I wish I
hadn’t read about geology as a distraction from the presidential campaign.
Geology, I thought, would give me a different perspective. My view of time
would zoom far, far out and I would see the election as less important.
Indeed,
that happened, but I got more than I bargained for. By reading the geological history of Earth I came to realize that
human beings are destined for extinction, no matter what we do, just as so many
species have been before us. I also realized anew that what we humans are doing is accelerating our inevitable demise. Our numbers
are too great. Earth simply cannot support her ever-growing human population in the
style to which we have come accustomed and now consider our entitlement.
The
staggering changes we have wrought on our environment since the Industrial
Revolution have come rapidly and continue with great momentum. Climate change
is upon us and we are unprepared for it. Many of us deny it. Among the
realists, some of us try to do what we can to delay the disaster. We recycle
and ride bikes. We carry reusable bags to the grocery store and learn to drive
our cars for fuel efficiency instead of speed. But not enough of us are trying
and what little we do is a drop in the ocean.
I’ve long
taken the existential view that my actions make a difference in the world and
that it is my moral duty to choose my actions carefully. I have believed that
if I and others take collective action we could turn the tide of climate change
or at least slow it down. But from the viewpoint of geological time, I see that it
can’t be done. There isn’t time. We are destroying in a few human generations
an environment that took billions of years to develop. Sea levels will rise,
coastal communities will be devastated and Kansas will be part of the Great
American Desert. The oceans will become acidic and destroy the marine food
chain. The ozone layer will become Swiss cheese. And so on…
When the existentialist realizes that nothing she can do will change the inevitable, she gets the existential blues.
Copyright
2012 by Shirley Domer
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