Look Outside The Boxes July 23, 2008
Posted by Clarissa Hughes in : Community, Spirituality, Sustainability , add a comment
Someone asked me recently to describe what the world would be like if we didn’t heed the warnings to do something about climate change and the unsustainable exploitation of the earth’s resources. So this is my vision:
Populations of the poor and uneducated will be pushed to the high ground as the sea levels rise. There the already denuded and desertified lands will face increased pressure. In the less prepared countries where governments are not equipped to deal with the influx, law and order will soon collapse and marauding gangs will soon rise and become the law of the land. Just as the Difaqane wars displaced the peoples of southern Africa, so will we have waves of displaced people escaping the gangs. Murder and starvation will prevail. I have a vision of a small nomadic family fighting its way through a sandstorm, dragging their prize possession, a goat. Out of the miasma comes a group on horseback (or in a vehicle, if there’s any fuel to be obtained). They are strong and consist of men. They take the goat and kill the father and son for good measure. They rape the women and move on. Sound familiar? Could be Zimbabwe or it could be Darfur right now. Most people in Africa know what desperation feels like. It is a visceral rather than cerebral knowledge, born out of immediate and personal experience.
