamination, . It may come as a surprise to many that the status quo in India is where the rest of the world is heading as a result of the confluence of the many aforementioned co-factors of environmental degradation.
The larger the technological society, the more pervasive the breakdown
It is important to understand that everything in our civilization is in the state of constant SLOW MOTION breakdown. Therefore, the more technology there is to breakdown, the more computers, and sensors, and fax machines, and relays, and compressors, and digital cameras, and automobiles, and airplanes, and ocean liners, and electrical power lines, and cell phones, and cell phone towers, and transformers, and power plants, and oil rigs, and natural gas platforms, and bulldozers, 18 wheelers, moving cranes, and railroad tracks, trains, & stations, etc. will be caught up in the relentless cycle of failure, mishap and disintegration.
That the greatest degree of this ongoing process of technospheric disintegration is always taking place under the radar is the biggest problem of all. Out of sight; out of mind. When very few even know about such an insidious and inexorable phenomenon, who or what organization is going to do anything about it? As for those who do understand usually academics in institutions of higher learning who have very little influence with those in power to effectuate the necessary changes they typically look at the many symptoms rather than the core issues which require radical and, what is often considered to be, socially unacceptable change.
Indeed, the Industrial Age brought upon us most of what is breaking down very quickly these days, and frequently with greater and greater consequences. Therefore, it can be stated with certainty that the deeper we move into this age, the more evidence we will see of a technological society caught up in an ever quickening downward spiral of technological degeneration and subsequent societal collapse.
Just as all the largest cities of the world (aka megalopolis) will eventually become black holes of microcosmic technospheric breakdown because of either the impossibility and impracticality of maintaining so much infrastructure, some of which is virtually inaccessible so too will much of the global technospheric superstructure become vulnerable to the same forces of time and flux.
Modern society tried mightily to overlay many different technological and engineering platforms, one on top of the other in every place around the world, over many decades, and was able to get away with it for a while. An exploding planetary population, however, got in the way. As did the many instances of incompatibility and one shoe fit all approach to many of these overlays. Just like you cannot force fit western-style capitalistic democracy onto nations emerging from a communist political economy, there are much smarter ways of integrating technology platforms in places that are far from a complex and sophisticated USA-type technological model.
Why is there virtually no response to, or even acknowledgement of, these pressing matters facing humanity?
The Powers That Be (TPTB) are fully aware of these many contributing factors to the ongoing global environmental armageddon. By the way, environmental armageddon here is defined as any environment local or global, national or regional, which is under assault, siege or war of any type which contributes to its destruction. Disaster capitalism* - a TPTB creation if there ever was one - actually thrives in the current climate, and is an established policy which was formulated at the highest reaches of covert world governance in order to capitalize on the many inevitable manifestations of technospheric breakdown. Why not make money on it, as well as utilize it to exact greater command and control on the entire planetary prison system? They refer to it as the PPP - the Permanent Planetary Prison.
*Disaster capitalism, along with environmental terrorism and corporate sabotage, are routinely employed by the TPTB to bring about selective ecological apocalypse.
TPTB do have access (they own it all) to the best and most advanced technology on Earth, and therefore, they know full well exactly what is in front of the world community. Their interest is not in fixing roads or replacing antiquated electrical grids; that would cost too much of their money and give us too many jobs? They also have access to some very serious reverse-engineered technologies that allow them to spy on the far reaches of the universe. In so doing, they have an immediate understanding of what truly is coming down the pike relatively fast and furiously. Just a glimpse of the major changes occurring on and in all the other planets in our solar system (which they view daily from their many high-powered telescopes) is enough to put them on notice about the unstoppable planetary changes around the proverbial corner.
Because so much of technospheric breakdown is taking place in slow motion and is imperceptible by our senses, very few of us even know it's happening. Even those of us who are aware often fail to notice its effects on our life or grasp its pervasiveness in our own little worlds, much less the greater one. In this regard we, as a race, could be likened to the story of the frog who sits in the warm water (WARNING: cruel frog experiment) that is increased daily by one degree until he boils to ". and without complaint. Truly, this IS the current predicament of the entire human race.
So, why the blog if this ineluctable devolution of the planetary landscape and technosphere cannot be altered or addressed in any meaningful way (How do you effectively address the environmental carnage and ecological mayhem known as Mumbai, Tokyo, Sao Paulo or NYC anyhow?!). Because knowledge and relevant information can be quite empowering. For those who wish to stay out of harms way, an awareness of what is going on around you, or what very likely could happen near you, can be very self-preserving, Yes?
The good folks living in Kolontar, Hungary living downstream from the toxic sludge reservoir, which was also used as a dumping site for all sorts of poisonous heavy metal wastes, probably would have assumed a different posture if they really knew what was in their backyard. Mind you, there are thousands of similar toxic reservoirs and chemical holding ponds around the world with even fewer safeguards and less oversight in place. Here's a comment left by a thoughtful reader of our previous blog on the Hungary catastrophe:
"The thing that struck me most about this story was not that it ruptured, nor that they lied and said the sludge was not dangerous; but the acceptance of the idea to simply store HUGE, open air, toxic waste in the first place.
When looking at the pictures, I was amazed how BIG this project is. And the reservoir is near full. It is no doubt, seeping into the lower land levels and water tables and interacting with the air. But that someone thought it was a swell idea to simply store thousands of cubic meters (does anyone actually know how much?) of toxic, heavy metal sludge in an above ground, man-made lake is simply (beyond) amazing to me."
- James A. Jancik (host of Feet to the Fire Radio)
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Although we have only scratched the surface of #1 Technospheric Breakdown, we are compelled to continue the larger discussion by taking a closer look at #6 Unsustainable Platforms, and more specifically at the most destructive and pervasive energy source and technology platform in existence the Hydrocarbon Fuel Paradigm.
Tom Termotto, BCIM, DCAE
President
Healthcare Professionals for Clean Environment
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