Cultural Changes in Times of Disaster

Opposing the destruction of the planet and human civilization may be the primary task of the current and next generation

23 June 2020 (Wall Street International)* — Homo sapiens is the main predator of nature and its peers. For the sake of progress, our species has polluted seas, air, and land, destroyed ancient forests, over-exploited natural resources and is currently doing everything possible to destroy the Amazon basin, one of the main sources of oxygen, that regulates the climate of the region and neutralizes the greenhouse effect.

Under the flags of religion, or of God, of superiority of race or of ideologies, human beings have killed themselves in horrific wars, after which they plead mea culpa only to repeat them with greater fury, perfecting the means of destruction to achieve an even greater number of victims.

The last century was rich in scientific discoveries that have improved and lengthened life. Capitalism was universalized and hence were traditional values such as family, work, religion, education, consumption, or economic success.

The 20^th century was also generous in natural and/or human-caused disasters, which contributed to changing social and cultural patterns. Atomic weapons were developed, and two bombs showed their effectiveness in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Pandemics have accompanied us throughout history. The “Black Death” in the 14^th century reduced the European population from 80 to 30 million people.

The misnamed “Spanish flu” left around 50 million dead. It was brought to Europe by US-soldiers at the end of the First World War (1914-1918) and given that name because the information was delivered from Spain, a neutral country in that war. AIDS has left, since its appearance in 1981, around 35 million dead. Homo sapiens caused great famines in China, the Soviet Union, in Ethiopia, the Sahel or Biafra, with millions of victims.

The two World Wars eliminated around 90 million people. The Vietnam War that covered Laos and Cambodia, 1.5 million. The genocides of the Armenians committed by the Turks, the Jewish by the Nazis, the Cambodians by Pol Pot, the Soviets by Stalin, or the Tutsis by the Hutus in Nigeria, add about 10 million more victims.