Some thoughts on how we might prevent our own extinction.

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*possibly, in my humble opinion

I admit I came close to dying of depression after my last article, “The DNA Frame.” But I wanted to summarize and solidify my own thinking about what I’ve read on extinction, information that raises the real possibility of humans waving a final bye-bye. I also wrote it to employ the old Dale Carnegie trick of mentally accepting the worst case scenario, then doing what you can with what you have, to hopefully avoid that scenario. And I wrote it to sound the alarm that many people who’ve done their homework have been sounding for a number of years, that extinction of our species is not only possible, but likely if we don’t start mending our ways.

So I propose this article as a response to my own earlier article, and as food for thought on precluding the disappearance of our own DNA. I begin with what I think is a small injection of common sense, run through a short biology lesson, then offer what I believe is the One Big Asset that just might save ourselves from ourselves.

Anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of science or logic must recognize that no one is a prophet, in spite of claims to the contrary. The universe is loaded with more than enough surprises to make “reliable prophecy” a contradiction in terms. I’ve made so many predictions that I was absolutely certain were right—that Reagan would start a nuclear war; that civilization would never make it to the year 2000; that one year ago I was going to die, on several occasions, but then I got a heart transplant last August—that I now argue that anything I personally predict, will NOT come to pass. So it’s a good thing that I predict human extinction. Some friends even encouraged me to predict that Bush would win, but I just couldn’t go the distance (sorry about that--it’s a heavy burden, believe me).

Accurate predictions encompassing many variables are next to impossible to make, particularly long range ones involving decades or hundreds of years. This is all the more so in the realm of biology, where variables abound. I just finished reading Extinction, Bad Genes or Bad Luck?, by David Raup (W.W. Norton and Company, 1991), and was reminded that some species, such as a black sea urchin in the Caribbean, the Diadema, have gone to extremely low numbers, then made resounding comebacks with a change in conditions. There is what’s called the minimum viable population, which, according to Raup, “is very low, commonly in the range of a few tens or hundreds of individuals.” The lower the numbers of a species, of course, the more likely is extinction, which is why every effort should be made to protect multiple habitats. But the point I bring away is that nothing is inevitable, and what time we have ought best be spent working to preserve what we have, rather than despairing.

Also, efforts which protect habitats, particularly with bridges between them, appear to have an excellent chance of succeeding. And as anyone who has done some gardening or landscaping knows, flora or fauna often flourish where once there was wasteland. Many examples come to mind, but I’ll use just two: While visiting NYC a few summers ago, the scenery along the Long Island Railroad astonished me. Nature was reclaiming a decaying industrial infrastructure at a prodigious rate, with flush trees, healthy shrubs, vibrant flowers, and weeds of every description, and obviously birds, insects, and small mammals, taking over and thriving amidst fracturing and crumbling concrete. I was reminded of pictures of the Mayan ruins being gently recycled by Mother Nature. (The decaying infrastructure is yet another issue, but surely curable if we introduce the concepts of sustainability and perhaps humanity into our domestic policies. But more that on another time.)

Here in Utah, I have seen once barren, severely eroded ground from early mining days, as shown in old photos, now covered with tall grasses, alpine flowers, and sturdy conifers, a veritable living skin on a once rocky wasteland. Point being, good things can happen to the earth’s surface in a relatively short time, with proper care given—and sometimes if we just leave things alone. All over the planet, life itself proves this is so.

Raup’s book also noted that great debates now rage over the structure of ecosystems (at least at the time of publication), with some biologists claiming great resiliency and a very loose interconnectedness of species, suggesting large extinctions may not be as likely as many claim (even though it is often stated that species are going out at possibly 1,000 times the normal rate, that Raup gives as about ten species per year, with as many as 40 million species in existence).

The degree of resiliency of ecosystems is a huge and telling issue, but the bottom line for anyone living on earth would appear to be protecting what we have in every way we can. A planet covered with cockroaches, starlings, ragweed, and man, along with various bacterial strains, would be worse than no planet at all. It is the rich diversity which makes earth precious. And given that we are at the peak of so many food chains, as primary predators, our own position is infinitely more precarious than those lower down the chain, even in best case scenarios.

But my focus here is the human side of the reason why I think our own extinction may not be inevitable. It is our One Big Asset, assuming we learn to work it right.

In response to the DNA Frame article, my younger son announced that I ought to move to Baghdad, because I might be happier there. And he sent along the following horrifying, morbid, yet all-too-typical article, from somewhere online, to “cheer me up”:

[Article] Violence raged across Iraq this weekend with as many as 80 people killed on Sunday alone. In Baghdad, officials discovered 22 bodies that had been burned, blindfolded, handcuffed and thrown into a river. In a small town north of the capital, masked gunmen assassinated 24 people - mostly teenage students - in broad daylight. In Basra, a suicide car bomber killed 32 people and wounded 77. On Monday, gunmen in police uniforms abducted up to 50 employees of various Baghdad transportation companies.

Meanwhile the Los Angeles Times reports that new Iraqi government documents show that more Baghdad residents died in shootings, stabbings and other violence in May than in any other month since the 2003 invasion.

The news comes a day after Iraqi political leaders failed to reach agreement on the two most important cabinet posts, further delaying the formation of a new government. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki planned to put candidates for the Defense and Interior Ministries before the Iraqi Parliament, but he ran into intense resistance from members of his own Shite party over the choice for defense minister. [Article end]

Dark clouds fill my head when I read such things. My spirits sink deep in the gutter of despair. My nervous system gets paralyzed, and hope sails out the window. You know the feeling, we are the same species.

In response to my son, I forced myself to rewrite the article, employing that one extraordinary tool we humans and we alone seem to be endowed with, and that I and countless other teachers encourage in the classroom regularly: Imagination. This rewrite was not an easy matter, emotionally, and at first glance I suspect it appears somewhat ludicrous. I felt stupid hammering out the words and it is in fact a fairytale. But it is also a very real possible alternative, that any damn fool could imagine (as my writing it proves). Please proceed with suspended judgment.

[Article] Good times were had in Iraq this weekend, with 80 men, women, and children passing out Frisbees, flowers, kites, and ice cream to surprised passersby and local residents. In Baghdad, this cheerful group of government workers visited 22 hospitals, nursing homes, and day care centers, playing music with portable CDs, acting out small skits, and passing out poems they had written or copied.

In Eastern Baghdad, a Race for Hope was held for handicapped competitors, over a two kilometer course. The race was used to raise funds for research in the growth of neurological tissue. A large crowd cheered the contestants on and donated funds for each meter travelled. The prime minister of Iraq announced the winner, a ten year old with no legs in a wheel chair. Owners of a nearby fruit stand offered free fruit to all the contestants, with the young winner getting a month’s supply. “This is the happiest moment of my life,” exclaimed the young girl, with a wide grin on her face.

In Basra, a new library-on-wheels program has attracted many first time visitors, and old timers are making lists of recommended reading for the children and teenagers, free for the asking. This city has the largest percentage of students planning on higher education, and the superintendent of schools claims this percentage will be even higher next year, due to a new career awareness program, which has been supported by the United Nations and the United States of America.

All these activities were sponsored by proceeds from the country’s oil sales, which have been earmarked to usher in sustainable living, free kindergarten through college education, and population awareness programs in Iraq within the next five to ten years. [Article end]

Sure, I’ve produced a fairytale, one might even say a fantasy for mental weaklings. But it is a possible fairytale, with emphasis on the word possible. Humans are planning, imagining, and bringing to life events remarkably similar to this all over the world. I doubt you could catalog them all, even with the greatest staff and effort. The idea of a Race for Hope is actually based on a similar event I plan to be at in early August, in Sugarhouse, Utah, called the LDS Hospital Annual 5K Cardiovascular Walk/Run. I invite you to be there. And it was just three days ago that I struck up a conversation with a man who lost both legs to infection, from the knees down, but who had just finished rolling five miles around Liberty Park at a very good clip, in an arm-powered wheelchair (with handles like bicycle pedals).

So I ask that you consider the preceding paragraphs in light of two simple questions: “Could such things physically happen? Is there anything in reality, besides our own self-imposed mindsets, which prevent humans from creating such a scene?”

Clearly, we COULD create these scenes. I’m confident you’ve experienced something like most of them yourself. Yes? So it is conceivable that we humans could be doing something besides hating, maiming and killing each other, at least in our imaginations, and at least some of the time in reality.

Imagination is the key to our future, and it is the major source of any hope that I can see for our species. We all have imagination, we use it every day to varying degrees; we all have seen its results and know they’re real. Look around you, and there isn’t much that is not the result of someone’s imagination. We live in a world that has been imagined and built, bit by bit, idea by idea, from generations past. But I’m not telling you anything new, I’m merely trying to establish that our future lies in our imaginations, and in our collective imagination, and that much hope—indeed, infinite hope—can be found if we properly activate our imaginations. Didn’t John Lennon even sing about the concept?

Permit me to run through one more example. I wrote it to prove to myself that a more positive scenario was not that hard to create, and to suggest that we need to gently blow on the glowing embers of our better ideas, if we are to keep ourselves from the depths of despair. Brace first for a short trip into that dark cellar of depression, with a news item we all just witnessed, and then hopefully back out of the cellar, with a vision that I will argue is completely within our grasp.

[Article] Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose bloody campaign of beheadings and suicide bombings made him the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq, was killed when U.S. warplanes dropped 500-pound bombs on his isolated safe house, officials said Thursday. His death was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

The targeted airstrike Wednesday evening was the culmination of a two-week-long hunt for al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Tips from senior militants led U.S. forces to follow al-Zarqawi's spiritual adviser to the safe house, 30 miles outside Baghdad, for a meeting with the terror leader. The adviser, Sheik Abdul Rahman, was among those killed.

Fingerprints, tattoos and scars helped U.S. troops identify al-Zarqawi's body, White House spokesman Tony Snow said. The U.S. military released a picture of al-Zarqawi's face after the airstrike, with his eyes closed and spots of blood behind him, an image reminiscent of photos of Saddam Hussein's slain sons from the early days of the war. [Article end]

Let use never mind, for a moment, that the Howling Monkeys of America and George the King Howler had multiple orgasms (forgive them—as Howling Ann has explained, they were never taught about masturbation), while the non-barbarians and halfway sane amongst us wanted to puke a little harder. We must assume that the Howlers’ dominant role in our society, with proper assistance, will soon pass, and that within our lifetimes these slow learners will at least try to mimic the brighter ones. With encouragement, such things happen in classrooms every day.

But on with the rewrite. If you are a fan of the Utne Reader you may recognize that I’ve plagerized and slightly modified some of the following, but attempted to retain the essence of an actual interview with a living Muslim leader. And if you were amongst the visionaries in the last primaries, you will recognize that I’ve leaned on the work of perhaps our brightest politician, to echo a concept whose time has come.

[Article] Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose campaign of terror made him the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq, announced this morning that he was changing direction, one-hundred eighty degrees. This unexpected event was based on input from his new spiritual adviser, according to Zarqawi, when he announced this morning: “We can no longer continue with terror and violence as a means to our ends. These are the same methods which the United States has been unleashing on us, and it has become self-evident, after far too many deaths and untold misery, that this vicious, non-productive cycle must stop. Enough lives have been shattered and lost.”

Zarqawi further proclaimed, “A deeper reading of the Koran leads us to conclude what many have been saying for several years—Muslims are a people of peace, and the people of the world are our brothers and sisters. We intend henceforth to cease all violence, except in cases of extreme self-defense, and to come to terms with the United States of America and resolve through discussion and global awareness our considerable differences.

“This is not a softening of our beliefs, but rather a strengthening and confirmation of them. We will not stop until we achieve independence for the country of Iraq. Our calls for justice will increase in volume and intensity until positive, working solutions have been found. Our resources will not be given away for free, and our government will have fair and equal representation of the Iraqi population, and not be based on favors to existing fiefdoms.”

Zarqawi’s new approach has been hailed by many world leaders as having the potential to usher in a new age in the mideast, one of light and reason. The surprise announcement has also been cheered by religious leaders, in Iraq and elsewhere, as a major breakthrough, which they fully support, as it is completely in line with what they have been preaching.

A further elaboration of the thinking behind the statements was outlined in an interview last year with Zarqawi’s new advisor, Parvez Ahmed, in The Utne Reader (Nov. – Dec. ‘05): “It is our hope that the United States comes to its senses, but if not, our cries and efforts to spread awareness of the injustices will do nothing but grow louder and louder. However, in the meantime, Muslims are denouncing violence, except in extreme self-defense, and returning to the true spiritual nature of Islam.

“We are here to help our fellow human beings, because, on a very basic level, no one can live well if somebody else is not living well. The violence we have witnessed has been based on a grave misreading of the Koran, which is not just a series of literalisms. A handful of people advocating terrorism, who have not taken time for serious study, have taken certain passages far out of context. This is why we have scholars of religion and spiritual leaders.

“The greatest jihad for any Muslim is the struggle to not succumb to base desires, like greed, material want, bodily pleasures. Even in the context of defensive wars, there are rules of engagement which must be adhered to, such as treating prisoners with compassion, and giving them the same style of living that you afford yourself. Restraining from base desires, including revenge, are hallmarks of Islam.

“The word intijihad means a striving to reinterpret traditions in the context of contemporary times. Muslims are beginning to do that, as are many religions. We’re beginning to see how religion can play essential roles in our lives without sacrificing the modern context.”

In the United States, the Department of Peace, initiated one year ago by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, has helped embrace and amplify mainstream Muslim voices, by engaging Muslim leaders to speak with policymakers and interfaith scholars. It is claimed that this effort has helped reduce the feeling of isolation among many Muslims, and was instrumental in getting Ahmed to “bend Zarqawi’s ear.”

American Muslims are now working with U.S. leaders to create policies based on justice and mutual understanding, and which enhance the voice of the poor and dispossessed.

“We all have shared destinies,” said Ahmed. “We are obviously living on the same planet, and we are all brothers and sisters, as science and other religions tell us. I invite everyone reading this to visit a Mosque and meet their own wonderful brothers and sisters there.” [Article end]

Impossible you say? Maybe, but infinitely more “impossible things” have happened in the course of history. Civilizations have crashed, humans learned to fly, unknown upstarts have become world leaders (who else is there?), ideas from hermit philosophers have altered the course of history, dinosaurs disappeared and quiet little mammals filled the biological void. Paleontologists call them our ancestors. Need I even mention the universe that hatched from a singularity?

Let’s face it: Nobody knows what’s round the bend. The remarkable thing is that our own hands and minds will greatly influence, if not directly create, whatever IS around the bend.

As for the above fiction in Iraq, it very well COULD have happened. Had more people IMAGINED that Dennis Kucinich—the one candidate with imagination and the consequent vision—could have made it through the primaries, believed for once that it MIGHT actually happen, simply stopped playing the “waa, waa, we can’t change reality” tape, and passed along one ounce of enthusiasm, it WOULD have happened. And as I imagine you know, Kucinich has been pushing hard for a Department of Peace; and Parvez Ahmed did say or suggest virtually everything above, in an interview with Utne Reader. Check it out in your local library if you don’t believe me.

With such alternate visions laid clearly before them, and the chance to pick one, do you think many people would hesitate? I can’t speak for everyone, but after several years working children from all over the world, including many from the mideast, I have little doubt that they or their parents would not hesitate for a second. The kids, at least, are peace loving, peer oriented, well-intentioned, fundamentally caring, thoughtful, and protective of each other. And this IS our species, before we toss in the monkey wrenches of division, the bogus notions of separateness, the fictional wedges between “us” and “them,” the seeds of self-doubt, the pinpricks of sarcasm, the concepts of status and greed, and the loss of faith in their own minds.

All these kids from everywhere want is a little respect and recognition. And I believe it’s fair to say that Dale Carnegie demonstrated with finality that the same is true of adults. Aretha Franklin, where are you? Is it really beyond our imagination to provide respect and recognition, for our own children and for all children the world over? And if countless hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of teachers actually do this day after day in their own classrooms, why can’t this same thing be done for adults?

Why, exactly, can’t George Bush sit his prima donna ass in a chair and have a discussion with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Osama bin Laden for that matter, get a handle on what troubles them, and not leave that chair until he has hammered out some solutions? What the hell else is he there for? Maybe you have an answer, but all that comes to my mind is that it’s his own pathetic actions, paid for by your dime and mine, that fuels the ailments. Would that “your dime and mine,” along with that of the unborn, didn’t translate to hundreds of billions of dollars and untold lives.

I close with three suggestions, which I make to myself as well as for anyone who might care to listen. One, when you’re around other people, try to imagine and to treat them as members of your own species, and as one of those species we perhaps should keep around for a while. These very folks, after all, are the receptacles for the DNA we’re contemplating preserving. I personally strive to smile freely, to be open with greetings and words, in particular kind ones, to pretend I can behave like an adult (it seems like someone should), and to cut a bit more slack for any stink bugs posing as humans. There is no question that this makes my world a friendlier place, more like the one I want to see, and surely better for those around me.

I don’t always succeed, but I keep working at it. Perhaps if enough people get the hang of it, our nation will adopt a similar position in relation to the rest of the world, instead of pointing missiles and guns and shaking fingers and fists at every horizon, and teaching violence to our kids. (If nothing else, I sleep better at night and appreciate the world more.)

Two, when you experience hostile or less than pleasant social situations, try to imagine alternative interactions amongst the people involved, particularly if you’re one of them. When I review unpleasant situations in the classroom, I try to replay other possibilities, and I see in my imagination other modes of response I could have had. I load these up my sleeve and try to remember them for future reference.

For example: I once subbed for a week in a junior high and was at the end of my rope with an out-of-control girl. One morning I talked to the school counselor and worked out a plan—I’d hand this girl a note saying the counselor wanted to see her, next time she acted up. She acted up on cue and in a few more seconds was reading the note, with great curiosity, and then was out the door, to the astonishment of the rest of the class. Can you imagine if we elected a president who considered different responses, besides punching folks in the nose or kicking them in the cahunas? But I’m sure you get the idea.

Three, try to imagine alternative scenarios for what passes now as “news,” scenarios which incorporate the fundamental principles of justice, long term thinking, and respect for nature. And perhaps even the understanding one gets in Biology 101, that we are all one species on a rather small planet. (If you have trouble imagining such things, and even if you don’t, I suggest visiting Kucinich’s “issues” website. I didn’t set out to advocate for this guy here, but I have to admit he speaks my mind. In fact, I nominate him as our best antidote to the stink bug problem.)

Am I a childish idiot, no brighter than the elementary students I purport to teach? Are alternate scenarios that one might imagine best kept to oneself, so one does not appear out of touch with reality? Can we realistically expect any person “in the real world” to lay out visions that makes any sense, beyond some wayward, vegetarian congressperson? Does anyone think that some real leader, say, in the United Nations might harbor a better vision for the world, and actually articulate it for the rest of us?

Well, ok then, call me a fool. But please read just a few more paragraphs before you do… http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0612-32.htm

[Rob Kall willing, my next article will be on the highly animated DNA in a multi-cultural classroom, and why it ought to give hope to any right-minded person. After that, I would like to outline the brightest vision I’ve come across for continuing our genetic line, proposed by the brightest people I’ve come across.]

Authors Website: http://www.hyperblimp.com

Authors Bio:

In my run for U.S. Senate against Utah's Orrin Hatch, I posted many progressive ideas and principles that I internalized over the years. I'm leaving that site up indefinitely, since it describes what I believe most members of our species truly want: www.voteutah.us. I thank those who sent such wonderful comments, even though it forced me to go buy a few larger hats, which were among my top campaign expenses (just kidding).

My forever-to-write novel (now my favorite book for some unfathomable reason), A Summer with Freeman, finally got out the door, via Kindle and CreateSpace. Readers of this site, and anyone else with two or more brain cells who want some "serious humorous relief" may want to check it out: http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Summer-with-Freeman-nov-by-Daniel-Geery-130528-385.html

My family and I lived off the grid in an earth-sheltered, solar powered underground house for 15 years, starting in the early '80s, proving, at least to myself, the feasibility of solar power. Such a feat would be much infinitely easier with off-the-shelf materials available now, though the bureaucracy holding us back is probably worse. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Living-on-Sunshine-Underg-by-Daniel-Geery-110318-547.html

I wrote a book on earth-sheltered solar greenhouses that has many good ideas, but should be condensed from 400 down to 50 pages, with new info from living off the grid. It's on my "to do" list, but you can find used copies kicking around online. Just don't get the one I see for $250, being hawked by some capitalist... well, some capitalist.

I'm 68 with what is now a 26 year old heart--literally, as it was transplanted in 2005 (a virus, they think). This is why I strongly encourage you and everyone else to be an organ donor--and get a heart transplant if you're over 50, unless your name is Dick Cheney.

I may be the only tenured teacher you'll meet who got fired with a perfect teaching record. I spent seven years in court fighting that, only to find out that little guys always lose (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Letter-to-NEA-Leadership--by-Daniel-Geery-101027-833.html; recommended reading if you happen to be a parent, teacher, or concerned citizen).

I managed to get another teaching job, working in a multi-cultural elementary school for ten years (we had well over 20 native tongues when I left, proving to me that we don't need war to get along--no one even got killed there!). http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_daniel_g_060716_alternatives_to_exti.htm

I spent a few thousand hours working on upward-gliding airships, after reading The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee. But I did my modelling in the water, so it took only two years and 5,000 models to get a shape that worked. You can Google "aquaglider" to learn more about these. As far as I know, this invention represents the first alteration of Archimedes'principle, spelled out 2,500 years ago.

"Airside," the water toys evolved into more of a cigar shape, as this was easier to engineer. Also, solar panels now come as thin as half a manila folder, making it possible for airships to be solar powered. You can see one of the four I made in action by Googling "hyperblimp"(along with many related, advanced versions).

Along with others, I was honored to receive a Charles Lindbergh Foundation Award, to use my airships to study right whales off Argentina. Now we just have to make it happen and are long overdue, for reasons that would probably not fit on the internet.

In 2010 I married a beautiful woman who is an excellent writer and editor, in addition to being a gourmet cook, gardener, kind, gentle, warm, funny, spiritual, and extremely loving. We met via "Plenty-of-Fish" and a number of seemingly cosmic connections. Christine wrote Heart Full of Hope, which many readers have raved about, as you may note on Amazon.

I get blitzed reading the news damn near every day, and wonder why I do it, especially when it's the same old shit recycled, just more of it. In spite of Barbara Ehrenreich and reality, I'm a sucker for positive thinking and have read many books on it. I find many many of them insane and the source of much negativity on my part. My favorites these days are by Alan Cohen, who seems to speak my language, and likewise thinks a bit like Albert Einstein did (as do I on this note). Albert: "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent, in fact, I am religious."

Though I rapidly note that I've kept alive my deceased and "devout atheist" friend's book, http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Foundation-of-Religion-by-Daniel-Geery-110510-382.html

Lastly, kudos to Rob Kall and those who make OEN the site that it is: one of the last bastions of free speech.