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Undervaluing the basics of life

April 6, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Doug Skeates

A great deal of attention is being paid to the shortage of skilled labour in Canada, along with an emphasis on technical development in our educational system. Certainly, the technical world needs to focus on education and training to supply the needs of industry, but much is also being placed on ways and means of eliminating jobs or at least on eliminating the cost of labour in the business world, hence increasing profit.  

Artificial intelligence is a prime example with the purpose of reducing the need for human participation in the labour market. The result is higher income for those employed and far greater dependence on food banks by folk who don’t fit the system. The rich get richer and the less fortunate must look elsewhere to find adequate food on their family’s table.

It is essential for the planet to ensure it meets the basic needs of eight to nine billion people. Whether one is aware or not, everyone breathes fresh air several times a minute as well as consuming a daily supply of fresh water and regular intake of food. ‘Growing’ of money to eat will never satisfy those needs regardless of an individual’s salary level. Putting all the eggs in one’s basket, the goal which society has determined as being paramount is counterproductive regardless of opinions expressed by the business world.

A visit to north-eastern China provided a valuable alternative lesson. Dust storms from the Gobi Desert were affecting manufacturing productivity in urban centers. 

Breathing difficulties limited the working capability of employees, and dust erosion restricted the agricultural potential of farmlands. Government authorities determined that standing trees contributed more to the nation’s economy than the form of logs in lumber yards. As a revised policy sawmill operations were converted to seedling production as the nation set a goal of planting 50 billion trees over a period of 50 years, a means of controlling blowing sand-laden wind from the desert. Travelling across a wide area of the country gave one the opportunity of seeing the effectiveness of this policy, with plantations of trees lining almost every country road.

Global warming causing major changes in climate patterns, is proving to be a major concern for mankind. Many countries have pledged to limit the production of CO2 in the atmosphere, the most serious cause of creating a greenhouse effect. 

Increasing air temperature is not the main problem, but the resultant impact it has on the world is of greater concern. Life is dependent on the very small proportion (less than 2 per cent) of freshwater on the earth’s surface, much stored in the form of glaciers and arctic ice fields currently melting at an alarming rate. Millions of folks in many parts of the planet lack adequate water for personal needs as well as for basic agriculture.

Investment in policies contributing to an adequate supply of groundwater is an essential factor in the production of food. 

The Great Green Wall of Africa was initiated to restrict the advancement of the Sahara Desert, furthering the loss of agricultural land. This has also resulted in an incidental increase of moisture for food production. 

Every report on inadequate food productivity has emphasized deforestation as a major basis of increasing poverty. Creating greater areas of forest ecosystems is contributing to improved capability to produce food, hence local prosperity, despite reduced profitability from lumber sales. 

Again, consuming money is hardly a viable alternative in providing for the basic needs of mankind.

In addition to the supply of basic human needs, society is dependent on nature to provide energy to ensure the quality of life, particularly in northern climates.

Shelter is essential to maintain mankind’s personal living conditions. The industrial revolution has emphasized an even greater dependence on the burning of fossil fuels which has resulted in ever greater pollution in the atmosphere. Now the more significant need is for the supply of energy to come without creating the greenhouse effect, restricting the escape of resultant excess heat into outer space. 

Nature has provided many renewable sources of energy, but society has yet to provide the necessary infrastructure to allow mankind to change to make for a more ecologically beneficial future.

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