As I write this, it’s a lovely day outside: spring green,
bright blue canopy overhead, fresh air, bees buzzing, and birds chirping. It
certainly doesn’t seem like we are in crisis. However, scientific research
continues to warn of massive changes in the ecological health of planet Earth.
The latest is a United Nations report that combines many recent studies into a
frightening summation. This lede is from the New York Times:
“Humans are transforming Earth’s natural landscapes so
dramatically that as many as one million plant and animal species are now at
risk of extinction, posing a dire threat to ecosystems that people all over the
world depend on for their survival, a sweeping new United Nations assessment
has concluded.”
It’s tough to comprehend that statement given the beautiful
day and abundant nature outside my window. And that’s the problem- these
changes are occurring right under our noses. Unless we pay close attention we
won’t see this disaster coming. It’s no longer a matter of worrying about the
decline in elephant or rhinoceros populations, science shows that we are losing
a huge amount of the insect population. One German study found a 75 percent
decrease in the flying insect population in one region over the last 27 years.
Insects are a foundational part of the Earth ecology.
It’s ridiculous to argue about what is responsible for all
of these changes- it is humanity. There is no other logical conclusion
supported by science. The damage is the result of a variety of human impacts: expanding human development, agriculture, livestock, the burning of fossil fuels, chemical use, and many other
factors combined. The common element here is humanity. We are altering the
planet in a way that we are only beginning to understand. And even if you don’t
care about plant and animal life, the effects will likely produce devastating impacts
to human lives. Agriculture may experience collapse in some regions. Animal and
plant life is intermeshed in ways beyond our comprehension. Losing one species
can alter many others. The end result could be crop decline and then human famine.
We have not even begun to tackle the problems at hand. That
will take a comprehensive change in how humans live their lives- everything
from how we travel and where we live, to what we eat. We can’t continue to live
this way. We are fundamentally altering Earth in a way the planet cannot
support.
The lovely day outside is part of the problem. Until people
experience crop failure and famine, ecological collapse may not seem believable.
If we wait until that happens the results will be devastating. Even if we
started right now, and took these challenges seriously, the research points to devastating
consequences. The only hope is to mitigate the horrible and deal with the
results.
And yet there is probably more discussion about current movies
and sporting teams today than there is of this topic. That is the definition of
insanity. We are suffering from a human mass delusion. We see what we perceive
as normal conditions and assume that it will always be this way. Even people
who are beginning to feel the impact of climate change push it off as something
long-term. Those of us in our later years may not suffer as much, but every
generation after us will experience a significant degradation in quality of
life. Poor people in vulnerable nations will be the first to be hurt. Climate
change is already making life difficult for farmers in countries such as
Guatemala. We may not recognize the U.S. border crisis as a climate change
issue, but it is one factor creating the migration of people from Central and
South America. That is only going to grow worse.
So, when do we take action? It may takes years for any significant
change to take place given our complacency and the incentives to ignore the
warnings. Imagine the pushback from fossil fuel producers, farmers, car
companies, and makers of consumer goods? Politicians will need to lead the charge
and yet all of those constituencies will be screaming at our leaders and
fighting change at each and every step. It’s not just corporations that are responsible
for the ignorance- most humans are not prepared to take the steps needed to
mitigate climate and ecological change. It will require a fundamental
alteration in how we live our lives. It will mean a sacrifice in lifestyle. We
will have to make concessions and behave differently. That’s a tall order,
especially for people in poorer nations who are already struggling to survive.
You tell the taxi cab driver in Mumbai that he can’t drive that fuel wasting,
carbon emitting, 1980s Toyota. And then tell his family who depend on that
income. Will India buy electric cars for all? Will the United States government?
And then, guess what? Your electric car is most likely fueled by a coal power
plant. Figure that out.
I believe that the best hope for humanity is a “critical
mass” event. Critical mass in this sense is “…a size, number, or
amount large enough to produce a particular result.” We need something
that can change the human perspective in a way that is stronger than all of the
forces of complacency. It may happen someday due to cataclysm, or more likely a
series of cataclysms, but perhaps a push from outside our little world could do
the same? If an extraterrestrial civilization were to make itself known and
give us advice, perhaps we would take action? That advice wouldn’t need to be
some brilliant new technology. It could just be an acknowledgement that we have
massive problems here on Earth. Extraterrestrials could take the data we have
already collected and spit it back to us in ways we have not been able to do.
Humans will need to solve their own problems, but we could sure use an
objective point of view.
In the meantime, step outside and enjoy nature. Our days
with our current ecology may be limited.
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