Technology, Spirituality & the Future of the Planet

The planet is not in good shape. As a 1995 World Watch Institute report states: “Evidence that the world is on an economic path that is environmentally unsustainable can be seen in shrinking fish catches, falling water tables, declining bird populations, record heat waves and dwindling grain stocks, just to name a few.” In various ways, nature’s limits are beginning to impose themselves on the human agenda, initially at the local level, but also on a global scale. The steady depletion of resources and the pollution of air and water have reached the point in many countries where the economic effects include the loss of production and jobs. In the U.S., the home of ever-larger shopping malls and shopping channels, frenzied consumer patterns continue unabated. Right-wing politicians and their corporate allies seek to reverse hard-won environmental protection laws.