Meltdown planet Earth?, Is Katrina ominous sign of future Options

According to the scientists were going to have one of the worst hurricane, typhoon etc seasons ever recored in America. Katrina's damage has been massive, far more than the average storm. Of course it's unfortunate that so many have died.

I'm mainly wondering, who here thinks that this is really just a period of natural climate change, or if this is ominous sign that the world's eco-terrorism will lead to greater and greater natural disasters until earth is just a junk heap.

My personal belief is that the world is changing for the better, but by being narrow minded and not understanding the true nature of the sentiment of terrorism most of the world will abuse the resources of the world will become a very bad place to live. Of course, I know that we as a whole believe science will rescue us from everything and it will be interesting to see if science really does supply us with those things which we need. I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this.

I have been debating on whether I should post my thoughts in this thread or not, but my fingers keep typing, so here goes...

Since the dawn of civilization there have been people who have sensationalized great tragedies into being signs of the "End of the World." This is evidenced in the flood story from ancient Mesopotamia, the Black Plague, the New Madrid earthquake of 1911, right through to the recent Tsunami, and yes, even Hurricane Katrina. This is by no means a comprehensive list of events, I would think that if one were to drive around any major city one would find at least one or two "prophets" who would be willing to explain to you all of the wonderous signs taking place around us that PROVE that we are living in the last days of the world.

Every time nature throws something at us that our limited minds cannot comprehend we seem to view it as the end of the world... well I guess in one sense it is.

We are changed by these events, and when we change our world changes, we are no longer able to sustain our isolation within our homes and jobs, we are exposed to the greater world around us, and it is no longer the world that we remember it to be. We become once again like children, and we must open our minds to explore the new facets of reality that have been exposed to us.

And also like children, our minds tend to take those parts of reality that we cannot understand and turn them into signs and wonders. We run to our "parents" and ask for answers. Classically, our "parents" have been Religion and Science. We look to them to answer the really big questions, we look to them to give us some control over this mad-capped crazy world that is unfolding around us. Unfortunately, like most children they expect their parents to have all of the answers and to be able to fix everything and make things just like they always were. When in fact no one can do that... the world keeps changing, and we have to change with it.

As durki pointed out in an earlier post, this planet has not always been inhabited by humans... in fact we are a relatively new development here. And if science is to be believed, then the tempests which are ravaging the world today are but pale shades of the tremendous forces of creation that shaped this sphere. Storms like Katrina, and many much greater, have been taking place for milennia, we just haven't had the technology to expose people to the reality of these storms until recently. Ancient mariners didn't have our current system of classifying storms, so we can't look back over the records to see how bad many of the storms they did record really were. That isn't even taking into account the fact that many of the places these storms hit were inhabited by people who saw no intrinsic value in recording these events beyond the stories they told their children.

Anyway... oddly enough none of the points above were my main reason for writing this post... I was trying to say:

We ARE always living in the last days... OUR last days. Even if you believe in reincarnation, you still don't get to come back and do THIS ONE over again. The world will never be the same as it was with you in it, when you are gone the world that existed with you in it will end. There is no need to fear this though, because new worlds are constantly being created, with each new birth, new possibilites that have never before existed are opening up.

The fact of the matter is, IMO, you are wasting your time if you are sitting around waiting for either Religion or Science to do something to better the planet. It would be much more helpful if YOU got up and did something, anything, whatever it is in your power to do in order to make this world a better place.

I think it is absolutely rediculous to hear people complain about the destructive properties of burning fossil fuels, then turn around and climb into their car just to drive to the local market. Then they complain about the price of gas! There is no one holding a gun to your head making you drive that car! Take the bus, or ride a bike, heck there is even the option of walking.

Yes I know that not everywhere has public transportation, but lack of local buses doesn't equal a lack of options, you can choose how you live your life, where you live, where you work, everything... if you don't like where you are, I suggest you move. If you aren't happy with the world, I suggest you do whatever it is you can to make it better, because as I said above, you don't get a second chance.

If you would do anything differently, if you would change anything, DO IT NOW! If you think it is very important, then don't wait for someone else to do it, do it yourself! Remember, you don't know if tomorrow exists for you or not... these are "The End of Days."

Thus endeth my rant... I now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion.

LVX
AVP