| It is only in a few isolated places that population growth | | | | monstrous life-styles. There is hyperactivity in the first |
| may be contributing to fast depleting resources. But for | | | | world as experts stretch themselves to elastic limits to |
| the rest of the world, it is ferocious consumerism, | | | | identify and develop new fuels. Now they are exploring |
| greed, and easy life of the modern man. Man has | | | | plant fuels to feed their ferocious energy-mix giant. But |
| become a monster that need to be tamed, so that the | | | | will they ever reach a stage when they will sigh with |
| earth will become safe and be able to replenish and | | | | relief and say that perennial energy shortages are |
| regenerate to continue providing for her inhabitants. | | | | gone forever? Perhaps they will if they will discover |
| Man depletes resources in many ways. Consider a | | | | the real source of scarcity. |
| why man or lady in a massive oil -guzzling vehicles, | | | | A certain ethnic community in Africa has realized that |
| and probably same types of vehicles, about thirty of | | | | there is no more spacious grazing fields, but has found |
| them, with one passenger each, from the same | | | | comfort in an unlikely place. A wise saying attributed to |
| headquarters heading to the same meeting. And left | | | | the ethnic community's past has resurfaced. The |
| behind in their houses are dazzling and unbelievably | | | | depressed people facing depressed resources are |
| massive, and breath-taking electronic cachets and | | | | tenaciously holding on to the saying, at least, because it |
| domestic appliances meant to bring comfort, pleasure | | | | seems to give them some hope. The saying goes; "An |
| and make their lives easy. Some of the houses are | | | | enemy cannot die of old age in another's homeland". |
| occupied by the loners only. Also think of wars | | | | But one wonders why the saying still make sense to |
| bedeviling the world. Most of their causes are linked to | | | | them yet members of other ethnic groups have come, |
| consumerism, greed, and easy life styles of people | | | | settled, farm, did business, marry and have died of old |
| living near or far away. The rich and overly consuming | | | | age or sickness and they have since been buried in |
| people in the developed and the developing world | | | | their land. The ethnic community might now be using |
| blame population and other problems as causes of | | | | the saying with stretched meaning, a call to take back |
| wars in the third world. Perhaps they have not pause | | | | the land that had previously been theirs. |
| to think how they are contributing. | | | | Repossessing may be through war or buying back. |
| Third world countries with abundant natural resources, | | | | But buried deep in the community's past is a saying |
| but poor, are fighting to put themselves strategically to | | | | that nobody can exhaust the earth. In their distant past, |
| supply the resources to the drive the consumer | | | | people fought for cattle and not land. With superficial |
| machine of the first world in order to maintain their | | | | look, it would appear that the only reason why they |
| new-found consumer life-style. And now everybody is | | | | are now fighting for land is because it was becoming |
| talking about fast dwindling resources and attributing it | | | | scarce due to population growth. But this African |
| to population growth. | | | | ethnic community like many others has since |
| The most pressing worry for the first world is that | | | | embraced consumerism, greed and easy life style of |
| fossil oil is fast dwindling. As they think of other | | | | their first world countries counterparts. |
| possible fuel to add into their energy mix, they feel | | | | The people who used to claim the earth was so |
| they must put themselves strategically to acquire the | | | | expansive and cannot be exhausted are now saying |
| scarce resources. And the poor peasants of the third | | | | that according to their forefathers, the land stretching |
| world are fighting for poor, barren, and dry patch of | | | | about 400 Kilometers to the escarpments belonged to |
| land or a muddy stretch. | | | | them. They have not been left behind by the culture of |
| For the advanced countries, solution to dwindling | | | | consuming and amassing of wealth. If it is true that |
| resources is not in changing their consumer life-styles, | | | | they used to occupy the land, one wonders how they |
| but in technology. But they have not stopped to ask | | | | were going to have it back, fully intact. |
| themselves how far technology will serve their | | | | |