AS we enter this new year, it’s time to get real and stop our wishful thinking. All ocean going ships must have lifeboats ready at the sides of the ship just in case of a disaster. 

Every captain knows that each lifeboat has a fixed number of passengers and crew that it can take without itself sinking. There have been many disasters at sea and one of the most famous was the Titanic. If the number limit in your boat is 100, you may be able to pull one or two extra people from the sea, but any more would in-danger the reast of the people on the boat.

It is believed that when the Titanic went down there was understandable panic as some wanted to pull more into the lifeboat and others including the boats crew, said no! They understood orders and the laws of nature. Just a few extra passengers and the next big wave would send them all to a watery grave. 

We live and have always lived in a dangerous and competitive world. I would call myself a do-gooder, but one who is checked by the laws of science and common sense. The UK is known for having many charities and do-gooders, and Infact, we are in the top ten for giving in the world.

Therefore, as soon as you ask anyone to look at the wider picture in a holistic way, a different conclusion is understood. If we really want - and we need to, save all the eco systems, the wildlife, the trees, even farmland, then we must limit the number of extra people on board lifeboat UK! 

I know this is hard, but if we focus on just saving people all-around the world, it is not possible to see the big picture which has been unfolding all my life – which is, the UK has increased its population by around 40% in just my lifetime. The world’s population has tripled at the same time. Also, in the same time period many animals and creatures have gone extinct.

Even before the industrial revolution, Queen Elisabeth the first, was chopping down trees for warships and to grow more food. To bring us up to modern days, the UK is an over-populated land with one of the lowest tree covers in the whole world. It has lost much of its wildlife and biodiversity. 

The conclusion is that our UK lifeboat is already over-full. If you feel that human life is more important to save then animals and plants and land to feed our-selves, then I do get where you are coming from, but I would ask you to look at the bigger picture. Migrations across the globe has been going on since the last ice age 12,800 years ago. 

As the ice melted away and caused the world-wide flood, humans took advantages of open land and more animals to kill and feed themselves. Today’s world movement of people is no different; politics and climate change are driving today’s movements, just like it has always done.  

We all want to survive and live a better life. History and archaeological records now show that the movement of people going all over the globe since the last ice age has been the main reason for the great extinction which is still going on. 

Life in its rawness is hard, but if we want to save what’s left of the UK’s wildlife and biodiversity; which also sustains us all, we need to stop putting more people in the lifeboat, especially as climate change will push millions to cooler climates over the years – we just can’t save them all, if we tried, we and the wildlife would just sink with them.