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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesSource Manager’s Journal: Countdown

Source Manager’s Journal: Countdown

Here is a Christmas shopping suggestion. If you want to spread holiday cheer and you sometimes give books as gifts, do not, under any circumstance, give anyone Alan Weisman’s Countdown. On the other hand, if you are feeling bad about being in the Virgin Islands, reflecting on how hard the past few years have been, and you are worried about the future, then you may want to pick up Countdown.

It will make you thankful that you do not live in China, the Philippines, Mexico, Uganda, Pakistan, Niger, Israel, Palestine or, shockingly, Italy – along with numerous other places on earth.

Countdown is about a troublesome species (us), population growth and the ability of the global environment to support the numbers of humans that are projected in the decades ahead – and in some cases, the numbers that we already have. In the book, there is also a subtext to the species issue, the inability of male members of the species to think with their brains when their crotch is available as an alternative.

The promo for the book describes it as “devastating,” but “ultimately deeply hopeful.”

I got most of the devastating parts, but the hopeful ones have kind of eluded me – except thinking about the hopeful parts was where I began thinking about the Virgin Islands.

In many of the places that Weisman visits on his global tour, there is some combination of population growth, resource limitations, ecological damage and human stupidity.

In some of these places – Niger, Pakistan and the Philippines most immediately come to mind – the four have combined to produce a human and environmental tragedy. In others, it is some mix of this combination.

In the case of Italy, it is the disappearance of hope in the future that is the primary source of great unhappiness, resulting in people refusing to have children.

In many of these places, the future looks bleak because there are too many people for too few jobs, a lack of adequate food and water, and problems with many other of life’s basics, such as decent shelter. These are things that most Americans take for granted, most – not all – being the operative word.

In all of these areas, the Virgin Islands seems to be far better positioned for the future than most other places in the world, including many island nations. In particular, it does not have the enormous population challenges that face many other places on earth. At the end of Countdown, a woman says, “There is not a single problem on earth that wouldn’t be easier if there were fewer people.”

Overpopulation is not a source of the problems and challenges facing the Virgin Islands. Nor should food or shelter be. Managing water resources is likely to be a permanent challenge, especially in the age of climate change, but it also is not an insoluble problem.

It would seem that the greatest challenges that the territory faces result from our species’ deficiencies. Although he never received a Nobel Prize, you can make a strong case that the prophet for our times was Rodney King, who asked a simple but profound question: “Why can’t we all just get along?”

Like most “why” questions, it’s not a simple one to answer. But what is simple is the knowledge that, when people do get along, when all members of a group are pulling in the same direction, success is a near certainty.

There are many examples of the effects of people not getting along. Right now, the mainland United States is an example as we watch what could conceivably be the unraveling of the republic. The Virgin Islands presents a different scenario, with “not getting along” reflected in interisland, racial and place-of-birth tensions.

Wherever you look, the outcomes of our fractiousness are pretty much the same: anger, resentment, the “otherization” of those who aren’t in “my” group, gridlock, and high levels of violence and unhealthy conflict. When these are added up, they produce the one thing that runs as a common thread through Countdown: a sense of hopelessness and increasing pessimism about the future.

There are places – Niger and Pakistan come immediately to mind – where it is not possible to see a way out or to think of approaches that could provide a better outcome. The Virgin Islands is not one of those places. Its problems are soluble. And the solutions start with a clear and shared vision of a better future.

In recent years, the territory has taken big economic hits, most notably, recession combined with the loss of the Hovensa refinery. But when you look at the territory’s assets, the challenges that it faces are far less daunting than most places.

There is no insurmountable reason that its future cannot be defined by community peace, mutual respect across all groups, political transparency and separation from the toxicity of mainland politics.

All of these things can be achieved with a thriving tourist-based economy that reflects the dignity of the community and, most important, a sense of hopefulness with regard to the future.

The term “vision” feels soft to many people. It shouldn’t. It is the platform that commitment and the goal of “everyone pulling in the same direction” is built on. It says that, maybe we can all get along. Instead of countdown, count up.

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