MONSTROUS CREATURE FROM OUTER SPACE

 

Survival requires strategy, too.

Possessing a large, complex brain endowed with the ability to look further - project ahead - into the future; anticipate the likely and possible consequences of actions thus, survival strategy of our species – Homo sapiens.

Because of this foresight, making choices makes our species unique.

Our species can recognize options, weighing not only their hazards but also benefits, and deliberately choosing an action that will maximize the potential for benefits while minimizing risks.

This evolutionary approach has been incredibly successful for Homo sapiens and has given us a characteristic of unparalleled supremacy on Earth.

I find it ironic that in this such a time of huge amplification of our brainpower through scientists, engineers, computers and telecommunication, we - humans - no longer seem capable of doing what our forefathers did routinely: assessing the hazards confronting us and choosing the best option suitable for long-term survival.

Humankind as biological creatures endowed with special organs to apprise us about the condition and state of our surroundings, we are very good at reacting when there is an immediate emergency - crisis hits. A car accident, earthquake, storm, fire, or flood leaves us with no choice but to do our best to survive and recover.

It is far better and sound wisdom to anticipate possible difficulties as well as hazards and act to reduce the probability of their prevalence.

 

A section, beach, of Lake Malawi. PHOTO COURTESY:  T.G

Let us Imagine

Imagine planet Earth discovers a foreign creature like an alien – fallen or arrived from another galaxy or outer space. Each of its two toes is about the size of the smallest island in the world. About an acre in area.

This single alien is taking one step each and every second running and one step every minute walking, while crushing the entirety below each step.

This creature from outer space has an insatiable appetite, drains lakes and rivers to [slake] its thirst, catches large quantities of fish in the oceans, rips mountains open for minerals, spews huge clouds of poisonous fumes from its mouth into the atmosphere, and fouling the soil, land and water with poisons excreted from its other end.

Faced with such a monster, the entire world would unite in declaring a global emergency and launching a massive response. Everything would be done to stop the creature from its detrimental rampage.

 

The Puzzle

The collective impact of anthropogenic human activity is akin to that of the foreign monster. Our appropriate response is still a puzzle.

Instead, we are deterred by objections that the destruction isn’t really that bad, or that the costs of stopping the storm are unacceptable, so we give up on continuing the monstrous activity.

Not any more do we use our foreknowledge to wend our own way cautiously into the future.

I believe, one of the many reasons why we seem unable or reluctant to respond to threats of anthropogenic human activity is, we no longer recognize ourselves as part and parcel of nature – the natural world.

As a species, we have been able to survive in diverse environments such as high alpine regions, Arctic, deserts, grasslands, forests, and wetlands.

Our survival under such different and strange circumstances, requires a profound, active and working knowledge of and from our surrounding - environment

But more and more people live in the man-made environment of cities, where it is easy to accept the illusion that we no longer need nature because trade enables us to exist unconstrained by the limited productivity around us and a strong economy enables us. To include all aspects of modern life including a clean environment.

 

The Collective Impact

When a species like ours becomes so numerous and demanding through technology, consumption, and economics, the implications for the rest of life on earth are enormous.

Our transformation into a major force affecting the biological, physical and chemical characteristics of the planet has been so sudden that most of us have not yet recognized that for the first time in history, we must be aware and concerned about the collective impact of the planet and that of our entire species.

Prints of shoes in a sandy ground. PHOTO COURTESY: File Photo 


The Call Out

The challenge of our time is to see humanity as that rampaging alien, have the insight and awareness to take preventive measures, and to show how we would respond in the event of an invasion from space.


Quote of the Week

"The miracle is not to fly in the air or to walk on water, but to walk on the earth." - Chinese Proverb




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