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Changing the Face of the Earth

• Subject: Changing the Face of the Earth
• From: Myriane C
• Date: Thu Dec 21 11:05:52 1995
• Message-Id: id665

Dear Myriane

Thanks for reading "Changing the Face of the Earth" and sending some feedback. My
purpose in writing it was to show the environmental and economic problems were
only symptoms of a much more important problem. They are "bad karma" on a global
scale. Western people don't connect it, but when you do something wrong, when you
cause some suffering to others, that suffering will come back on you in the
future. These days the world is a very sinful place. So we are suffering from bad
weather, crop failures, volcanoes are erupting, there are lots of earthquakes,
there is no regular rainfall anymore... But people are not connecting it.

As for governments at the moment, they are really not in control at all, big
business calls the tune and they follow. So they are interested in money, economic
development. I tried to point out that economic development and saving the
environment are not at all compatible... It is an unpalatable thought to many. But
it is a fact, to "develop" in one place you have to destroy somewhere else... If
you want to construct a big building you have to get the materials and to do that
you have to cut the trees, mine and process the iron-ore, etc... Development in
one place and destruction in another.

The Vedic solution is not to be so concerned with economic development and so-
called improvements to the "standard of living". Our standard of living or quality
of life can't be changed. We are destined to enjoy a certain amount and suffer a
certain amount according to our karma, or the work we have performed in the past,
both in this and previous lives. I have sometimes said this in the scientific
newsgroups and they get VERY angry with me... But it is true. We can work very
hard to develop things... but we are WORKING VERY HARD... where is the improvement
in the quality of life? I have sometimes said despite all the advances in
technology we are no happier today than our parents or grand-parents were. In fact
we are in a worse position today. There is so much violence, so many new nasty
diseases, so much pollution and people are working such long hours and are under
so much stress...

So the Vedic answer is "Plain Living and High Thinking". The real purpose of human
life is to contemplate the more subtle questions, "Why am I here?", "What's the
purpose of life?", "What happens after death?", etc. In our current "developed"
lifestyle there is no time for such contemplation. It is better to live simply, of
course there may be some small inconveniences, but it is nothing compared to
spending two hours fighting your way to work in the traffic, spending eight (or
ten or twelve these days) working, smiling and saying "Have a nice day" to the
customers...

If we have some land, some cows and some grains then we can live simply and still
have ample time to ponder the important questions of life. There is a series of
articles in my archive under the heading of "Science and Unemployment", I think
you would be interested in them, you can get to the archive from my home-page at:

     /~balarama

There are many things I could say, but the main thing is the environmental and
economic problems we are seeing now are only symptoms of a much deeper problem.
You can not solve them without solving the real problem, and the real problem is
the world is becoming atheistic, godless... That is why the planet is in such a
mess.

You are welcome to use anything from "Changing the Face of the Earth" and if you
want to cite it you can just put my home-page URL.

Please write back with your thoughts

Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

Madhudvisa dasa

>I recently had the opportunity to read your home page
>and found myself agreeing with much of what was said.
>I have devoted much of my working life to overseas
>development, and fairly recently returned to Canada to
>work on a master's degree where I focused my work on land
>degradation in southern Africa. The problems I faced overseas
>was a messy mix of economic and environmental concerns.
>Since I've returned to Canada, my economic concerns (which I
>devoted six years of study to) have subsided in favor of
>environmental issues which I believe are much more pressing here -
>a point your words articulated very well. With this in mind, I
>recently started a course in environmental management.
>
>I now find myself with an opportunity to work on a proposal
>together with a local environmental group. The work would focus
>on developing environmental/economic tools that could be used by
>government to address environmental concerns. It is my belief that
>the best way to generate awareness of environmental concerns on
>behalf of government and the general population (unfortunately,
>perhaps) is to translate environmental issues into economic terms.
>Although many people are adverse to this approach, consider the
>result of a recent study that took place in the N.W. United States.
>A study was undertaken on a forested area that was set to be logged
>for its economic returns. The esthetic value of the place was
>evaluated on the basis of the extent that hikers and nature lovers
>would go to to access the site. The study concluded that its
>"esthetic value" was higher than its timber resource value, so the
>site was preserved.
>
>I am aware of the pitfalls of such methodological approaches (what
>if the area was far out of the reach, or unknown, to hikers and so
>forth), but at least a step in the right direction was taken.
>Removing the anthropocentric perspective of such studies can be
>seen as the ultimate goal of research in this area. Education and
>evolution are necessary steps towards this goal, but they won't
>come overnight. The void between what is happening and
>what should be happening is the place I want to focus my efforts.
>Some criticism for my perspective would probably centre on the
>notions that "it is too late for a moderate perspective." It may
>be true, but when you step into the minds of our parents and
>fellow humans, I think it's clear that radical solutions will be
>discounted and rejected and push us back to the status quo. Another
>way of stating my case is as follows: I am motivated by my heart,
>but work with my mind and the context I find myself in.
>
>I would appreciate any comments you may have in response to this.
>Additionally, I would like to use some of your thoughts contained
>on your "page" for my proposal and thereby request information about
>how it should be sited or properly referenced.
>
>Thanks for your time and consideration,
>
>Myriane.
>
>
>
>

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