The World on Suicide Watch

It is a normal expectation from humans that their behaviour and actions will be driven by actual needs.

- BHARAT DOGRA

Any persistent divergence must be perceived as irrational behavior.

This would be truer still in the context of any person or group of persons confronted with life-threatening problems. They face stark choices. Any divergence from what needs to be done in their case would be characterized as not just irrational behavior, but more appropriately as suicidal behavior.

The story of recent times is that our world has been moving towards suicidal behaviour. Year after year, decade after decade in recent times, human actions and priorities have diverged widely from what needs to be done to resolve the survival and existential crisis which threatens humanity and all other forms of life on our planet due to human-made factors.

This crisis has arisen due to a combination of factors of which the two most important and obvious ones may be highlighted here. Firstly, about a dozen serious and inter-related environmental problems have combined to threaten the basic life-nurturing conditions of our planet. Most of these problems have been worsening despite the fact these often tend to be associated with tipping points beyond which they can spiral out of control.