A small rant...

Hi world -
I know I haven't blogged on this site in a long time... and didn't even finish my last blog for that matter (sorry about that).  With so many social media (and real world) communication platforms, it's hard to stay on top of them all, so the emphasis seems to ebb and flow with my world's current events. Today, it has been decided by Team Katharine that Blogger would be a great venue to highlight one of the many results of the serious global issue of people just not caring enough about one another.

Just this week, in a conversation with a friend, I espoused my theory that 95% of this world's issues are based upon poor, or  a complete lack of, communication.  If you are not communicating your needs with one another, there can never be a compromise that helps everyone succeed at this thing we are all in together - life.

Within that 95% pitfall of communication (78.9% of statistics are made up on the spot), we must remember that communicating is comprised of talking and listening.  And that's where the world's issues often are highlighted the most... in our ability to (or lack of ability to) listen.

We are surrounded by a serious global issue revolving around the developing and industrialized worlds having large communication gaps and therefore overlooking one another's priorities, committing a huge oversight and crime against humanity... valuing transportation and cheap fuel prices over food for those who have none.   This is highlighted in Guatemala right now as the bio-fuel market and demand sky rockets, leaving local Guatemalan farmers landless.  That means that subsistence farmers, humans (who are just like us... nothing different besides where God placed them when they were born) with few financial means of attaining food thus depending on their own abilities, are losing land, and therefore, food.  To put it bluntly, people are starving, because we want to fuel our cars.  The New York Times does an incredible job spelling out in their recent article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/science/earth/in-fields-and-markets-guatemalans-feels-squeeze-of-biofuel-demand.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

I hate petroleum as much as the other person.  Global warming, yes, that's horrible too.  The fact that we are physically destroying our world and finding ourselves about to be up a creek without a paddle (that is if we still have creeks in 100 years at the pace we're going), living on a world that we have destroyed filled with historically unique natural disasters and who know what else our actions are causing.  We (myself included) have this overwhelming compulsion to be lazy, yet also to be everywhere quickly, thus we drive when it's not necessary, we aim to live life with a bigger carbon footprint than necessary.

So, as we are looking at a solution for global warming and the negative effects of global warming and consumption, one of our "viable" solutions is only viable in our own eyes.  Biodiesel is a great idea if you think about how much corn the US produces, and the possibility of reusing corn from those nasty artery-clogging restaurants.  But, we forget the mouths of those from whom we are taking food.

Our habits and desires should never, ever, come above the needs for basic survival for hundreds of thousands of people.   We need to find solutions for what our lifestyle is doing to the world, yes, but those solutions cannot include stealing food from the mouths of babes.  Or anyone.

It's a good thing God's in charge of this world and not us... I just get so sad when I hear how much we're messing it up :(

Let's all pray for Guatemala and our world today.