Polar ice could be gone this summer.
I don't consider myself an environmentalist. Like most humans (and other creatures), I take for granted that the world will provide my needs in the same way it did on a summer day in 1962; August 22, to be precise. I *assume* I will have sufficient water, air, and food to keep my biological engines humming along on all eight cylinders, until I finally snap my timing belt for the last time. I *assume* that the world will continue to be able to do that for all the new four-cylinder models coming into existence when I am on the scrap heap being used as worm food...or Soylent Green.
Worst of all, I *assume* that most cogent humans can recognize just how fucked up things are in the world. And no, for once, I am not talking about the Moron in Chief (shocking, I know). Strange, I know, but life is like that.
There is a problem in the environmentalist agenda, and I think it's predicated on one simple idea; that we have to work to "save" the earth.
And why not make this assumption? It is clear from a cursory glance at any scientific study lead by a competent environmental researcher that the earth has been modified by the actions of humanity. The environment is changing, and it's our fault.
It's our fault because of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gaseous pollutants are tossed into the atmosphere as if it were some sort of public landfill whose use carried no consequences whatsoever. It is our fault because the profits of GM and Exxon-Mobile are more important than being able to drink water uncontaminated by poly-chlorinated biphenols (PCB's), and being able to take in a breath of oxygen is passe. It's our fault because even when the evidence is thrown in our faces that the sh*t is hitting the fan NOW, there are people still stupid enough to believe that global warming is bullshit, and intelligent design is real.
Well you know, those folks might be right.
No, I'm serious.
If one takes the idea that God farted out the world in six days, and then took a vacation to He knows where, then one also assumes that his supposed son is coming a second time. While the final details are fuzzy, ie will he come back in a golden chariot of the Gods, he will come floating out of the sky like one of the winged monkeys in the Wizard of Oz with two signs (one says "goats", the other, "sheep"), and all the necessary Cherubim and Seraphim to do his judgment day duties?
In either scenario, our actions have no repercussions, faith alone is enough to carry one to "heaven", and on one's death bed, one can whisper a simple, "I'm sorry, God," and it's no harm, no foul. Then you get to hang out in heaven jamming on harps with the angels. Just think, Hitler could have said, "My bad, God. Forgive me," and gotten a free pass on the holocaust under this scenario, even if he committed suicide.
Ok, now it's time to come back to the real world.
We live on a rock that was once a ball of molten metals. For most of the life of our planet since it cooled to the point that life was even possible, the atmosphere has been a ocean of poisonous fume. It wasn't until prehistoric photosynthetic plants proceeded pooting out oxygen that the atmosphere became capable of supporting life on Terra firma.
During the time from then to now, the earth has gone through numerous changes. Some of those changes have completely eliminated ninety percent of species living previous to said change. From drastic events such as meteor strikes like the one in the Yucatan that is reportedly the one that drove the dinosaurs to extinction, to severe volcanic activity that turned our atmosphere into the perfect producer of acid rain, the surface of our planet has been almost completely cleansed of life numerous times.
While all those species have come and gone, the Mother Earth remains.
Now we are smack dab in an environmental change which threatens to do much the same to many current species, including us. I just read a story that there may be no ice in the arctic this summer. To me, that's a fairly cataclysmic event. But then again, I am possessed of a cogent mind, unpolluted by a head-in-the-sand, "God will save us at zero hour," brain-dead mindset.
The point is, the evidence is clear that we are at that tipping point that has been predicted by so many environmentalists. By some reckoning, we are past it, FAR past it. By other reckoning, we can turn things around; it's not too late, but it's damned close. Whether we are past completely fucked, or so close we can smell it, there is no "true" debate that we aren't at or near the tipping point.
I think the problem is that environmentalists are taking the wrong tack on this issue. They talk about "saving the planet". Um, ladies, let me lend you a clue; this planet DOES NOT need to be "saved". Further, it is arrogant to think that we can "save" our planet in any sense of the word.
Earth is a self-cleaning, self-regulating creation. It existed for BILLIONS of years barren; unspoiled by biological entities. It will continue to exist after it's oceans have been boiled into empty space. It will exist until returned to a molten state when our sun becomes a Red Giant. Even then it will continue to exist in another form. We will be LONG GONE!
So, what's the point of saving something that doesn't need to be saved?
To make the argument that the earth needs saving shows a certain lame-brained attitude born of the quest for political correctness, and species-centric arrogance. It's bullshit, and it makes you folks sound clueless and lame.
We are the ones that need SAVING. It's US! Uh duh! We're the ones getting ass-rammed with barbed-wire condoms by ourselves. Our Mother couldn't give a sh*t one way or another.
We can continue to dance on as if our place on this planet is etched in stone. The earth will continue to spin on its axis. It will continue to orbit the sun. And we will die off. Like the Brontosaurus which preceded us, we will meet death in a world thrown into complete chaos.
Unlike the Bronto, we will have killed ourselves off. While that will be a historical first on this planet, in the grand scheme of things, the earth will barely take note of us, nor will it weep at our demise. The earth has thrown off its external parasites on numerous occasions. If we think that somehow, our Mother will favor us among all the other species, we're in for a big surprise.
So, let's drop the pretty, politically clean and correct words, and tell the truth.
We need Mother Earth. She does NOT need us. As a matter of fact, considering all we have done to our home in the past century and a half, I'm sure she's getting ready to shake us off like a Beagle with tick-filled ears.
It may well be that we have passed the point of no return, environmentally speaking. If so, as Betty Davis said, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" In any case, it's good to know that the Earth will carry on without us. At least there's that.
Blessed be!
Pappy
