World relief

There is so much going on in the world it is hard to know where to begin. Over the last week, the Pacific Islands of Samoa and Tonga were hit with a Tsunami, the result of an earthquake measuring 8.3. Tsunami warnings were received here in New Zealand, but the quake only caused a slight rise in sea levels. Hundreds of people have lost their lives. One of our students left for Samoa last week because he had lost eight family members, some of them extended, to the natural disaster. The Philippines is facing another Typhoon (Parma), a week after Typhoon Ketsana killed 300 people.

Unrelated, and at home, we have the government proposal to open up national parks and natural reserves to the mining industry because we are sitting on billions of dollars of mineral resources. It seems that we will go after every last ounce of oil, gram of gold and pound of coal, before we look for other means to fuel our cars and economy, and to heat our homes. Environmental groups will surely fight this proposal, and rightly so. The natural environment and habitats in the South of New Zealand are worth far more than the expected billions that are anticipated to come out of the ground in mineral resources.

These two scenarios got me thinking. When disaster strikes, we mobilise to help those who have been effected the most. But we only seem to be able to do this after the fact. After the earthquake has happened or the typhoon has landed. Once we see the devastation we are compelled to act. Why is it though, that we seem unwilling to act to prevent such disastrous consequences that will come once our energy sources are depleted? It is almost as if we are collectively sitting back and saying, "When it happens then we'll act. Until that day we'll continue to pursue the status quo and make as much money as we can along the way."

As the human race, we have done what we can to prepare ourselves to respond to natural disasters. We saw this over the past week as Governments and International Aid Organisations mobilised to help people affected by earthquakes and typhoons in the Pacific Rim. We are, in my opinion however, sorely lacking in an ability to prepare ourselves for the man made disasters that we have faced and are surely to continue to face. Where is there thinking taking place outside the box? Where are the ideas that will change the way that we live? Maybe we've grown too complacent. Maybe we are not capable of thinking and doing great things until we are faced with disaster. I for one do not want to wait that long. I don't know what I will do, but it must be something.