Once upon a time, a special new kind of life evolved on Earth. This new life form fit in with the ecosystem it emerged from but, over time, it grew. It grew too big and too fast, it spread across the face of the Earth, its activities changed the composition of the atmosphere, of the seawater, of the land. And eventually because of what it had done, it and most of the rest of the species were wiped out.
No, this is not the story of humanity. This is the story of the Late Ordovician Extinction Event over 440 million years ago. The new species was algae. And that algae spread across the surface of the oceans, absorbing a huge percentage of the atmosphere’s natural carbon dioxide, until it triggered a global ice age that killed it and 86% of the species that existed on Earth.
(Disclaimer: this is an oversimplified version of just one of many theories about how the immensely complex global ecosystem may have shifted over the course of 1.4 million years, starting millions of years before even dinosaurs existed.)
We can ignore the fact that, unlike algae, humans can think. Ignore the fact that we can change our actions to protect our environment. The point I’m making is that humans causing a mass extinction isn’t a unique evil. Some species just do that. It’s part of the nature of nature.
But the Earth was a lump of lifeless rock 4 billion years before humans ever existed. It was a volcanic wasteland for millions of years before the earliest bacteria emerged. The Earth doesn’t care about life.
And life doesn’t care about the Earth. Through five mass extinction events, life never ceased. Life doesn’t care whether the Earth is hot or cold, whether the ground is water or lava, whether the air is oxygen or carbon dioxide. Life doesn’t care. Life goes on.
So nothing you or I or all of humanity combined could possibly do will hurt the Earth or the existence of life.
Tell me, why is the current balance of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the particular flora and fauna of the current ecosystem, and the climate that currently sustains them worth preserving?
Why shouldn’t there be more carbon dioxide for the plants in arid regions to respire? Why shouldn’t the ice caps melt to increase the habitat for the ocean’s ecosystems?
What makes the way things are right now so special?
Some people genuinely think that humans should go away for the benefit of the planet. I say, screw the planet.
If, that is, the choice is binary.
But I love the planet. It’s my favorite place. It’s where I keep all my stuff. I want the Earth to continue to be the way it is right now.
Some misguided individuals seem to have lost track of why things matter.
Things matter because they matter to us.
We should work to reduce our emissions. Because pollution harms people.
We should work to preserve the diverse natural landscapes. Because those landscapes are where we came from.
We should work to limit the suffering of animals. Because we know what it is like to be a suffering animal.
But as we do our good work, as we fight to protect the planet, we must never forget that we’re doing it for us.
