Is "Something" Happening?

There is a lot that is wrong with the world.  It can be depressing sometimes and with reason.  But...at other times it feels like just maybe "something" is happening—a fundamental change is taking place that might bode well for the future.  There are trends, such as the drop in crime rates in the United States, and the significant decrease in international warfare since the end of the Cold War, that suggest that maybe "something" is happening.  In various parts of the world, there are a growing number of projects aimed at preserving and even restoring natural biodiversity including some successful projects in island restoration.  Back in October, the Christian Science Monitor reported (here) on an ambitious international project aimed at protecting "10 percent of coastal and marine waters [of the world's oceans] as marine-protected areas by 2020."  Scattered across the media, there are many, many little indications that "something" larger may be happening.

The latest tidbit (for me, anyway) is a Time NewsFeed article entitled, "Beer Drinking in Germany Hits a Record Low," which reports exactly what its title says: beer drinking in Germany is declining.  The article suggests that Germans, who traditionally have consumed huge amounts of beer, are becoming more health-conscious, exercising more, and drinking beer less.  This is true of younger Germans as well.  While other forms of alcohol have become more popular, the overall trend seems to be toward less fattening consumption.  On a global scale this is not a big deal, but it suggests larger changes in values and attitudes that may be a big deal.  One thinks of the rapidly growing acceptance of the LGBT community in the United States as another one of those trends, more significant than a decline in German beer drinking, but also suggestive of a change in attitudes and values—a good one, leading to better personal and social health as a decline in beer drinking leads to better physical health.

Other trends may overwhelm the "something" that is happening, especially the continued decline of our global biosphere and the increasing ravages of global warming.  But, maybe not.  Maybe, just maybe, the in-spirited waves of evolution are carrying us forward to "something" new.  Amen.