Something Different

Why does someone pick up a gun, walk into a movie theater, a cafe, or any other place with a large gathering of people with the intent to kill as many people as they can? It's a question that is asked after every new mass shooting. In some cases the shooters were bullied in school, in others the shooters are following a hateful ideology of a group they identify with, or there has been some traumatic incident in their lives that have pushed them over the edge.

Why do people join a group like ISIS? In some cases they are following what they perceive is a greater cause than themselves. But it is more than that, as they are quite ready to use violence against innocent people to achieve it, "infidel" or Muslim.

Why is there an addiction crisis, whether to drugs or alcohol? This doesn't just affect those who have experienced a serious medical event, but also those who have experienced a serious mental one.

There may be an underlying connection. Something that is driving people to act out in ways that are not just self destroying but harmful to others.

While the vast majority of people do not act out in the ways mentioned above, there are still those who may suffer the same malady in silence. I suspect the correlation between the above behaviors is loneliness. For many the antidote is to find a place they belong, not always wisely, or to self medicate. I know it may seem simplistic, but loneliness is a huge problem. More so than we may realize. Remember all of those virgins offered to the ISIS fighters?

What is the antidote to loneliness?

So how did one of the happiest countries in the world get that way?  (This video was recorded when they ranked number one, in 2019 they were number two.  Finland displaced them.) 

I'm guessing that the United States could learn a thing or two from them.  No, I didn't put that video up just to spite you know who...who shall remain nameless in this post. 

Carrying Capacity

I am reading a book, no surprise there. The book is “The Uninhabitable Earth”, by David Wallace-Wells, a columnist at New York magazine. As the title suggests it is about what the effects of climate change could mean for us. I say “could” because despite the fact that the book is rather alarming reading there is still the possibility that we can affect how the end of this story turns out.

The Guardian had a nice review:

The Uninhabitable Earth

One of the issues Mr. Wallace-Wells touches upon is hunger. As our climate changes we will find that our ability to feed ourselves will be impaired due to the effects of things like drought. While many of the world's breadbasket areas will be affected detrimentally northern areas in Canada and Russia will see temperatures more conducive to growing crops, The catch, though, is that this land is not as fertile. So the yields will not be as high. Then, of course, there is the rather unnerving possibility of having to look to Russia for food. But that is a subject for a different kind of post.

So, even as our population grows our ability to increase our food supply may very well be limited by climate change.

How many people can Earth support? This video was made in 2015 and at that time the world's population was estimated at 7.2 billion. Today in 2019 the estimate is 7.7 billion. In 2050 the estimated world population will be 9.7 billion.  While his numbers may be questionable it is still an interesting overview.