The Road to Samarra
A soldier in ancient Basra in Mesopotamia, who was fearful, went to the king and said to him: "My lord, save me, help me flee from here. I was in the marketplace and I met Death all dressed in black who eyed me with a deadly look. Lend me your royal steed so I can hasten to Samarra which is far from here. I fear for my life if I stay in the city." The king granted his wish. Later the king met Death in the street and said to him: "My soldier was terrified; he told me he met you and you looked at him very strangely." "Oh no," Death replied, "my look was only one of astonishment, because I was asking myself how this man would get to Samarra, which is so far from here, because I am waiting for him there tonight."
This story is a parable about the rapid rate of growth at the expense of the destruction of nature and the exclusion of the vast majority of the people. This growth is taking us to Samarra. In other words, we have very little time at our disposal to grasp the chaos in the Earth system and take the necessary measures before irreversible consequences are unleashed. We know that we can no longer avoid global warming; we can only keep it from becoming catastrophic. Nothing of real significance is being done at the governmental level to respond to the seriousness of this challenge. Many believe in the magical capabilities of scientific technology, that at the decisive moment it would be able to mitigate the destructive effects. But the situation is not exactly like that. There are damages that trigger an avalanche effect once they have occurred.
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