The problem of the overpopulation started to cause concern in the last century and became a big problem this century. We are living one of the most critical moments of the terrain society's history, facing a time in which humanity needs to choose its future. Mainly because we are an agglomeration of human beings with the same destiny. Therefore, it is necessary to make our efforts more potent in order to generate a society committed with global sustainability, based on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice and a culture of unattachment and true fraternity.
We are experiencing a demographic explosion without any precedents in the urban zone. A little over two centuries ago only 3% of the world population lived in cities. According to United Nations estimations, for the first time in history the number of people who live in urban areas will exceed the country inhabitants. Studies point out that in the next decades, practically all planet's population growth will occur in cities, in which seven in each ten people will live by 2030. The modern human origin is estimated at 130,000 years. Agriculture and sedentary life, which allowed living in villages, have existed for only 11,000 years. Cities, as we know today, have only appeared 5,500 years later, in Mesopotamia and by the Nile River valley, in Egypt. According to specialists, the megalopolis is the place that best summarizes the urbanization in a global scale. (1) One in each 25 inhabitants of the planet lives in one of the existing megalopolis. (2) In more industrialized countries, the numerical supremacy of people living in cities has been a consolidated fact since the fifties.
Currently, 48% of the world´s population lives in big cities. In 2030, the urban population will surpass 5 billion. In each ten people, seven will be living in one of those megalopolis, causing changes - not for the best - in the population's way of life. Specialists affirm that the megalopolis will be enormous interrelated regions, overpopulated, which will comprise neighboring cities and, in which more than half of the population will be concentrated in slums.
Therefore, according to demographic projections, in two decades from now the megalopolis will be structured as extremely modern and luxurious centers, inhabited by a powerful and rich class of people, but surrounded, or rather besieged, by huge extensions of slums, of marginal people, as we can already see, although still in reduced amounts, in the current metropolises of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Whole families will live in humble habitations or areas of few square meters, coexisting in such promiscuity that may bring back epidemic diseases already combated or overcome, such as cholera, hepatitis and several others infectious-contagious diseases. Besides, there will be unemployment and life will be precarious, and coexistence in slums will be even more complicated than it is nowadays. Tokyo, with a perspective of 37 million of inhabitants, will be the greatest megalopolis of the planet.
In the current reality of the metropolises, governments are already uncapable of creating the necessary services for a decent human life. The disordered growth of the population, structural unemployment, poverty, misery, social exclusion, lack of assistance to the basic needs, non recognition of the citizen's rights, disrespect of human rights, easiness of access to drugs and weapons, lack of God in people's hearts, the noxious influence of television and the abusive use of alcoholic drinks will favor all types of violence we can imagine.
Currently, we already hear of several forms of violence which are occurring, mainly within families, such as: murders, woman's abuse, children's abuse, sexual violence, psychological violence, threats, swearwords, etc. Prevention and control of violence, among relatives, is a spiritual health problem and the epidemic which grows most in the world is the violence provoked by contemporary man.
Concerning global violence, there is a perverse syndrome, in which the benefits of development are not being equitably divided and the differences between fortunate and unlucky people (rich versus poor) are increasing. This trend is extremely dangerous, but we can avoid it. Otherwise, the basis of the global security will be seriously threatened, much more than it already is. On our side, we have the necessary knowledge and technology to support all the population with equilibrium, reduce the impacts of environmental aggression, mainly because the environmental, economical, political, social and spiritual challenges are interrelated, and, together, we can start creating emergency solutions, so that we can avoid the absolute chaos in a short time.
Strictly speaking, this matter of demographic growth, use of earth's assets, social inequalities, rights of property, justice, love and charity, and many other things of eminently social nature, are doctrinaire themes. The eminently moralizer Spiritualism appears aiming at educating man as an immortal Spirit, governed by the free-will and the cause and effect laws, with non-transferable responsibilities and flaws, acquired in successive reincarnations.
The Spiritualist Doctrine, although understanding and explaining many social and economic phenomena though the reincarnation thesis, is revolutionary, because it proposes structural changes of the human beings; it does not comply with wealth concentration and absence of fraternity, which means the maintenance of privileges and excesses in the use of assets, wealth and power of a few ones to detriment of the majority's misfortune. The broader sense of Social Justice, according to Spiritualism, is the one that is recorded in the core of human being's conscience, which stimulates man to fulfill his duties honestly and protect his rights, respecting other people's rights.
It is imperative to create a critical mentality, which allows establishing new behaviors focused on solidarity. Society must develop new models of coexistence based on fraternity and love. The lack of perception of the interdependence and complementarity among individuals generates an individualistic, materialistic and separatist perspective.
We know the excessive amounts of money that are spent in the production of weapons in developed countries to foment wars. We are aware of the fact that the amount of money destined to war would be enough to diminish or even eradicate human poverty in few years. How to modify this inequality and insecurity perspective? How to continuously diminish violence's manifestations in its several forms? We believe that the development of a culture of love and fraternity based on the Gospel is fundamental to all political, philosophical and religious denominations committed with the definitive achievement of peace among men in the planet.
Jorge Hessen
E-Mail: jorgehessen@gmail.com
Site: http://jorgehessen.net
SOURCES:
(1) This is the name that is given to urban agglomerates with more than 10 million of inhabitants.
(2) List of the greatest megalopolises of the world Bos-wash ("Bos" from Boston "Wash" from Washington DC; Localization: Northeast of the United States; Population: Around 50 million inhabitants; metropolises included: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and WashingtonDC.) Chippits (Localization: In the North of the United States, in the region of the Great Lakes; Population: Equivalent to the Bos-Wash; metropolises included: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit;) Tokkaido (Localization: Southeast of Japan; Population: Around 45 million of inhabitants; metropolises included: Tokyo, Kawasaki, Nagoya, Quioto, Kobe, Nakasaki and Osaka;) Rio-São Paulo (Localization: Southeast of Brazil; Population: 43 million of inhabitants; metropolises included: São Paulo, Rio deJaneiro, Campinas and Santos;) Renana (Localization: Western Europe, next to the Reno valley; Population: Around 33 million of inhabitants; metropolises included: Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn and Stuttgart)
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