Taeyoon+Kim's+Collapse+Reflection

Reflection

Our society as we know it today is on the verge of collapse. Humans of the most recent generations have established our position in history as one of the most dominant, progressive (efficient), but deadly civilizations. Throughout the course of history we humans have come a long way, overcoming hardships and continuing to thrive as the dominant species on the planet Earth. Many of the past most successful civilizations began as small seedling cities and have progressed to the point where they extend to various continents, and leaving their mark in history as one of the most influential civilizations to have ever existed, namely the Romans. However, reality tells us that there is always an end to a beginning. The Romans, the Anasazi, the Mayans all have experienced their rise and fall in their respective times. Our generation is now at this very juncture where we must make our move in order to sustain our survival, or justify the imminent fall of our civilization.

The time has come where humans must face the numerous issues that if not confronted, will lead to our demise. The graveness of these issues goes to the extent that there are some concerning the potential lack of even the most basic necessities of sustaining human life. Whether such necessities be food, consumable water, or energy, they are nonetheless alike in a sense that all of them are being depleted at an exponential rate, all of which have limits to the amount available. Our manipulation of nature, an essential method in improving the quality of our lives, such as extensive artificial irrigation systems (aqueducts), genetical engineering of food, and utilization of pesticide and fertilizer, has reached its highest point (the peak) in terms of efficiency. We are also faced with such issues as global warming (rising water levels), which is one of the few issues that people neglect due to the common misconception that if something isn't imminent, it is of no due importance and therefore does not deserve one's immediate attention.

The human brain functions uncooperatively with the matter at hand. To our demise, our brains function in a way that enable us to focus on solely the immediate - the impending - situation and not that of the long term. Hence our concentrated efforts to justify the well-being of us humans at the present while not so much in the future as such business will be taken care of when the time comes, or so the majority of people think. Despite such psychological drawbacks, we must also consider the significant advantages our civilization has over that of those in history. We are capable of looking back upon past civilizations and through deep analysis we are able to learn what they did wrong, and are therefore able to adapt necessary changes to our own societies to ensure our survival. However easy as it may sound, the process by which humans will implement such changes into society is unclear and the result, no different. Nobody knows how long it will take to instigate such drastic modifications to our respective societies, and therefore our lives. But it is not too late for us to take our stance. We still have the time to make the necessary shifts in order to adapt and survive in this essentially new world that we have created out of our own ambition to thrive. Do not be mistaken; by no means is our eternal survival justified by the decisions we make now. Crises will appear time after time and we must be ready to take them head on. Are we? I do, sincerely, hope so.