there's more...the man who is credited with coming up with "microloans" has done some calculations..showing an incredible number of people lifted out of poverty already..and projecting when the direst poverty will be eliminated. He says it is doable. Researchers (unfortunately not many doctors and nutritionists) know how to prevent and reverse much type 2 diabetes, which is ravaging the "western" world...and when that is reversed a whole lot of health problems that people thought were caused by other factors will fade away...the health costs for populations will be much less, although food expenses will be higher as people will have to give up on foods that never go rancid... the biggest problem facing the world...overpopulation, has turned around in many many countries...and it won't take long for others to catch up. The stranglehol d of the Catholic Church, and I am a Catholic, has pretty much been broken, again at least in the "western world" on matters of birth control and family planning. Welfare reform and education of those on welfare has worked fairly well...not for everyone and in some cases it is way too harsh, but in some cases the combination of encouragement, education, child care and a more serious effort to get people to expect to have to work has worked...The internet is bringing so much information to people who didn't have it before, and is essentially free sometimes. It will also rapidly bring health care news to people.

Several things have to hold: the weather for one. The political world....coalitions have to hold together. We have new inventions like Ginger...certainly they can or will or have invent robots to clear land mines, to strip and paint walls of schools etc...

I think we have turned the corner on one of our most serious problems...children coming into this world without fathers who committed to them being here. People are starting to realize again what they have always known..that children need two parents and one is a father.

We are on the verge of solving our dependence on oil..through wind, tides, solar...better car engines...we have free energy streaming down on us every day and we don't use it...even to dry our clothes with...we have food we don't harvest...Washington is halfway covered with blackberries that just rot...

So, in summary, we are on the verge of a health revolution in the "western world," we will see reductions in population in the developing world, as well as reduction of poverty if the population declines quickly...we have inventions that are just over the horizon. We really need very little and are starting to realize that more..just adequate food and water and adequate clothing...many of us camp...how much do we we really need? Not much.

So, you see, it is all quite hopeful.

mg