One of the phenomena of the past year was Greta Thurnberg and her meteoric rise in the world of abstract environmental conscience. I say abstract as her mission was loud and long in proclaiming a problem and assigning blame, (how dare you), but yet was very short in workable solutions.

Watching this encouraged me to look back through the misty veil of time to my own youth and remember the propensity for youth to see things through deeply tinted rose-colored glasses and for the zealousness of youth to promote simplistic solutions.

I am not being critical; I find this to be very encouraging that the youth of today still take interest in the workings of human civilization and the survival of the human species

For most of us the tint on these rose-colored glasses wears off as we grow older and are forced to deal with the realities of life but for a few it never will; usually this is tied to social and economic position or privilege.

Few of us can deny that there are serious challenges facing human survival on this planet and the need to alter human behavior.

With that in mind I remembered that in order to solve a problem you must first identify the problem and that is where most will not like the answer but in short;

THERE IS ABOUT SIX AND A HALF BILLION TOO MANY PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET, and the population is growing at about eighty thousand a day. This is the heart of the environmental problems we see happening.

As I watched Greta Thurnberg’s speeches and protests I saw that many of the participants would soon be going out in the world to start their own families and lives, I could not help but wonder how will this society maintain feeding, clothing, and providing shelter for this growing population. Keeping in mind that the people we were seeing are from, by world standards, an entitled population that will expect to have their electronic toys and vacations to sunny warm holidays or cruises when life becomes tiring. Just the energy that we use daily is a drain on world resources, and no plugging into a wall is not green, there is a considerable environmental cost to all forms of production of electricity too.

This is a universal problem but where you choose to put the stage for your protest can dictate the reception.  How would Greta Thurnberg have been received in the developing parts of the world where poverty is rampant like much of South America, Central America, Africa, India, the Orient. The reception in Alberta was testy enough.

If we as a nation do not maintain a healthy economy for our citizens, we will have no hope of helping those who cannot even afford to treat their sewerage or garbage. We are starting to feel the economic impact of radical environmentalism, extreme caution will have to be exercised. We may save our bacon but burn down the whole pig pen if we do not aim at the right targets.

There is the problem that these very youth will have to face, the rose colored glassed will be ripped away and the answers they need will not be so easy.

These are interesting times but remember: “MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES.” Is a Chinese curse.

Rick Knodel