Now is a Great Moment for Humankind

Reader Contribution by Staff
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Now is the moment when our uniquely objective perspective and our enterprising intellect are engaged in what may be the most important challenge faced by our species so far.

Other species have damaged their habitats or lost them to environmental disaster. The dinosaurs, the Saber-toothed Tiger and the Woolly Mammoth died out. Many species routinely go through periods of catastrophic population collapse and reestablished themselves in some new biological equilibrium. Lemmings spring to mind. But none of them, so far as we know, are consciously aware of the natural forces at work. They couldn’t conceptualize the fact that their own reproduction, their natural consumption and expansion, played a part in causing the pain of their population’s collapse.

Nature has lots of tools at her disposal for controlling species that cause habitat damage. Famine and disease are her most potent weapons, effective and unpleasant.

We, on the other hand, can conceptualize our effect on the environment and we might, if we wish to, avoid the suffering Nature will inflict.

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