Dr. Nicholas’ Corner: Our Human Nature in Collision with Modern Realities

Dr. Nicholas Pediaditakis, founder of Alkyonis Mental Health Center, Raleigh NC.
Dr. Nicholas Pediaditakis, founder of Alkyonis Mental Health Center, Raleigh NC.

Contributed by Nicholas Pediaditakis, MD, DLFAPA

Our human nature is a wonder. It is made up of many parts. We have intellect, ingenuity, eagerness to cooperate — most of the time anyway. We have imagination, compassion spirituality, and altruism — again, most of the time.

We have accomplished a lot since humans first appeared on this Earth. Our lives are easier, safer, healthier, and we live longer; but, we have components still within us, as part of our nature, that were important for our survival — back when we were small groups of people hunting and eating roots and fruits in the wilderness.

Then, we were competing for survival and fighting each other — as each tribe thought themselves superior and thought of the ever-changing “enemy” tribe as bad and worthy to be exterminated. Unfortunately, we still are.

These components are lethal as we face modern problems we have created. If we do not change these parts of our nature — so we can all then be free to cooperate together on the whole planet — we may become extinct, and soon. The spears we had back then are now atomic bombs, and we are seven billion of us, and counting.

We use sources of energy that flood the planet with CO2. In effect, we use the atmosphere as a sewage. The problem is not a myth — as some short sighted, selfserving leaders proclaim for their profit and influence. It is mathematics and science. Here is the problem; CO2 holds heat much more than air. We dump billions of tons of this stuff in the air world-wide. As a result, the temperature is going up and up. Slowly but surely the ice melts and the sea rises — already one yard in a few decades. The sea absorbs the CO2 and turns vinegary, which in turn causes the fish to die. It may soon also result in catastrophic changes, like the gulf stream changing course and England freezing!

The frozen earth in Alaska and Siberia might warm up and release the Methane it now holds — an even nastier gas than CO2 for holding heat. So next time you hear political leaders telling you stories and denying the problem, be suspicious and ask them in details their reasoning — not accusations or say so but rational details. If they go in circles with their answers, perhaps somebody could be paying them to say stories for their own selfish reasons.

The atmosphere warming is one of many problems we are facing, but it is the most urgent and serious; and yet, relatively easy to solve with some little inconvenience. Solar power and wind would dramatically cut down on CO2 emissions, and doing so could create lots of jobs to more than compensate for the lost jobs of coal mining.

Germany already has switched to solar and wind power, to great degree; soon they will have switched completely.

Ourselves, with the one and a half trillion dollars we have spent in an unneeded war, we could have covered a good desert part of Nevada with solar panels, and North Texas with wind turbines, and then stored energy up in mountains by lifting heavy weights there and then releasing it when needed by moving the weights downward, creating thousands of jobs and saving a good part of our problem with energy in our country.

The technology is simple and readily available. Let’s all think together for the common survival.

Copyright © 2015 by Nicholas Pediaditakis, MD

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About Dr Nicholas Pediaditakis 54 Articles
Dr. Pediaditakis is based in Raleigh NC and a regular contributor to The Grey Area News. Dr. Nicholas’ blog may be read at chroniclersofthesoul.com.