The other day I saw an honest developer’s presentation that showed 10,000 new units planned for the Park City Area and another 10,000 in Summit County and 10,000 in Wasatch County in the next umpteenth years. That’s 100,000 people and 200,000 new vehicle trips per day.
We are hosed, I thought.
Then I read a climate review that showed India and China building dozens of coal-burning power plants soon to keep up with their growth and the rise in their standard of living. Hosed again.
Then I read compounding figures on the concentration of wealth and couldn’t believe it could get worse. Hose-a-menudo.
Finally, I charted the number of people on this planet increasing exponentially to a certain point before mysteriouslflattening out in a few decades. The flattening was more concerning than the predictable growth since it represents a big change or something really bad.
What causes that? War, genocide, plague, asteroids, wealth, evolution, education or restraint? Hose-o-rama.
So, what is the answer,? What are we going to do to solve these unsolvable problems?
We are the generation responsible for this, the worst generation, who knew it was happening and refused to do anything about it because it was expensive or inconvenient.
What are we handing to the next generation? It seems worse than the Depression and war that our grandparents handed down to our parents, the political unrest and moral bankruptcy our parents handed to us or the loss of trust, truth and interpersonal relations we have handed to our kids.
But I guess every generation feels that they are handing down a shit show or are inheriting one from the generation before. Every generation has something to apologize for. 100 years ago, the biggest worry was that the streets would be literally covered with 12 feet of horse poop by now, but that didn’t happen.
So, what’s the big deal? If it happens, the kids will figure it out. Don’t fret the hypotheticals. The kids are all right.
But that does not totally ring true this time. We have science and sociology, economics and demographics pointing in the same direction. Hose-a-la-mode.
I have thrown in the towel so many times that I am running out of towels. I am too old to solve these issues, so the best we can do is educate and encourage our leaders and the next generation to do the right thing and make the best choices no matter how hard they seem.
Change the system to persuade them to do more long-term planning with horizons longer than 2-4-6-8 years and to think about sustainability, resilience and existentialism as more than mere buzz words. Maybe get rid of the rich old white guys and elect some young, diverse women to expand the gene pool of choices.
Humans don’t solve anything until we are in catastrophe mode and then it is too late, like climate, Social Security, traffic, water or the environment. How do we change human nature to think more proactively. By rewarding it? Take a larger and longer economic look and show everyone the folly of our shortsighted ways. Live for the future, not the present, and for the next generation.
It will take a combination of regulated capitalism and socialism, democracy and the free market to ensure everyone and everything is considered and not dominated by a tilted playing field or vested interests.
I’m afraid that human nature is not to be trusted to prevail objectively, and that market forces alone will not provide balance and fairness. Governmental partnerships will be necessary to provide funding and protect the common good, as usual.
We will have to rise above ourselves and our base nature to survive, thrive and flourish. We must quickly advance away from our harmful individual instincts to include an enlightened development for the survival of all. This is possible since evolution usually happens as a series of necessary bursts instead of a long slow plodding trend line.
The survival of all species will depend on revolutionary change and conscious progress. The odds are long, but the time is short. Otherwise, we are dinosaurs, and we are likewise hosed.
Matthew Lindon is a Snyderville resident.