THE WEB OF LIFE

There are no easy problems. Everything seems connected to everything else. The web of life has been woven tightly and reverberates with every move. To focus on a single problem with hopes of solving it is a distant memory. The complexity of our world requires problem solvers to look beyond singular solutions and envision multiple answers to complex problems, any one of which may need to be brought forward only after it has been discussed how it will affect our great-great-great grandchildren. Most of our problem solving takes into account only us. We are not visionaries. We tend to be reactionaries. Ethanol is a good example of our short-sightedness. So, for that matter, is our insistence that war can bring about a peaceful world, or that guns can make us safer, or that drugs will go away if we put every user and seller in jail. All are elementary miscalculations make by short-sighted thinkers.