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Masochism
Machines (Sept/Oct 2005)
You
say the words "mass extinction," and most people think:
dinosaurs. They're thinking of the end of the Cretaceous period
when an asteroid wiped the slate clean. The giant reptiles dying
to make room for mammals.
People forget
this is evolutionary déjà vu. The fifth such occurrence
since the appearance of life on Earth. People overlook the fact
that we're in the midst of the sixth.
Species adapted
to thrive within specifically small ranges of planetary conditions
aren't all that hard to kill. And if instead of an asteroid, it's
six billion primates with opposable thumbs and a decent grasp
of physics-easier still.
Today, due to
human activity, nearly every ecosystem on the planet is in decline.
Most irreversibly. This is more serious than not having anyplace
to go camping. The processes that filter our water, our air, and
produce our food are under attack. Loss of biodiversity is a bigger
threat than global warming, pollution, or holes in the ozone.
Think of the
food chain as a house of cards. Pull out a few species, and the
whole thing comes tumbling down.
We're on suicide
watch, but there's no one around to keep us from pulling the trigger.
From monocultures to urban jungles, we're replacing cradles with
graves. Trading creation apparatus for doomsday devices. Sustainable
existence has been cashed in for instantaneous gratification.
We're all so overdosed on power that we've blinded ourselves to
the surrounding decay. Wallowing in our collective drama like
attention craving adolescents, we keep our fingers crossed. Confident
enough that our various technological contraptions will continue
to postpone our own demise.
It's time to
wake up. Civilization will never lead to utopia-its foundation
of domination runs too deep.
There isn't
anyone to hear our cry for help. Nothing mechanical or supernatural
is going to save us from ourselves. If we truly desire to cease
living in a world of self-inflicted despair, our love affair with
suffering must end. We must cease hacking apart our life support
systems with razor blades of self-loathing.
Sometimes pain
is a catalyst for growth, but other times it eats you alive.
It's all in the response.
Following each
mass extinction there's a period of recovery. In order for this
to take place, the conditions causing the large-scale trauma must
dissipate. If we relinquish our precarious position as ravaging
rulers of resources and relearn the intrinsic value of simplicity,
we may avoid our own destruction. If not, life will continue uninhibited
in our absence.
The ball is
in our court.
-Jason M.
Glover
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