The beginning of October brought things to ponder to the table. Three reports were published, apparently very different from the other, but having a similar, if not common, underpinning. I refer to the reports about climate change, drugs and old people.
In a massively researched report that includes the contribution of over 2,000 scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said both that the world is getting hotter and that humans are the dominant cause of changes in the climate system. In their report of 2001, the members of the IPCC said that they were 66 per cent certain, but now they are 95 to 100 per cent certain. One cannot have a higher level of certainty in scientific matters.
The indications are clear. The last 30 years were the hottest period during the past 1,400 years. The oceans are acidifying. The current pace of warming is happening 10 times faster than at any time over the past 65 million years. The sea level has risen 19 centimetres since 1901, higher than the mean rate during the previous two millenniums.
The consequences could be catastrophic. One example suffices: within the next 22 years, 750 million people will almost certainly run low on water in the regions whose rivers are supplied with water from the glaciers in the Himalayas.
As if that was not enough bad news for one week, a report by the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy said that the war on drugs had failed. Illegal drugs are now cheaper and purer globally than at any time over the past 20 years, the report has warned. This means that millions worldwide will continue to be victims of one of the worst scourges of contemporary society.
Some argued that since prohibition had failed, a form of regulatory regime should be set up. Others disagreed. The compilers of the report said it was time to consider drug use a public health issue rather than a criminal justice issue.
The report of Help Age International and the United Nations Population Fund about the state of old people in the world today said that much of the world is not prepared to provide a high quality of life to its surging old-age population. It seems that extended longevity, thanks to economic and medical advances is, after all, a poisoned chalice.
In fact, the problems of old people in middle and lower income countries are likely to grow in the future, as birth rates decline and current young populations begin to age. Even developed states such as Germany and the Netherlands – which are both placed in the ranking’s top five – may have to reconsider their generous welfare programmes as the proportion of pensioners’ increases.
This was a very bleak start for just one particular month. At the beginning of this piece I wrote that these problems have a similar, if not common, underpinning. I don’t want to be simplistic. I have no doubt that several factors over myriad years have contributed towards the present state of affairs. But is not this state of affairs a question of values?
Is not global warming the result of over development and excessive (as well as abusive) use of resources in some parts of the world at the expense of the rest of the world? For all the population of the world to have the same standard of living as we have in Europe, three earths are needed.
Is this not a sign of development animated by egotism on the individual and national levels? Is not global warming a sign of diminishing levels of solidarity and the glorification of a way of life based on short-termism? The abandonment of the concept of deferred gratification affects the economy and the environment as much as it affects the way we behave in our interpersonal relationships.
Egotism, lack of solidarity, a lifestyle built mainly on instant gratification, and a culture of exploitation are largely responsible for the expansion of the drug culture. Such a way of life dehumanises men and women, thus pushing them to find solace in a presumed heaven which turns out to be hell.
Is not the crisis of old age in several countries at least partly the result of a utilitarian type of society? People are valued for what they produce, not for what they are. If old people don’t produce, they become a burden. Old people are, to an extent, still valued among us because of their use for child minding. This utilitarian approach implies that many view old people as commodities, forgetting the debt they own them for things past and their worth as the guardians of memory that ties us to our roots and propels us to the future.
I do not doubt for one single moment the usefulness of technical solutions to the problems listed in the aforementioned reports. However, technical solutions without an underpinning of high values will prove to be both short-term and illusionary. We will continue paying a high price for our low values.
Technical solutions without an underpinning of high values will prove to be both short-term and illusionary
• In my blog uploaded on April 15, 2013, I had noted the spate of appointments, resignations – generally forced ones – and transfers that were effected by the current Administration after the general election. I opted not to enter the controversy about these shenanigans except for one comment about the transfer of John Rizzo, the former Police Commissioner.
My comment was that “all leaders of all political hues have declared solemnly and repeatedly that they have full trust and confidence in Rizzo. Consequently, many are asking why should a man who is trusted by all be transferred from his post, more so at a particularly sensitive period given that the Police Corps is investigating cases of high political significance. This question is pertinent and begs to be answered in a satisfactory way”.
During the ensuing weeks the answer came through the grapevine. Now the penny has dropped, making a sound louder than thunder.
From the testimony given under oath by the former Police Commissioner on September 26, the reason for his undignified removal became crystal clear. As a result, fewer people believe the reason officially given.
This state of affairs does no one any good. It leaves doubts hanging on the heads of the people involved. It is making mincemeat of the credibility of a number of institutions, particularly the police.
This issue will not go away. Unless it is cleared in a believable manner, more men and women of good will will be really and truly worried about what they believe had happened, and worse still, its grave implications for the democratic process.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt