Spaceship Earth

Buckminster Fuller’s philosophy about life on earth greatly influences any holistic minded person who questions society’s current yet artificial dilemmas in energy, economy and environment. 

Within the dynamics of a vehicle with finite resources, the caretakers of Spaceship Earth, need to be more vocal, informational and passionate as the push by the resource pirates disregards the well-being of our spaceship for personal gain.

Food Resource

Particular arguments in the media include Monsanto’s push to genetically control and alter our food resource. If Monsanto/pirates gain ultimate control of food as a resource, everyone would be beholden to them for survival. Genetic alterations have made seed from the food plants inert, virtually unable to produce the next generation. It appears that the conglomerate controls a number of source seed plants giving them the advantage in agriculture commodity markets around the world.

Problems with the Monsanto paradigm includes false scarcity of resources created for increase profit margins, lack of regional diversity in plant based products and reduced vitamin and mineral content in the plant material processed into food stuffs.

Energy Resource

In all science fiction of the early 20^th century, energy pirates were obsolete by the 21^st century. Clearly the literary community underestimated the ruthless nature of big energy business. Most authors would agree that solar, wind, water and gravity based energy sources should serve humanity with small stipends given to maintenance companies who maintain the mechanics of energy converters. Alas fiction outweighed the science and the powerbase opposed to the conversion.

Big Oil’s Mess

Any media fan will agree that when big oil is in the news, the story is one of two: price gouging or environmental disaster. With the dirty business of oil drilling, processing and consumer demand, there is no silver lining. The question is only how black is the story.

Recent oil disasters have destroyed the environment of coastlines, sea life and eco-tourism. While the public focus began to inquire about ocean rigs and safety issues, big oil happily attacked the heart of North America developing a plan to pump oil over the Ogalala Aquifer.

The Ogalala Aquifer is a shallow water source that provides water to eight states many of which produce food for the country and the world. This aquifer is the reason why the mid-west is also known as a breadbasket of the world. The water resource is primary to life whereas the oil resource is primary to business profit.

Relying on history of safety in oil business, any reasonable person would conclude protection of the water resource far exceeds any business paradigm or profit plan. Particular to the Keystone Pipeline, it appears that the oil barons who approve the plan aren’t even interested in the most profit for their companies but that environmental disaster is key to their ultimate goal because it would be more profitable to build local refineries near the oil source in Canada rather than build a pipeline thousands of miles and refine it in the technologically obsolete refineries in Texas. Double fail for big oil.