The World We Live In

Have you given some thought to the world we live in? Our earth is a happy accident, close enough to our sun to give us warmth in the summer, some chills in the winter, but far enough so that we kept our atmosphere and are shielded from toxic rays emitted by that body. Everywhere we have looked in our system we have not found another place where humans are viable. The last paroxysm our planet faced only made our supremacy more possible, more likely.

What have we done with our heritage? Many of those who comment on that issue keep giving us a failing mark. I don’t see it that way. What was life like for humans five hundred, one thousand, years ago? The mere fact that we are now eight billion souls today, compared with the past, gives us the evidence that humans are flourishing on this spot in the universe. It may be that we will reach a point that population will stabilize. It is clear that birth rates reach a balance with death rates when standards of living rise. And will we eventually find the means to populate the galaxies with our more adventurous offspring?

We worry about the impact our numbers have on the environment we have inhabited. We have recognized that this impact is real. We know that our sun will one day explode and consume everything that occupies our neighboring spatial environment. That time is eons away into the future. We worry that the fine balance that has evolved on our planet will be fatally disturbed by the sum total of human activity, on an imminent time frame, that could make life on earth intolerable as soon as the era our grandchildren inherit.

The world we live in evolves on its own account regardless of what we do. It has done that in the past and will continue to do that. The overall impact of homo sapiens is proving to be as powerful as the environmental forces we have always taken for granted. These prospects are truly concerning. And yet when we examine the astoundingly rapid rate at which our human‘s technology is impacting the lives we lead, we cannot but wonder if we will not find answers soon enough to mitigate the damages we are inflicting on our environment.

Many of us have aspirations for humanity. We want all of us to do the right things all the time. Many of us want the human race to behave as if all of us are motivated by our better angels. Human history is littered with our failures in that respect. We have reached a point in human history when actions by humans can annihilate the planet. But we may be able to avoid suicidal actions just because most of us want to survive. Living things strive to continue to live. Won’t we be driven to do the things we have to do to make that happen? Haven’t we seen proof of the infinite ingenuity of man? Aren’t we, human creatures, creating unbelievable marvels every day? Won’t we be able to learn to match the natural wonders of the world we live in?

Now I have to get back to my gardening, my flower bed.

 

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