One might think that life on an equatorial coral atoll is a pleasant business. What’s there to worry about? Take, for example, living in the Republic of Kiribati, a country composed of three sets of islands south of Hawaii. Ah! Tropical paradise. Eat coconuts and some fish. Life is a matter of relaxing in the sun.
Look at a map of the Pacific Ocean. Find Kiribati. Yes, it’s those little dots on which 100,000 people live. The Republic of Kiribati is composed mostly of low-lying coral atolls. The carbonate tops of volcanoes, coral atolls form rings in the water around the sunken tops of volcanoes slowly subsiding deeper. Eventually, Kiribati will sink as its volcanoes subside, and the country even now is waging a battle it has waged for the past 8,000 to 10,000 years (since the most recent worldwide continental glacial retreat) against a rising sea.
Eating just fish and coconuts that are supposedly good for you might get a bit old. Then you might have a problem with fresh water. It’s like forever to the nearest rainforest. Some of the islands get very little precipitation. As the ancient mariner noted, “Water, water every where/nor any drop to drink.” Fortunately, you could survive on coconut water.
So, there you are, living in paradise with an economy dependent upon a little help from the outside. Australia and other countries lend a hand, but what do they have to gain in all the charity? What if their priorities change? Some 100,000 Kiribatians might find living in paradise turning into life on a space station with no supply ships.
Kiribati is tropical paradise. Or, think again. Is it? No place is paradise, but every place can approach it. Place places limitations, but we determine how we use place within those fundamental limits. We, even in our most primitive development, have discovered how to use resources previous generations never knew existed. So, in Kiribati, coconuts are the source of copra for export. There’s more. Coconuts are now used in traditional medicine to treat about 40 ailments and supposedly have about 50 health benefits, including heart health. Coconut water, oil, and even coir have become trendy products.
It doesn’t matter where we live. There are risks and hardships. Your personal safety and success lie in minimizing both and creatively using resources. It doesn’t matter where we live and the seeming limitations of place. What appears to one generation as a limitation, might be an advantage to the next. You don’t live in paradise, but with a little effort, you might almost live there.
Look at a map of the Pacific Ocean. Find Kiribati. Yes, it’s those little dots on which 100,000 people live. The Republic of Kiribati is composed mostly of low-lying coral atolls. The carbonate tops of volcanoes, coral atolls form rings in the water around the sunken tops of volcanoes slowly subsiding deeper. Eventually, Kiribati will sink as its volcanoes subside, and the country even now is waging a battle it has waged for the past 8,000 to 10,000 years (since the most recent worldwide continental glacial retreat) against a rising sea.
Eating just fish and coconuts that are supposedly good for you might get a bit old. Then you might have a problem with fresh water. It’s like forever to the nearest rainforest. Some of the islands get very little precipitation. As the ancient mariner noted, “Water, water every where/nor any drop to drink.” Fortunately, you could survive on coconut water.
So, there you are, living in paradise with an economy dependent upon a little help from the outside. Australia and other countries lend a hand, but what do they have to gain in all the charity? What if their priorities change? Some 100,000 Kiribatians might find living in paradise turning into life on a space station with no supply ships.
Kiribati is tropical paradise. Or, think again. Is it? No place is paradise, but every place can approach it. Place places limitations, but we determine how we use place within those fundamental limits. We, even in our most primitive development, have discovered how to use resources previous generations never knew existed. So, in Kiribati, coconuts are the source of copra for export. There’s more. Coconuts are now used in traditional medicine to treat about 40 ailments and supposedly have about 50 health benefits, including heart health. Coconut water, oil, and even coir have become trendy products.
It doesn’t matter where we live. There are risks and hardships. Your personal safety and success lie in minimizing both and creatively using resources. It doesn’t matter where we live and the seeming limitations of place. What appears to one generation as a limitation, might be an advantage to the next. You don’t live in paradise, but with a little effort, you might almost live there.
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