When an otherwise peaceful anthill is suddenly disrupted there seems to appear from out of nowhere hundreds of ants immerging chaotically. I have the same dramatic image when contemplating the uncontrollable population explosions occurring in too many of our third-world countries. Rational mankind ought to have taken control of this terribly irrational growth that is seriously infringing on and disastrously compromising this most fragile Garden of Eden that still remains mankind's singularly and foremost natural inheritance. Once the natural resources are exhausted and/or totally devastated, they are not ever totally recoverable to their original pristine state. It has taken literally millions of years of evolution to bring man to this triumphant and lofty state, and I would suggest that it would only take less than one additional millennium to completely destroy this magnificent Garden of Eden.
     Are we not all too fastly becoming that sprawling anthill in an ever-enlarging worldwide dessert? This greatest of immerging threats to this fragile planet is directly related to the population explosions that have become a bloody battleground between rational-thinking, earth-loving individuals and the terribly illogical ideologies of some of the world's largest religious institutions. A trusted and concerned medically trained friend of mine has made this most relevant of mankind's pressing issues her most adamant passion. I cannot begin to fathom how a totally self-destructive doctrine of no birth controls can be taught as the Divine decree of a loving God? We are undoubtedly destroying our very future and existence on this earth, and I can only suggests that the dictatorial roles of our antiquated religions are squarely at the forefront of this impending and all too imminent disaster.
     "I think, therefore I am."
     We have been endowed with this marvelous mind with such an unbounded capacity for creativity. Why then must we be Divinely instructed to ignore the obvious and pretend that we have no humane capacity to determine our own destiny? This whole scenario is tragically impregnated with numerous and erroneous deceptions and then surreptitiously protected with the mistaken idea that man's religions are somehow infallible. We have been intellectually and covertly enslaved by religious lies, and if mankind is to survive this lethal treachery, we need to kill the infectious beast while there still possibly remains enough time to recover from what damage has already been seriously inflicted. Don't be to easily taken by its deceptively designed appearance of greatness and correctness, much less the idea that all of this is somehow divinely directed. Religious ideology may emerge as larger than life, but its total lack of any ultimate substance should eventually undermine its already decaying and crumbling foundations. The only thing that holds these damn churches together is the endlessly unchecked greed for authority of its most unholy leaders who know full well that they have no privileged communication with this nonexistent god, unless of course, they are totally insane, which many surely are.  They have full access to the same realities that you and I do, and the very fact that they doggedly continue to deny the truth is an irrefutable indictment of their total inability and refusal to actually love their neighbors. I am and will remain "my brother's keeper," and as Jesus taught us all, the only way to salvation is through the truth.
     Greed has sired another lethal sprawl, and it resides hideously within the economic domain of mankind. The ever-increasing growth of our multinational corporations has reached an incomprehensible magnitude. The antiquated laws that once attempted to control monopolies are not comprehensively imbued with the necessary political tools to deal with the extensive complexity of these sprawling economic nightmares. I am equally convinced that many politicians are facially prostituted into decisive inaction. "Less government is for the best of us all!"  I am composing this very document on a desktop computer with the employment of a Microsoft product. I am now pathetically married to my inanimate computer and enslaved by the narcotic dependency that I have all too willingly developed in the name of efficiency. This international corporation increases by leaps and bounds every working day, and with its almost unlimited resources it continues to dominate the world of software often at the expense of others not being able to effectively compete. What ever happened to our once seemingly endless options of free choice much less the better part of the idea of "free enterprise?" We have all certainly benefited to some degree from this economic sprawl, but at what personal costs for so many individual swept away by this ominous title wave?
     In the same manner in which the church has continually invaded the inner sanctums of our spiritual being, the government has taken more and more control of our external lives and limited resources. One of the relentless political cries during any election year is "less government." Of course, this reoccurring campaign suggestion is likely more grandiloquent rhetoric in nature than substantive since most politicians seem to relish the power they enjoy exerting over their increasingly disempowered constituents. The continuing sprawl of our Federal government into every aspect of our lives could eventually smother any and all individuality of its otherwise potentially creative populace. The government erroneously takes upon itself to define the standards by which we should enjoy our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. I am offended that I am not considered competent enough to determine my own personal standards and/or lifestyle.  And worst of all, this government pretends to establish such unrealistic economic benchmarks as the minimal wage. Of course, these political despots are only serving to continue the legitimized slavery of corporate America. It is interesting that the government claims to be keeping this artificially low wage for the economic benefit of the small businesses, which statistically are apt to fail in any case. There is simply less and less room for individual achievement, and the working man now has to be joined by his wife in that work force just in order to minimally survive and provide for his family. This struggling family is then ever increasingly taxed to support this totally uncontrollable governmental and corporate sprawl. Where does it ever possibly end?
     There still remains this rather good news for those few who have the opportunity to invest because this economy appears to be ever expanding. It becomes more apparent everyday that that invention is the mother of need and not the other way around. The sprawl in material goods and wealth is fueled by our greed to want more, bigger, better and certainly wanting/needing the latest trend or update. Computers are replaced with even greater frequency than that latest model from Detroit. Before the computer, many of us wanted the latest design from the auto assembly line and at least our showing off caused us to at least interact with other. Now we get off on having the latest Pentium chip that is often outdated before we can even get it installed and accustomed to its idiosyncrasies. The outdated computers become worthless and unlike the autos that we used to buy, we're not able to trade-in the old keyboards towards the price of a new one. In any case, we don't drive the new computer up and down the boulevard to show it off—it's more likely something that keeps us tied up and isolated from our neighbors. This only results in spending more and more and having less to show for it. It is precisely this illustrious wholesale waste that so artificially feeds this bulging economy and causes most Americans the accompanying financial headaches of keeping abreast of modern technologies and our ever-observing neighbors.
     The most dramatic observance of human sprawl has got to be observed in the likes of a Los Angeles metropolitan area. The sheer number of people that employ private transportation during the proverbial rush hours is mind-boggling. It is all too well-known that this staggering number of fossil fuel-burning automobiles has contributed significantly to the unmerciful pollution of the area as well as contributing to the ravenous consumption of a limited and rapidly diminishing natural resource. I could just imagine that viewing this movement of metal objects from the air would appear like thousands of those scrambling ants moving to and throw. This dramatic scene replays itself without any end in sight and I would imagine that it would probably continue even beyond the ultimate exhaustion of our world's crude-oil supplies. In New York City the metropolitan sprawl is not only the congestion of automobiles on the surface but the movement of millions of people underground like the unseen flow of blood cells in our bodies. In both cases this flow serves to supply the body (city) with those required nutrients just in order to maintain life and survive. I had a Jewish cousin that was part of an affluent family that achieved its wealth just from the trucking of fresh produce onto Manhattan Island. And most of us are aware of the enormous flow of garbage that must continually exit this compacted island. There is no relief in sight from this metropolitan sprawl except the possibility of a total collapse of the entire system. That just wouldn't nor should it be considered as an acceptable alternative.
     It was at the time that I wrote this brief volume that I viewed a commercial on television depicting the realistic possibility of people being able to survive without ever leaving their private residence. It showed several individuals moving into an empty house that only initially contained a computer hooked up to the internet. This commercial depicted the ability of these new-age people to order everything they needed from the furniture to the food they placed on the table. Speaking of the overwhelming potential impact of the computer not only on commercial trade and the exchange of information, but its ability to dehumanize us by limiting our personal face-to-face encounter with one another. The first thing that comes to my mind is a new term, cyber-sex. Maybe it will get to the point that couples will simply send a sample of their reproductive cells to some laboratory for germination and test-tube development including some gene alterations and receive the final product some nine months later by Fed-ex express. They can make all the arrangements over the Internet and this would free them to take a nice vacation and rest up for the impact of the new arrival. I know that I would prefer the old fashion approach except that I no longer approve of large families.
     The sprawl that I imagine isn't just limited to the concentration of large numbers of people. The even more devastating view from the air might be the vanishing green belts of this planet. I see in my mind's eye a consuming cancerous plague that leaves behind in its aftermath a deathening color brown of barren earth. This unmerciful destruction of our earth's remaining rainforests contributes to the daily extinction of countless plant and animal species that will never likely be seen again on earth. There have been those environmentalist that have endeavored from time to time to warn us of the impending doom, but their voices seem to be weakening over time and certainly drowned out by corporate profits. I can identify with their despair in that most individuals are so caught up with their own survival that there is just too little energy remaining to devote to any cause. This is particularly germane in light of the proposition that so many of these justified environmental causes are made out to be so abstract because the devastation occurs in those most proverbial words, out of sight, out of mind. I have a limited conception of the severity of the problem only due to my obsession with growing and hybridizing orchids. I had visited Costa Rico some years ago. While I was there I had a gentleman who was then the president of the national orchid society. José had sadly related to me the extreme difficulty encountered by his society at wanting to only rescue orchids from rain forests that had been targeted for deforestation. Governments often enact bureaucratic laws with the good intention of protecting some species while at the same time some of these very laws condemn the species by their very enforcement. That was the problem in Costa Rico. Oh, "the best laid plans of mice and men."
     The other image that comes to mind is the impact of man on the natural sprawls that we are lead to believe existed before man's arrival on the scene. Living in the Western part of our grand country I can only imagine the reported massive herds of buffalo that had once supported the indigenous people of the high plains of pre-American times. In this area I have also experienced something very similar in that my earliest years were spent in South Florida. Almost as soon as I could walk the beaches I collected shells. I later took up scuba diving as a sport and another means of collecting shells. I noted the ever-decreasing availability of live shells over the years from over collecting. This Florida life experience also exposed me to the saltwater fish that I once enjoyed catching and spearing. As I got older, I lost my enthusiasm as I noticed the same impact of over-harvesting by man causing an equally devastating result. Thank those lovely people that fought so relentlessly for the protection of whales resulting in the ultimate survival of some species that were once on the very brink of extinction.
     Mankind has this awful propensity for overkill just to feed this deadly tendency of excessive sprawl; just another form of greed on a larger scale.   And not to harp on the major underlying scheme of greed begets even more greed, but we have need to learn that this fragile Garden of Eden is ultimately limited and wasn't designed or even naturally evolved just to be relentlessly exploited. It should come as no great surprise that this earth would probably have been much better off without the evolution of mankind. Of course, I (and you!) would like to have been that one exception if for no other reason than to be able to watch two bear cubs playing with each other in some pristine grassy highlands at the edge of the forest.