Balance

Holistic medicine and Nature are examples of systems that try to achieve a balance, with each element supporting the welfare of the whole.
That catastrophes can occur within these systems is as inevitable as gradual change.  Both are part of the same process, defying prediction, but following a geometric curve as they move as they move along the x axis to disaster.
Whether it was a giant meteorite or a huge volcanic eruption, the Age of the Dinosaurs came to an end.  All Empires come to an end.  This essay is not a disaster movie; it merely looks at some of the particular problems that the world is facing and then tries to draw some conclusions.
Earth is suffering from Global warming.  Weather and climate patterns are changing, with an ever-increasing chance of extreme weather.  The world's population is growing and the resources of food and water are becoming progressively more scarce.  Inequalities in wealth and living standards are becoming more pronounced.  Biological species are dying out at an alarming rate.  Local, tribal, religious, National and International tensions show no sign of diminishing, with the G7 countries supplying warring areas with armaments in an effort maybe to "protect themselves from the spread of Terrorism" or perhaps to look after their own vital interests with a particular bias towards oil.
This is the picture.  Overlaying this is a universal desire for growth, with the seductive message that growth will improve everyone's living standards.  Clearly, growth and living standards cannot continue for ever.  The Earth is finite and further growth can only hasten the onset of the next catastrophe.
No-one can say which system will collapse first, but at the moment they are all creaking.  We don't know how much time we have before the Age of Capitalism goes the way of its predecessors, but unless the world can start to move back towards balance by making positive adjustments, the current model will become untenable.
We can't opt out and so we have to take action to avoid leaving our children a mess of potage.

Willie Giles 13.05.13