Climate distortions may be Man's legacy for our children.

Mankind has been less than a good housekeeper of our planet earth. In our pursuit of development,  what we have created is an unsustainable  civilization that is bound to self destruct within a relatively  short time.

Not for us the long rope granted the former lords of the planet, the mighty dinosaurs  who ruled the planet for over 100 million years before they were wiped out.  The tragedy was not even due to their own actions but a form of Deux ex machina  that decided it was time to call it a day on that line of development to allow other creatures pursue another direction of evolution.

The violent destruction of the dinosaurs in a way,  paved the way for Mankind  to evolve as Nature started another line of development  after the total exit of the dinosaurs. Man must therefore watch his actions. If we behave ourselves, we can last near the days of the dinosaurs as rulers of planet earth. If we fail to behave, like now, mankind may be a flash in the evolutionary  pan. And that would be unfortunate.

The most optimistic  scientist or thinker can not possibly conjecture an existence of anything approaching  the period of the reign of the dinosaurs  for mankind, as of today.  What we have so far achieved  with our intellect shows that rather than living in conformity with nature and being granted  a long rope in which to express  ourselves, the short period we have been on earth has witnessed an unprecedented chaos in Nature.

Many natural cycles have been disrupted,  resources misused through misapplication  and unsustainable  exploitation,  many irreplaceable  resources are being decimated at a non self regenerative rate, and worst of all, many species of Flora and fauna are being sent into extinction, some withholding their secret uses to the end.

Therefore, animals that are part and parcel of the complete whole that Nature is,  are going into extinction, their contribution to the whole symphony of nature lost forever. Plants with untold and unknown therapeutic  values are also being lost to greed and carelessness.

Worst of all, the substances we have created through our pursuit of progress,  so called, most of them toxic, now threaten to drown the planet under a weight of toxins that will likely poison us all: animals, man, plants, as well as soil and water sources before we can find a solution to render the toxins we produce harmless.

To top all these is the fact that we are now making our planet gradually physically inhabitable as the delicate weather balance of the planet is being dislocated from the harmful gazes that we expel from our machines.

The prognosis is that Man, the sentient Homosapien,  is about to achieve the unthinkable : destruction  of his environment, and suicide by poisoning. Meaning he would go all right, but will render the environment  he leaves behind inhabitable.

All these, of course,  is if we do not get embroiled  in one or other of the several ongoing wars that can lead to a general world war. Only an optimist will discount the possibility of mankind ending his history on the planet through a 3rd World War.

All this is why the present efforts to regulate climate distorting activities of Mankind, through the various Climate Conferences represent  a last ditch effort to save mankind from himself.  The value of such Conferences lie not in the  dubious hope that they (Conferences) can stop the slide to self extinction by man. Rather that they represent an acknowledgement, no matter how halfhearted, that our activities have been responsible  for drastic change in the climate of the planet. This simultaneously gives the inference that change, positive and urgent change, also lies with us.

Climate Conferences are also valuable in that it means man must now have  the boldness to admit that his stewardship of the planet has been bereft of deep wisdom that is required of any being to whom the rulership of the Blue Marble is handed. Either we admit it or not, we as a specie are at the helm of Planet earth and we can not shirk any responsibility  for what becomes of the planet.

The real achievement of these earth Conferences therefore, go beyond whatever agreement we are able to cobble together out of our petty concerns to produce more consumer goods than the next country (to force sell to people through adverts).

Even if, as is likely,  agreements finally signed are, in searching for a consensus,  so watered down as to be  unimplementable, they still represent  progress. At least the symbolism of most of the world coming together to attempt to put a stop to mindless pursuit of development  at the expense of the planet is salutary.

People will go back to their countries and reflect on how sad it is that we have to call conferences to force and admonish supposedly smart creatures not to kill themselves from their own activities.  This is likely to assist in pointing out a New Direction for Thinking that is so sorely needed today if our civilization  is to survive.

Thus, we welcome wholeheartedly,  the recent Paris conference on Climate change and the one this past week in Abu  Dhabi : all men and women of goodwill worldwide must support it in their thoughts.

The value should not be judged on the agreements signed,  but on the far more important symbolism of what a discussion  on the weather represents for mankind's thinking in the long run.

Is An alternative to Democracy possible?

Everything is possible. 
Since everything is possible, the answer to this question must be yes.

But is it desirable to find an alternative to democracy? The answer, as far as Nigeria is concerned, must still be yes, if we look at what democracy  has delivered so far.

Why alternative?
Reasons to consider an alternative to democracy has nothing to do with the horrendous  cost, in the midst of dwindling resources. If democracy were to deliver optimally, the costs can be overlooked. The major reason is also not the dangerous martial mindset usually exhibited by Nigerian  politicians during electioneering, counter productive as this has been to our development.

The major reason one may begin to look for an alternative to democracy is the poor quality of the results. Without fail, time and again, Nigerian democracy has managed to deliver to us, poor quality leadership. It is bad enough to purchase a product for an expensive price, but worse if the product turns out to be a poor quality. That is what we have been getting  since the return  to democracy  in 1999. This is more pronounced  in the local governments  where it seems there is no government  at all in place.

Democracy delivers indifferent results

For instance, I live in Kubwa, Abuja, and I can say that there is little or no evidence of a working local government in the area. But for the newspaper adverts showing monthly statutory allocations, one would think no money accrues to the local government. Even if no money accrues, the people that got themselves elected should have been able to do some creative thinking to source funds to transform their locality. But what we see is that local officials are big on pomp and pageantry, paraphernalia of office,  and indulgence, but very small  on innovation. Results around the environment suggest little  thinking, and little interest in development, the real reason why they are in office.

Collegiate System, or outright appointment ? (!)

One can then begin to wonder if it is not better to find another means of appointing  people to office. Of course die hard Democrats will frown at the very suggestion of the idea, but it is a desperate  move, borne of frustration. To take a simple example, the physical environment. This is usually so dirty and unkempt that one wonders whether anyone is in charge, and these are simple things that should not cost much money, except perhaps much thinking.

It may then be time to begin to experiment with appointment  of leaders, or maybe a collegiate system where knowledgeable  people vote for leaders. Such a group can then hold the leaders thus elected to strict account, including impeachment, and maybe  criminal prosecution if necessary.

For now, the system of electing people who become lords and who do nothing extraordinary  in office year in year out is not serving the best interests  of anyone.

This may be something  to consider going forward. It is not guaranteed for instance that democracy  delivers the best, most altruistic, and most visionary leadership. After all, in setting up corporations, leaders are not necessarily appointed by democracy. CEOs are appointed based on strict criteria. And societies are at least as important as corporations, and it's leadership should be appointed with equal or more care.

Just food for thought.

Can we CHOOSE to build this country?

It's quite interesting  the way Nigerians interact  on the Internet. At any given point, a lively debate is always going on. The comments section of any blog, or any news item is a constant source of much information.

From these, One can build up a psychological  profile of Nigerians. What comes out like a sore thumb is the fact that our mindset is still a bit removed from what will build the Nation of our dreams.

To be quite blunt, these are the facts one can gather from Nigerians' Internet denizens:
1. Nigerians are active, intelligent, and ambitious.
2. Nigerians want the good things of life, and a great country.
3. Nigerians are religious minded, love to invoke the Almighty in virtually all things.

With all the above attributes, we also carry along with us, stuff that will make it difficult to achieve what we want. This includes :
1. Excessive tribal consciousness.
2. Refusal to work hard and long for what we want.
3.Wrong mindset. We do not think our leaders should be held to strict account about how they govern, we accept low standards from our leaders.
We also do not put things in historical perspective as we expect what is not realistic,  given historical antecedents.

The cure?
The first place to begin to look for a cure is in our minds. We need to realize,  first of all, that  all what we are are our choices. To change what we are, we only need to make different choices. The choices we need to make in include:
We should become optimists about our country.
We should reduce our narrow views and think in a far reaching manner,  beyond today.
We need to love our neighbors  as ourselves in thinking, words, and action, always.

From here,  we can begin to think better thoughts about our country, share on our Facebook pages less of the negatives, and search out and share, uplifting ideas. The world is full of enough evil vibrations as it is. No need to add to it.

It is all a matter of choice.

WISHING ALL A RESTFUL SUNDAY!

What actually is a Sunday?  A Sunday is one of the days we have in the week. That is, the first of the 7 day circle that we observe to count our days on planet earth.

This helps us to rest from our labours of the past 7 days,  allows us to regain our energy and also reflect on what we have done so far. From there, we can plan for the new week, while trying to avoid the mistakes of the past.

So, either we work for ourselves or we work for government, or a corporate organization,  we should use our Sundays the same way, for maximum benefit: rest,  reflect on our activities for the past 7 days, and make plans for the next week.

When a Sunday is spent as Abo en,  we benefit the maximum for ourselves.  Our bodies and our brains have a chance for recuperation,  and our creativity is increased.

With this in mind, I say, have a happy, restful, and reflective Sunday, and a nice and productive week ahead!

A Happy New Year.

Here is wishing you a happy but humble and lesson filled 2016.

We have more than enough reason as a specie to be humble, and be humbled by a lot of things around us which we do not know, or do not notice even if we know.

We have entered a new year which in our way of counting we designate as the year 2016 Anno Domini.