Every day we hear horror stories about global warming, climate change, the greenhouse effect and all the other dire warnings about the damage human beings have inflicted on our planet through our extravagant ways.

KEEBLE McFARLANE

From the ground we extract the remains of trees and animals laid down millions of years ago and transformed by heat, pressure and time into coal, peat, lignite, petroleum or natural gas. We burn these carbon-based substances to generate electricity, operate boilers and furnaces, and power ships, trains, aircraft, trucks, tractors, cars and factories.

This pell-mell exercise began a couple of centuries or so ago with the industrial revolution. Before that, people spent their lives in a limited area and few indulged in any serious travel, since it had to be done on the backs of animals or in crude conveyances dragged over rough terrain by animals. But with the invention of the steam engine, the world changed. People left the farm for the cities where they found employment in the first industrial establishments. These employed steam power to operate the new machines which wove cloth, fabricated metal goods, produced books for the increasingly literate population, and introduced the reality of travel far afield for the ordinary person.

For eons mankind relied on wood, charcoal, animal fat and mineral coal to heat their homes (if they lived in cold places), cook their food and provide heat to extract metal from ore. It was all very simple and had a negligible effect on the environment, since human beings were few in number and widely scattered.

Slash and burn was a technique primitive people used to open up new territory. They chopped away the vegetation and planted their crops in the spaces opened up. When they exhausted the soil, they moved on to slash and burn somewhere else, and the land healed itself over time. But as populations grew, people stayed wherever they settled, and the land often wasn't able to rebound from the rapacious behaviour inflicted upon it.

Even though Jamaica is among the world's poorer nations, its load on the environment is vastly greater than it was a few decades ago. People rush around in motor vehicles, use electricity prodigally to cool improperly designed buildings and to indulge in the same pastimes as the rich countries. The society was built on sugar. That's why the British and other colonial powers shanghaied West Africans and ferried them under appalling conditions over here to build up the plantations which formed the basis of the capitalist European society. But in time, oil supplanted sugar as the driving force of the modern world.

Now, it appears, the days of the age of abundance are numbered, and we have no clear idea how to deal with that. Our modern world rests on a foundation of cheap petroleum which fuels our industry and domestic activity. The vehicles we travel in use petroleum to power them and keep their moving parts from tearing themselves apart. The asphalt on which they roll comes from petroleum. Many of the plastic parts of those vehicles, as well as the clothes we wear, the everyday items we use and the material we use to wrap them in are made from petroleum.

We can clearly see and smell the effects of our reliance on oil. Economists say that with the price now pushing US$140 a barrel, the forces of supply and demand will correct the situation. Countries are tinkering with methods to try to moderate the environmental effects. Just last week, the leader of Canada's Opposition Liberal Party announced a green plan he said he would implement if he formed the next government. He would bring in a regime of carbon taxes and green rebates to cut down on the amount of carbon dioxide his country produces.

But with six billion people in the world, and more of those joining the ranks of the haves every day, the pressure on the environment grows ever more crucial. China has now surpassed the United States as the world's biggest generator of CO2 and its Asian rival, India, won't be too far behind. China is building coal-burning electricity plants at the bewildering pace of one a week and has developed a taste for cars and the myriad electronic toys it produces for the rest of the world. Who among us wants to tell the emerging consumers of places like China, Indonesia, Brazil and India that they can't have the same things the rich countries have enjoyed for decades?

The environment is under serious threat, but how to deal with it will tax the most ingenious minds.

Farewell to a cultural icon

I cannot end without remembering a friend and towering figure in the cultural field. The nation is much poorer without the presence of Norman Rae, who died last week. For half a century he was a serious force in the field of the performing arts, especially the theatre. I used to read his critiques of movies, plays and art exhibitions for several years before actually meeting him in the mid-1960s when he drafted me to appear in his production of the clever musical comedy/satire, A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. He was a calm yet demanding director, not satisfied until he extracted from you the best performance you were capable of.

Even after retirement Norman continued his busy social routine which included stage productions and those informed and pointed arts reviews. His efforts were justly recognised with awards, culminating in the Order of Distinction last year. He was also a delightful host at frequent get-togethers, in latter years at Hither Green, his cosy nest half-way up Stony Hill overlooking Kingston. Those among us who appreciate the importance of ideas and the expression thereof through the arts will miss his gentle and charming intelligence.

keeble.mack@sympatico.ca

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