This commentary is by Jeffrey Reel, a resident of Hartland.
Good news in regard to climate change: The planet is taking all corrective measures to maintain homeostasis — to right the boat, if you will — with or without our help.
As just one example, whenever a species overpopulates and exceeds nature’s capacity to provide for it, nature reduces that species in number until balance is once again achieved (from the effect of wolves on deer populations to viruses killing off its own hosts). So, no matter what initiatives we take — or fail to take — in the end, the forces of nature will heal itself.
In the absence of human interference, the jet stream will slow its migration north; the trend of warming seas will slow and reverse itself; the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, of which the Gulf Stream is a part, will eventually regain its speed and circulation; coral reefs will be reestablished, with threatened fish species rebounding over time; the Amazon will reforest itself, reestablishing the lungs of the planet. Except for those plants and animals we have already driven to extinction, fauna and flora will rebound, thrive and find that balance to maintain diversity, and global temperatures will self-regulate (glaciers are melting to respond to that need for moderation).
All of this depends upon the absence of human interference, and nature doesn’t care a whit if this occurs with our cooperation or without it. It will achieve its ends. It’s just that relatively few humans might be around to enjoy it.
In the web of life (fade in Disney theme music), the species most crucial to the web’s intricate balance and interdependency reside at the “bottom” of the scale/food chain: single-cell microorganisms and viruses, bacteria, algae, etc., for without them, all life “above” them would cease to exist.
As one rises up that food chain, species of life become less essential to the integrity of the overall web. What this means is that humans, finding themselves at the top of that chain (something we flatter ourselves about endlessly), are of no consequence as far as all fauna and flora are concerned.
In fact, because of our destructive influence over the past several hundred years, our diminution/elimination would only have a positive effect on all aspects of that web of life. And nature is undergoing self-correction to achieve just that. We are unwittingly forcing nature to reduce our influence by reducing our numbers.
All of this is to say that we don’t have to “save” the planet. The planet doesn’t need saving. We should be giving our undivided attention to saving our own asses. As we falter — and to the degree that we will fail — there will be the inevitable fingerpointing as to why: The Far Right will deny and deflect; the Left will blame the Right; Fundamentalists will say that God is washing away the sins of the world, purging us of our transgressions.
(The Bible uses five words to describe the nature of “sin,” the most common being the Greek “hamartia,” meaning “to miss the mark.” Like the archer, when we fail to take aim — to take an accurate reading of ourselves — we miss the mark. We live our lives off center, to a smaller or greater degree. Perhaps there is a place for the concept of “sin,” but only after shedding all of the historical and emotional baggage that word has accumulated over the millennia.)
So, whether we throw our attention and weight behind lifesaving climate change initiatives as if our lives depend on it, or adopt the mindset of think tanks like the Ethan Allen Institute, which never met a climate change initiative it liked, the Earth will, in time, self-correct. In the grandest scheme of things, humans are of no consequence.
This is Nature’s System of Justice at play but, in its impartiality, it invites us to join. Will we, in time? Of the almost nine million species of life on this planet, humans are the only ones capable of making self-destructive choices. We’re that clever (fade out Disney theme music).
“Good news” you say? When our survival looks bleak?
We’d be rather selfish thinking otherwise. That’s what got us into trouble in the first place.
