One World

27) Clothing

Posted 8th July 2016

A crude (and possibly erroneous as I haven't done much research for this post) summary of the past 13.7 billion years: -

1. There was an explosion of elementary particles which soon condensed into hydrogen atoms;

2. Gradually, under the action of gravity, some hydrogen came together to form large balls of gas;

3. Acceleration (due to gravity) of the hydrogen towards the centre of each gas ball increased with mass - forming increasingly heavy and dense balls of hydrogen;

4. Pressure at the core of the gas balls increased until nuclear fusion initiated, that is, hydrogen atoms formed helium atoms with a release of energy;

5. The massive release of energy due to the nuclear reaction at the core of the gas balls, now stars, blew off some outer gas, and an equilibrium between gas pushing into the core under gravity and light pressure from the nuclear reaction pushing outwards was found;

6. There was a long period of stable nuclear reaction as lighter elements at the core of the stars were transformed into heavier elements, with a release of light energy;

7. Lighter elements at the core ran out - light stopped being produced - gravity was unopposed and star material rushed towards the core;

8. Sudden collapse of material onto the core rebounded as a massive explosion, blowing the lighter outer elements and heavier inner elements into space;

9. If the star had been large enough, a very dense ball of material, a 'black hole', may have remained at what had been the star's centre;

10. The exploded elements, a nebula, traveled outwards in all directions and gradually came together in various locations under the action of gravity;

11. Balls of gas and solid formed from the exploded stardust;

12. Rocky and gas planets formed around the gas balls;

13. Under gravitational pressure, a nuclear reaction initiated at the core of the gas balls and the balls became stars, blowing off gas and loose material from the surrounding solar system;

14. Hydrogen and oxygen are abundant throughout space (formed in the cores of the first stars) and so water (H2O) is abundant - comets and asteroids form throughout space;

15. Simple chemistry occurs on comets and asteroids: glycine is formed;

16. After a period of planet formation including asteroid bombardment, planetary collisions and consequent moon formation, planets and their orbits around their host star are established;

17. The comets carrying water and glycine pervade space, colliding with many planetary bodies - including those where water can exist in liquid form;

18. The wet planets convert glycine from the comet(s) into amino acids;

19. The first living cells evolve from amino acids;

20. If a cell species survives to reproduce itself, its population grows in number;

21. The cells most suited to their environment stand the greatest chance of survival, and thus reproduce themselves whereas the less suited cell types are more likely to become extinct;

22. This pattern plays out over time with ever more complex and sophisticated species variations evolving to adapt to the environment, to catch prey, to avoid predators, and to generally thrive, often at the expense of other species who may become extinct as a consequence;

23. Beings with a significant intellectual advantage over other animals evolve, and begin to outperform species who are more physically powerful;

24. In the case of Earth - the intelligent beings are hominids, who evolved further, intellectually, into Homo Sapiens;

25. The humans began as small tribal groups that spread out across and out of Africa;

26. The humans spread out across a large part of the World, out-competing (and incorporating to a limited extent) the other hominid species, Neanderthals;

27. Humans developed farming, animal domestication and simple weaponry for tribal conflicts and hunting;

28. Civilisations formed and learning began to accelerate;

29. Steam powered industrial production methods were developed: environmental changes due to pollution began, the human population began to grow rapidly;

30. Present day: Industrialisation of the whole Earth - countries at differing stages of development - large human population - appreciable environmental damage - humans generally foresee the poor prospects for Earth due to advancing environmental damage and military technology.

Like other species, the human body has gradually evolved in harmony with the slowly changing planet. As such, it is a very good instrument to interact with the World it evolved into i.e. the pre-industrial World. However, the more removed the chemistry of Earth becomes from this time, the less suited human bodies, and other animals, become to living on Earth. The Earth doesn't care if its atmosphere comprises gases toxic to life, if it has a high concentration of CO2 causing a runaway greenhouse effect which may ultimately extinguish the life adapted to the pre-industrial Earth, or that only its insects can adapt to the rapid changes in the environment. However, I hope YOU care that the body you live in, your earth-suit, is becoming less and less suited to your ancestral home. This disharmony will only increase with every generation if the current course of mankind is not altered.

Whilst some individuals do good acts for the environment, this is not enough as the overwhelming masses continue to damage the Earth. In my strong opinion, there are too many people who simply do not care, or are not prepared to make a positive change and therefore political parties like The Green Party perform poorly at national elections. Also, there are commercial advantages to polluting the environment and so people are financially incentivised to make damaging choices. There are developing countries that are economically compelled to take environmentally damaging action. And so on.

I suspect that what is required is firm action to save this planet, and restore it to a form that is in harmony with the human body i.e. to the pre-industrial condition when the balance of the natural environment was not upset by massive quantities of man-made pollution. I do not think individuals or countries are, in general, acting responsibly with regards to our shared environment, and so I believe the whole World has to be taken in hand - in the same way that a loving parent stops his or her small child stepping onto a busy road. Because, whilst there are clever and mature individuals around the World, it seems to me that the World as a whole behaves in an immature manner: seeking short term gain, in-fighting and stupidly walking towards an environmental precipice.

The World is a leaderless mob exerting great energy in pushing against itself. Think how much energy is wasted in human competition and conflict. If humanity acted in global cooperation, all Earth's People working in the same direction to build a beautiful home for everyone on Earth now and for everyone to come, far less energy would be needed, such that only clean energy would be needed. Such a concerted global effort would produce wonders, and bring a return to a World where the human body belongs.