How did we end up here? It seems that somewhere and at sometime we The Human Race took a wrong turn, made a grave error. We assumed that all that existed upon this planet was ours for the taking and that its very existence was exclusively ours and ours alone. It has become clear that this was both an arrogant and an ignorant assumption. Can we learn from our mistakes and find a more harmonious way to live upon planet earth?

What is the true situation of the "most intelligent form of life on this planet"? We receive ever more urgent warnings,telling us to stop, change and reconsider our very lifestyles! We must change our ways, we must change our system of living and our attitudes towards living on this planet, yes?

Increasingly the experts are telling us that we must change our ways and that we must do it soon, quickly. Are we listening and even if we are, can we make these changes? Can we wake up? We each of us have many valid reasons not to change our ways. It is as though we are all trapped within a way of life that is so hectic, so demanding that the opportunity to stop and take stock of the big picture is somewhere between dificult and impossible. I have a mortgage to pay, a family to support, a career to pursue,an education to finish, a million and one reasons not to get off that train as the precipice looms ever closer, ever nearer.

Were this a bad dream, or a nightmare we would have woken up by now, but, are we actually waking up to our situation we are in? Are we. It was just a dream, but this could be the nightmare to beat all nightmares. We are (surely now we know) changing and upsetting the balance of life on our planet! In reality no one really knows the complete consequences of the road we hurl down at ever increasing speed, like a discordant piece of music, our leaders tell us progress, progress, better standard of living, better standard of living, um excuse me important people, but that precipice seems to be getting closer and closer......

Many of us grew up within a very serious ideological battle, this was a dissagrement of such epic proportions that MAD, mutually assured destruction was actually a consideration, a possibility. Lets look at these huge and important dissagreements between Communism and Capitalism from a different perspective. These political differences were considered to be huge, big enough to consider fighting over irrespective of the cost and implications of such a conflict.

It was actually very simple, one system was good, was righteous, the other was bad, was evil and which was which depended upon where in the world you lived right? So what was the great difference between these opposing systems?

Actually it was very simple. Now the Capitalist, or free market system, this we were told was the role model for the entire world. This was a good and God fearing system. So, ok lets look at the differences with this system. Now with this system you actually got to vote in, from a very small choice the leaders, the powerbrokers and they then ruled together with a very small group the country. The rest of the population, the people that voted in this elite group of power brokers? Well they were left to go on with their lives as best they could?

Now we in the West were brought up to believe that communism was a very bad thing, a very bad idea, or even worse, that it was evil and ungodly. Ok lets look at the differences of these two titan systems from a different perspective. With this system all power was concentrated within a relatively small elite of power brokers and the vast majority of the people living within this system were left to make the most of their opportunities to the best of their abilities? Sound similar?

Ok one side got the upper hand, but was and is either system sustainable? Have either of these opposing philosophies been sensitive to sustaining life on Earth. Have either of these systems even considered the dangers in ignoring the delicate balance that exists on this planet? Have either of these systems even considered that the Human Race is actually part of this delicate balance and not masters of it? The two major and fundamentaly opposed systems that have evolved upon Planet Earth do in fact share many fundamental similarites. Both systems assume that the leaders, the guys at the top will make the right decisions, for and on behalf of their peoples. What if they have been wrong? What if they have overlooked such crucial issues such as, is this way of life sustainable? Is this way of life compatible with the laws of nature within which we must all coexist?

Our leaders are the ones in the driving seat and as we travel at ever increasing speed in our present direction, what do they suggest? What recomedations do they give us. We have a problem, if the guys in the driving seat, the leaders, are so preoccupied with important matters of state, that they do not see the dangers, what do we, the small people do?

What is our situation and what options do we individually have? If our leaders the guys in the driving seat are so preoccupied with other "important" issues that they cannot see the precipice towards which we travel at ever increasing speed we have two options. We can shout our warnings as loadly as we are able, or we can jump ship? How can we prevent the tragedy?

In the nightmare we wake up, maybe a bit shaken, but we wake up. Can we wake up now? It is not clear that anyone is actually going to wake us and maybe this time we each of us have to find it within to wake ourselves up. Can we, before it's too late?