It Tolls for Thee

I am no doomsday prepper, and it has always been my perspective that it is best to work within a fragile system than to work against it.  The semblance of structure is better than that which we create with vacuums of uncertainty.  A lot of the structure in our government and around the world is teetering under the weight of folks who don't like mediocrity.  I get it, but I don't believe that perfection is possible in this great big world.  It's flawed and it always will be.  However, people of the world are taking strides to pull apart a fragile framework and expose big vulnerabilities.  

This week a reality set in for me. The relative peace and security the world has known and the developed world has taken for granted for the past 5 decades is about to come to an abrupt end. 

While generations are immersed in the virtual world of twitter feeds and Facebook, largely distracted from reality, factions have become more and more disconnected and antagonistic.  Political parties in powerful countries are more divided than at any point in recent decades, and populism is on the rise in many developed nations.  Sudan sets on a precipice of almost certain genocide after decades of civil war.  Aleppo has fallen to an inhuman regime, and demagogues tweet casually about nuclear proliferation.  I have no illusions that the world was perfect before, but I am certain that the dynamics of global populism today, along with a changing energy infrastructure make for a situation more tenuous than any in modern times.  Add to all of this the fact that world leaders are less knowledgeable and equipped to deal with ensuing diplomatic struggles that are sure to arise. 

Along with the life of our friends and family, the environment will suffer from the fallout of the new period of world war.  Ecosystems in war-torn regions recover at different rates depending on flora and fauna, geography and geology, but the effects are real.  A year ago this week, my father died an untimely death due to the effects of Agent Orange exposure in the Vietnam War.  I expect that neither he nor his superiors at the time understood the long-term health effects of the defoliants they were spraying on the lush landscape, but hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women do today.  Residues of chemicals and flammable materials used in war persist throughout the world on landscapes where conflicts occurred.  Environmental regulation is demonized as an anti-industry impediment to growth, however, it's the product of wisdom gained through years of mistakes and unforeseen consequences of innovation, just for the sake of innovation.  

We don’t just owe it to ourselves and our neighbors to avoid conflict at all costs.  We owe it to generations far into the future who will be eating and drinking the metabolites of all sorts of nasty chemicals we’re using to fight our transient conflicts.  Diplomacy isn’t just one way we should tackle these issues, it’s the only way to ensure a healthy future for our planet.  The consequences of talking and diplomacy are expensive, boring, and bear no shock and awe.  The consequences of war, however, will leave an inexorable mark on mankind and its habitat forever.