10/27/2024
We face unprecedented challenges that require unprecedented human responses.Here are some now well characterized challenges that require not so-well discussed solutions: 1) human population shooting up from 7 billion to 10 billion soon, 2) consumption of non-renewable resources at an all time high, 3) climate change accelerating thanks to human activities, 4) water shortage in most of the planet, 5) politicians and other greedy individuals pushing wars and arms-deals that ends-up in genocides like what is happening in Gaza and Yemen. We witness the mass of refugees walking north towards the US border or those refugees in Gaza being shot at the border as they try to return to their homes and lands taken from them by force in Palestine in 1948. These and others resulted from a combination of these factors (though mostly politics driven factors) but they are only a harbinger of much worse things to come. Estimates range from 100 to 500 million "climate refugees" in the next two decades. The violent/repressive response of those in political power will only exacerbate the problems. Borders, racism, and repressive politics as usual will no longer contain hundreds of millions (nay billions) of people who have no or scarce access to clean water, food, healthcare or education. How do we address this? First we must understand what faces us honestly. Killing and dismembering one journalist or using white phosphorus and one ton bombs on civilian populations of Yemen and Gaza are symptoms of something far deeper and far more troubling. Second, we must rebel against the status quo while in parallel work to create innovative alternatives. Each of us can and must start to address these challenges. It is hard work and it is not easy. Burying our head in the proverbial sand will no longer be feasible: We can't be neutral on a moving train. The work we are doing locally (e.g. at palestinenature.org) needs to go to a much higher level and far more urgently than most people think. We must at least start a more serious conversation and apply more serious work towards solutions. It is perhaps the last test of our humanity. The choices are stark. We can continue down this unsustainable path that could destroy us and our planet. Or we can push hard to get our act together quickly as fellow human beings to care for each other and for this planet. The stakes were never more stark. Mahatma Gandhi correctly identified seven blunders of the world: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle." And it is good to remember this (Edgar A. Guest)
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is q***r with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
Stay Human and keep Palestine alive
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://palestinenature.org
pages
Personal https://www.facebook.com/mazin.qumsiyeh.9
Institute https://www.facebook.com/PIBS.PMNH
The Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) and the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) were established at Bethlehem University to research, educate about, and conserve our natural world, culture and heritage.
