{"id":229196,"date":"2022-09-20T19:13:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T13:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=229196"},"modified":"2022-10-03T02:32:46","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T21:02:46","slug":"on-overlooking-the-obvious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/on-overlooking-the-obvious\/","title":{"rendered":"On Overlooking The Obvious"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/a> \u2013<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/p><\/div>\n

One way of \u201csolving\u201d a problem, is to pretend that it does not exist. A sub-head under this rubric is \u201csweeping under the carpet\u201d. There are so many characteristics of our various plights where this simple thread, or common factor is overlooked or concealed. It is a question of numbers – be it unemployment, land hunger, hospital beds and health care, overcrowded trains and buses, insufficient schools, houses and many more.<\/p>\n

More subtle are drug addiction, alcoholism, domestic violence, the brain drain, crime and destruction of traditional norms of family and social interactions. Ponder a while and the inter-relationships emerge.<\/p>\n

Animal sciences are well aware of the concept of \u201cCarrying capacity\u201d when the issues are of insufficient space and life essentials. The dairy farmer knows that numbers of livestock relate to pasture extents, the poultry farmer also knows that overcrowding of cages leads to declining productivity and increasing savagery. As an example, normally docile rabbits transform into savage fighters, when crowding limits their access to food and space.<\/p>\n

Why should not this phenomenon be applied to the human species? The English\u00a0<\/span>Economist, Thomas Malthus (1766 \u2013 1834), warned that populations would automatically destroy themselves, because populations grow exponentially while resources (he chose food as the base), grow linearly. The curves are therefore bound to converge. When they cross, resources move from abundance to scarcity. System failure is inevitable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Poor Malthus was persecuted (and perhaps defrocked), for recognizing the threat. Perhaps where he erred was by suggesting that poorer people and nations) procreated faster. Unfortunately, his theory coincided with Europe\u2019s Industrial Revolution, and an evil motive was implied \u2013 that his observation was a sinister and selfish attempt to deny the World\u2019s poor from accessing the fruits of a massive advance. In current language, his truths were \u201cPolitically incorrect\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The uncomfortable truth is that reckless \u201cgrowth,\u201d leads to an exhaustion of limited resources, resulting in environmental distress. Perhaps these climatic perturbations may be Nature\u2019s way of warning against thoughtless exploitation. The frequency and severity of natural disasters are apparently becoming more evident. Society recognizes that phenomena (such as Global Warming, exhaustion of Petroleum (and other mineral resources), water shortage, energy supplies will result in upheavals and possibly Wars, will be inevitable balancing reactions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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