Today is Earth Day, the day when we are reminded that we live a planet called Earth. It’s also the day when arrogant liberals attempt to convince the rest of us that we are destroying the planet. Now, I’m not saying that I don’t believe in climate change, because I do. What I don’t believe is that we have the capability of destroying the planet. We might make a few million species go extinct, including ourselves, and we might wound the planet badly for a few thousand years, but the planet will keep on spinning around the sun.
After we as a species are gone, a new one will rise out of the muck and take its place atop the food chain. If the archaeological record is any indication, this species will reign for a time and then also diminish. This process will repeat itself until the sun becomes a white dwarf in about five billion years. It would take a catastrophic event, such as a massive asteroid striking the Earth, to destroy the planet.
What we do have the power to do is make this planet uninhabitable for ourselves, and in our hubris, we’ve been making great strides in that direction. We clear cut forests that convert CO2 into oxygen and then over-produce CO2 by relying too heavily on fossil fuels. We pollute our air, water, and food supplies with little regard for the future. We deplete natural resources instead of pursuing renewable resources. We ignore the advice of mainstream science in the name of commerce. I’ll reiterate again that I’m not against commerce. I like the free market, but I am against reckless commerce that doesn’t look beyond the present.
We need to re-energize the space program and send a team to Mars. We need to develop renewable energy sources that are less expensive and less damaging to our environment. We need to regrow more forests to re-establish the global CO2 balance. We need to become responsible stewards of our home. In Genesis, God charged Adam with caring for the Earth and shepherding the animals, not wrecking the planet and abusing the animals. The irony that conservatives are against conservation is almost too much to process.
The most important thing we as a species need to do is overcome thousands of years of animalistic superstition and occultism and see the world through a rational lens. We are a species at the top of the food chain on a planet called Earth. Our ecosystem survives on a balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide, and that ecosystem is a fragile, precious gift that sustains our lives. If we want to continue our reign atop the food chain, we need to makes changes to how we produce energy and food, and we need to improve how we manage our waste. If we fail to make these changes and adapt as a species, the planet will rid itself of us long before we can figure out how to destroy it.
Big Owl's Tree 