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To Be Human or Animal

It seems  the biggest problems sold to us as causes for harming the  Earth are a direct result of human occupation. Pollution, CO2, overpopulation leading to starvation and war, are all  increased every time a human is born. What is it about people that tends to leave a path of destruction everywhere they go? Are humans the only species, other than cockroaches, where we can say there are too many?


If you lived beside the ocean, you might complain of too many seagulls. And you would certainly hear the birds complaining about the divvying of food. The shore line would be infested with bird shit and the small crabs might get overwhelmed at being pecked to death. That is nature though, so we can't, at least in the last twenty years, criticize it, let alone try to destroy it or encourage it to go somewhere else.  


 Down by the Ottawa river the porcupines like to climb to the tops of  tallest oldest trees. At night they nibble off the bark of the younger new growth branches, that are needed to sustain the trees. Hundreds of old growth trees die every year due to the porcupine.  Unfortunately, interfering with porcupines can get you heavily fined, so the destruction of giant beautiful trees will continue until they are all gone. Then the porcupine will have to feast on more plentiful smaller trees.


The above two examples are what could be part of a pristine forest or seaway.  It would be easy to make an argument  supporting that idea, especially in today's political environment. Yet when man behaves as nature does, albeit in a more advanced and destructive way, most people view it  as unnatural, perverted, a blight on the planet. Perhaps as living organisms we are toxic to the planet. But overtime, especially long periods of time, the planet will find it's natural balance, with us or without us, it does not care, it just reacts like it should.


Many would argue, we gotta keep it nice for our children and grand children, so we must reduce. That is an oxymoron, if you want to reduce than stop having kids. You won't have to worry for them and they won't add to the so called problems.


It seems that the only jump we have on animals, as far as the ill health of the planet is concerned, is our technologies. Our very advancements increase our carbon footprints, increase the number of individuals the planet can sustain and increase the odds of us destroying ourselves and damaging the planet.  These same technologies and future technologies can also be used to correct  or repair what we do. Can we trust the human race to make enough right decisions as we move forward?  That can only be answered with a yes, when we elect leaders of high moral character and we as individuals insist we are well educated, informed and not indoctrinated, whether or not that insistence is met with your own steam or with the help of others. 





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