While there are some who believe that the “rapture” and “end time” are near, there is mounting scientific evidence the end of civilization maybe approaching, but it has nothing to do with the actions of a deity. The human race through its own actions, greed, and ignorance is putting at great risk the life that is the earth’s biosphere on which we are totally dependent.
This is not a construct based on religious belief. Those who believe the “end time” is near should keep in mind that the very first Christians thought that this event would come in their lifetime. The end we are facing is not something that will happen suddenly like the supposed rapture. It is a process that has already begun. We have already entered a phase which is the sixth mass extinction period on earth. Unlike past extinction periods, it is the result of the actions of one species, us. Every major ecosystem on the earth is in decline. This is not a belief, but a scientifically observable phenomenon.
Since the last mass extinction period 65 million years ago, life has been evolving. This evolution has occurred more rapidly than the extinction of species. Now, species extinction is occurring one hundred to a thousand times more rapidly than in the past. Extinction does not just occur species by species, but there are cascades of extinction as keystone species die out.
There are many causes of this sixth extinction period. There is no greater cause than our economic system which makes profit as its only concern. An economic system which exploits the planet and its resources to increase profits. An economic system devoid of any moral concern, in which greed is praised, and there is no level of profit which is obscene. We now have a corporate system which powerfully influences the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our government. It is a system which we have promoted world-wide. I have no problem with a corporation making a reasonable profit if it does so without externalizing its costs. They must no longer profit by exploiting the biosphere, the planet, or its employees.
We now have a consumer culture which much of the world is attempting to emulate. No matter how much “stuff” we already have, it is never enough. We have been brain washed since our earliest childhood to “need” more and more. We believe bigger and newer is always better. We are told that if we can just have the “magical item” our lives will be enriched with unlimited joy. 90% of what we purchase ends up in the landfill within six months of purchase. The earth’s resources cannot sustain our lust for more stuff. We can no longer have an ever expanding economy based on consumption. The earth’s resources are finite.
We are poisoning our planet with more than 80,000 chemicals, most of which have not been tested. There has been little testing of how any interact in the environment. Go into any hardware store and see the shelves lined with pesticides and herbicides which we use with little regard to their ultimate effects. All life is connected and related, yet we willy-nilly spread these and so many more chemicals into the environment. We are poisoning the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Our bodies are filled with many chemicals that nature never intended. This is true for our fellow creatures.
Climate change and disruption is something that many people are aware of but far too few are willing to accept and act to control. If you are a climate change denier then you are denying the overwhelming scientific consensus that the planet’s climate is changing as a direct result of man’s activities. Observable evidence overwhelming refutes the “beliefs” of climate change deniers. Human civilization developed over the last 10.000 years in a period of a relatively stable climate. Excessive CO2 in the atmosphere was the major cause of the fourth major extinction period on the planet.
All that CO2 we a pumping into the atmosphere is doing more than raise the temperature the atmosphere and the oceans. Much is being absorbed into the oceans. When CO2 is absorbed into the oceans it become carbonic acid. The acidity of the oceans has already increased by 30% threatening much of the life of the oceans. If we destroy the life of the oceans as we now seem intent on doing, we will be putting a large nail in the coffin of humanity.
The sheer numbers of our species on the planet present a great challenge to the continuation of our species. While those in developed countries look to the poor nations of the world, we often forget that a child born in the United States will have a much greater impact on the planet than the children of poorer countries. We can rationalize all we want and hide behind the banner of free choice and/or religion, but we have a responsibility to our children not to go beyond the replacement number of two. If you say you love children, then show real love by adopting a child that so desperately needs a family. The injunction to be “fruitful and multiply” was given to primitive culture that was at constant war and before the expectation that half a family’s children would reach adulthood. We have greatly altered the balance of childhood death and survival using many “unnatural” means. Birth control methods maybe “unnatural,” but no less so than incubators for the premature.
The question is very simple. Do we care and do we have a responsibility to our children, grandchildren, and all who will follow us? How can we say we love them and not do all we can to ensure that they have the same opportunities for a good life that we have been given. Don’t we owe it to them to give all future earthlings a livable planet? You can choose ignorance and apathy. You can say the problem is too big and I can’t do anything to change things. You can choose to believe the corporate profit seekers and the politicians who are in their pocket rather than the scientists whose life studies are the investigation of the life systems on earth. One of Henry Thoreau’s teachings is that we don’t have to wait for others to act before we begin to act. We are a society of one and so we as a society of one can act before our neighbors. Rather than giving your grandchildren another stuffed animal, plastic toy, or electronic gizmo, give them a healthy life on a healthy planet.
While it is true that we must all take on our individual responsibilities, we must help change how our country and world act. We must change those aspects of our present economic system which allows profit no matter the cost. We must have government fully involved in solving the problems that so threaten our children’s future. We must elect leaders who will lead in the creation of a healthier planet rather than for more profit of their corporate donors. We need leaders who choose knowledge over blind adherence to a political philosophy. I wish our country would become a world leader in a fight for the future rather than the leader in producing weapons of war and the numbers of people in our prisons.