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Brotherhood of Man

If people are skittish about hybrids and second-hand clothes, I know I would create controversy if I expressed my views on a subject that has seemed so reasonable to me since it was born in the sixties: Zero Population Growth -- a movement founded by Paul Erlich warning that the population will ultimately surpass the Earth's supply of natural resources. For over forty years, supporters have urged parents to limit biological families to two children (always remembering that adopting is a meaningful way to fill in the gaps).

Most societies do not celebrate the foresight gleaned from creative thinkers even though it can alert us to impending disaster. We are known to label visionaries kooks or ignore them altogether because we fear the sacrifice that will surely ensue any acknowledgement of their credibility. Mankind procrastinates. Because of it we expend inordinate amounts of time, resources and human life on any given aftermath. (Consider Hurricane Katrina.) We base our learning curve on hindsight, waiting until a disaster occurs and then attempting to assimilate and remember for next time -- if we are fortunate to have a next time.

Years ago, early in George W. Bush's first term, our movie group viewed an alarming documentary at Sundance Film Festival. It followed the stories of several scientists who had been hired by the Bush administration to study and report on the reality of global warming. The results were clear and definitive: our planet was facing an escalated warming trend that demanded immediate action. The administration shelved the information and silenced the scientists. I believe it was Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" that brought us back to earth.

We have ignored scientists and visionaries and now may be facing irreversible climate change and violent, extreme weather. The North Pole (our planet's cooling system) is virtually gone. We all share the same fate. We all must act: recycle, use heating and air conditioning sparingly, illuminate with fluorescents, drive responsibly, conserve water... and perhaps consider limiting the number of children we bring into the world. This decision is deeply personal; there is no magic number. But if we visualize what is required to feed, clothe, house, transport each child and, in turn, their offspring and so on... an enlightened point of view may engender a new philosophy.

Without parting the Red Sea, let me suggest that the planet was in a far more stable state when early prophets walked the earth and wrote their books, and our ancestors set familial precedents. If we stop to reexamine established thought and look to our hearts for guidance, answers for our lives and the life of our planet may well be there.