WAKE UP
If the overwhelming, continuous, live media coverage of catastrophic
environmental events coupled with clear, explicit data, findings and
predictions released by the normally conservative and understating
scientific community aren’t enough to open our eyes to the reality of the
ongoing environmental free – fall, then . . . well . . . perhaps, we’re just not
awake.
How did we get here?
We navigated our way here. The direct consequence of collective,
historical and current human behavior produced the current scenario.
This is neither speculation, opinion nor ethically shaded judgment. It is an
obvious, undeniable, empirically solid fact . . . essentially the consensus
conclusion of the world’s scientific community. It is what has led us to
where we are now: rapidly escalating environmental melt down..
Core elements of the planetary environment have been destabilized . . .
overwhelmed by the impact of destructive human activity. Free-fall . . . the
sixth extinction. Meltdown. A threshold in the carbon cycle is fast
approaching that will result in an untenable environment for life on
this planet. If exceeded, mass extinction will occur. Game over. That is the
science of it in a nutshell.
To dwell on issues of good and bad, right and wrong, blame and guilt is
largely an indulgence that will bear no fruit. Blame, moral or ethical
judgment, outrage, recrimination, regrets, thinking or debating will not
change the reality. It’s what politicians engage in to create theater to
distract the public while they clear the path for their big industry patrons to
continue to do as they please. An old game that never fails.
The window for stopping the collapse has probably already shut. Slowing
it down and perhaps limiting its extent may be possible. Positive
decisions, successful choices and most importantly, ACTION seem to be
the only options we have.
The only possible platform on which any of this could happen is, across
the board, global cooperation of nations and rapid retooling of human
industry toward sustainability. In other words, a miracle.
Despite the darkness of the scenario that we find ourselves in,
there may be an optimistic and positive opportunity here.
Awakening cannot be forced. It is a spontaneous evolutionary, adaptive
response triggered by environmental change. From a distance, it appears
that the human population has unwittingly acted to create an
environment for its own ultimate, evolutionary shift. Humans have rapidly
put into motion severe, adverse environmental changes which, in turn,
could serve as the trigger mandating and propelling rapid, adaptive
change in order to survive a disaster of their own making.
People have, in a sense, engineered the conditions necessary to trip their
own awakening and emergence as a viable species. How it will play out is
unknowable.
Freedom – Unrestricted human activity . . . without bounds, competition,
prejudice or violence. All taking place on a world hurtling through an
uncharted, infinite universe
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Joseph Carlisi – Biography
Born and raised in New York City, he earned BA and MA degrees in Philosophy at Hunter College of the City University of New York and then continued his graduate studies in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology working under the mentorship of Marvin Minsky. Joseph worked as a part time content and copy editor for Harvard University Press (science and medicine) while attending M.I.T.
After ten years as a university lecturer, researcher and administrator, he started and managed an advertising / public relations firm in San Diego, CA that handled a wide range of commercial accounts. On the academic side, he published a series of seven articles on animal behavior for Harvard Magazine and two books: “A Guide to Personal Power” and most recently “Playing God on the Eve of Extinction”.
Joseph Carlisi creates oil on canvas paintings that can be described as vivid, surreal and unexpected. His paintings have been exhibited and sold in: Honolulu, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City, Miami, Tokyo, Yokohama, Amsterdam, Berlin and Salvador Brazil.
Joe’s art is available for purchase.
Contact him at carlisijoseph@yahoo.com.