Our Plague

Once again, unchecked human population growth is at war with Nature – and Nature is fighting back!

Today – late-May of 2020 – our nation and the rest of the world is in lockdown.  Because of a virus, an invisible enemy.  We stay at home (involuntarily), we keep “social distance,” we wear masks, we avoid crowds (no theatre, no concerts, no restaurants, no church worship, no ball games), tens of millions have lost their jobs and their income, many get sick, many die, and we wonder when it will end, when will things return to normal?

Mars or Bust

In an address to Congress on May 25th, 1961, President John F Kennedy spoke these words: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”  He meant it, we did it, and his words still resonate today.

On July 4th, 2019, President Donald J Trump asserted: “Someday soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars.  It’s happening.”  Whether anyone will remember his words fifty years from now, we cannot know.  But let’s assume he meant what he said, even if “someday soon” is not as definite a commitment as “in this decade.”  Let’s assume we intend to step foot on Mars someday.

HIPPO

I called the second essay in the Appendix of my book, To My Countrymen, "Gaian Issues" (Gaia is the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth). The essay laments the fact that Americans place Gaian (environmental) issues at the bottom of the heap of political issues that are important to them. And it lists the ten most significant Gaian issues (Global Warming / Climate Change is only one of them). Here is the list: 

• Global Warming
• Peak Oil
• Rain Forests & Coral Reefs
• Deforestation
• Endangered Species – the Sixth Extinction – the Loss of Biodiversity
• Over-fishing, over-hunting
• GMO
• Waste
• Water
• Human Population Growth

The Human Species

“We humans are a special species, we are at the top of the evolutionary pyramid, we are what God aimed at when he set evolution in motion.” 

“Well, that is a lovely thought, but it is not really true. Every individual creature that is alive today – humans, primates, mammals, dolphins – are as highly evolved as are you and me. They are all products of 450 million years of uninterrupted evolutionary success, just like you and me. No predator ever made a meal out of any of them before they had children. None of our ancestors, no matter how distant, ever died of an accident or a disease before they had children, more ancestors” 

“But we are surely superior to them all, to all non-human creatures, aren’t we?”

Plan B: Mars

The Space Between Us is a 2017 movie that I do NOT recommend as it is heartbreakingly depressing.

It’s the story of a boy who is born and raised on Mars whose heart (larger) and muscles (weaker) are adjusted to life on Mars but not on Earth.  He takes a trip to Earth to find his father and the girl he has fallen in love with via cyber chat.  But he can’t survive for long on the Earth, and in the end, he has to return to Mars.   “Home Sweet Home” say the boy and his father overlooking the barren red Martian landscape at movie’s end.  The sentiment is fake and it is obvious.

But the premise of the movie is stupid.  “If we had to, mankind could make a fresh start {on Mars}.  We’re in trouble and it’s our fault.  … Mars is a planet ripe and ready for life.”  We have made such a mess here on Earth that we need a backup plan, a Plan B, and Mars is it.  So, they begin to colonize Mars, 6-8 Earthlings at a time.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

The Holy Bible, in the King James version, quotes the Lord God as saying “be fruitful and multiply” seven times (always in Genesis).  He speaks to the animals (Genesis 1:22), to the first male and female human beings even before they are named (Genesis 1:28), to Noah about animals (Genesis 8:17), to Noah and his sons (Genesis 9:1 & 9:7), to Abraham about Ishmael (Genesis 17:20), and finally to Jacob (Genesis 35:11).  God urges His line to “be fruitful and multiply;” but He is done urging it even before Moses rescues the children of Israel from Egypt.  Maybe He meant it as an eternal commandment (for everyone, for Jews), and maybe He didn’t.

Externalities

Externalities are economic costs not borne by the producer or the consumer.  They are external to the entire costing process, from creation through sale.  Most often, not paying for externalities benefits private corporations (and their direct customers), whereas costs of the externalities are typically borne by the public.  There are externalities that are “positive externalities” where there are external benefits rather than costs (the classical example of a positive externality is a community with an excellent public education system in place that provides a high-quality labor force for any employer who might want to headquarter there; the community pays for the education, the new employer gets a high-quality labor force free of charge).  But we are going to focus on negative externalities here.

Greenhouse gas benchmark reached

I am not a climate scientist, not even a garden-variety generic scientist, so what I am about to say is all speculative horseshit.

NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) said today (May 6th, 2015): “Global carbon dioxide concentrations surpass 400 parts per million for the first month since measurements began.”

The Sixth Extinction

“WTF is 'The Sixth Extinction' and why should I care?”