Well, not the whole world, just the culture of economic growth at any cost with money the goal in all cases. (Economic growth wouldn't be so bad if organisations had to clean up their own messes, pay in full the true costs of their operations and stop pushing their 'externalities' onto the community.)
Of course there are other cultures out there aside from so-called 'post-industrial free market democracies (PIFMAD). In the past, when a civilisation or culture (eg ancient Rome) reached its use-by date, there was always a younger, more aggressive, less sclerotic culture (eg barbarians, huns, visigoiths, ostrogoths and assorted hairy peoples) just waiting to jump in and replace the old with the new. Not any more. Today, many if not most (and ultimately all) potential replacements for PIFMAD are emulating PIFMAD. A process of global McDonalds-isation you might say.
Climate change is the least of our worries. Climate change is happening, and it's big and scary, but our species may not live long enough to experience the worst effects. Are we not aware of rapidly accelerating trends of self-harm, especially among young people, including but not limited to self-mutilation, suicide, anorexia/bulimia, substance abuse, rage and violence? Or the rapidly acceleration of child abuse among younger and younger parents less and less able to cope? Or the death of professionalism in most spheres of human endeavour? Or the wilful self-blinding of politicians, judges and regulators of all stripes?
It's happening people. Witness the triumph of lies, greed and self-absorption over truth, meaning and purpose. A species extinction event, but this time not at our hands, but of ourselves. Question is, what are we going to do about it? Another question is do we want to do anything about it? Another is, should anything be done about it? Personally I think it's already too late.
Organisations such as the voluntary human extinction movement have got it right. We won't pee a PEE (planetary extinction event) but we'll see plenty of SEE's (species extinction event) including our own. And good riddance, I say.
That's why they call it dope.
I agree that our PIFMAD culture is not sustainable. I wouldn't go so far as to idealize other cultures or say that they lacked sick tendencies (as a woman, I probably do a lot better in PIFMAD than I would among the Huns).
Feel exactly the same as you whenever a bad hair day extends into a bad hair week... but I do meet lots of people in the mid-20s who are definitely human angels here on a mission, and that always perks me up!
Thanks for your comments. I was thinking about what we humans have created, and then I kind of lost it... got all emotional... sorry.
Oh, and it wasn't my intention to idealise such cultures as that of the barbarians or huns or whatever... But I can see how that meaning would be taken. So I will go and edit it out.
Since we realize what's happening maybe there's hope,btw it's been going on for quite a while but very few of us were conscious of that before.
I still see grass grow, birds are flying and spiders make their webs in the bushes.
Nature is showing us what we've done, it might be time to change our ways???? Perhaps.
GPV, thanks for comment. You're mainly right, with one small exception,. I commented to my partner last summer at the surprising lack of spider webs in areas which should have been full of them. Seriously. And noone has any explanation. Sydney is the funnelweb capital of the world, the funnel web being the world's most dangerous spider. Yes, OK, they live in the ground so have nothing to do with the previous point about lack of webs, but I thought I would just throw it in anyway.
Our society is becoming more and more soul-less.
COMMENTS? Come on... gimme your best shot!