Recipe For a Dying Planet
I’m losing my ice.
We may see most of the symptoms, but not the patient or hidden illnesses. The symptoms are many; the most recognized one today is global warming; then there’s the strange, but not so strange, maladies in humans, animals, plants and trees caused by “contaminated” water, bad air, “contaminated” food. And radiation. And more.
It has taken a long time for some people, even those leaders, to accept climate change. It will be beyond them, and us, to accept a harsher fact. And that is, the planet is dying. Many parts of the recipe were already there, like the dwindling number of species.
It’s too late now. Elements and condiments have been brought together to form the recipe. And it’s here forever and we need to recognize it. Recognize what? That our Planet Earth has already started to die.
Oh, our inventors and scientists can fix, cure, anything — so they say. This time, this last time, I don’t think so.
Anything we do now may somewhat postpone but will not alter the recipe much or prevent the Earth’s demise. We may alter the atmospheric gases somewhat but it won’t reverse things. Climate change will continue, only maybe less so. But continue, nonetheless, without stopping.
The human race will dinosaur-die with the dying, soon dead Earth. What can we do to go beyond the inevitable, to save the Earth. Nothing.
Baring some Science Fiction rescue to another planet — Ha! — Get real! — what can we do? We can go out with dignity and respect. How can we against jealousy and greed, our common human traits?
The Earth will not die tomorrow or anytime soon, I don’t think. How many generations to go? Your guess is as good as mine.
Can we start to love each other? Miracles rarely happen. Wars, neighborhood murders, deliberate injuries would stop in a kinder world, but could they? could they, maybe, in order to give the end-generation the option to look back and say, it was a good run on Earth. Let Earth die with dignity. Let us die with dignity and respect for one another. In order to reach the end-generation, we need to do good deeds for each other, in advance, today. That would mean doing good deeds for ourselves. A start would be to love ourselves with true love. That we can do, and pass down to the end-generation.
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That is probably the most profound analysis of where we stand in the ‘universal order’ that I have ever read.
I feel that what you have written is the absolute truth.
Species will die; no new ones will appear.
Rather optimistic aren’t you? I personally don’t see the end of life on earth happening anytime soon. I think life will hang on until the earth is boiled by the sun as it expands in a few billion years. But what life will look like, thats another matter. The Human species will die out, maybe we will be replaced by an even more intelligent species, maybe not. But even if global warming goes to worst case and we end up in all out nuclear war, life will go on. It might only be the single celled organisms but some life will find a way and evolution will take over again. Our planet has time to create intelligent life and wipe it out many times before the planet truly dies. so it goes.
Thanks for the comment, Kilgore, but it’s your ego talking.
Life will go on, I’m certain, but not the kind of life I would consider to be desirable.
A planet populated by lichens or bacteria doesn’t sound like much fun.
No, the great planet Earth will probably go the way of Mars eventually.
The conditions that permitted the start of our original life here may never exist again no matter whether the planet gets extremely hot or extremely cold between cycles. The composition or the atmosphere for starting new life is unlikely to occur again.
I’m afraid that when the gorillas are gone, the Earth will never see gorillas again…or pandas or woolly mammoths. Even if a superior human evolves it is unlikely that it will be able to survive. The more specialized a species becomes the less likely it is able to cope with change and therefore to survive.
My ego is talking because I don’t think humans are capable of wiping every single living creature off the face of the earth? Thats just rude Stan.
My point was that it might only be the lichens and bacteria that survive the next disaster, but thats not the end of the story. The vast vast majority of earths history there was not even that level of complexity. It only took about a billion years to go from the most basic of multicellular life to humans. There is no reason why evolution would stop just because of a mass extinction, actually we know for a fact that evolution does continue after mass extinction. I would also be assume that more than just bacteria would survive which drastically reduces the time until intelligent life could reemerge. I am not for one moment trying to suggest that humans or anything even human like will be at the outcome of this all I am saying is life will find a way. It might not be interesting life compared to what we have now, but its still alive. Life survives in caves with no water and no light, it will find a way to out live whatever we do.
Kilgore, you are correct. I didn’t give it enough thought.
Yes, there is life in caves and at the bottom of the ocean which will be untouched no matter what happens to the planet short of turning into a fireball.
Life will continue and it will evolve. It will take shapes that we cannot even imagine but it will be life.
The same forces of selection and specialization processes that caused bipeds to evolve and develop an ‘opposing thumb’ will still exist and bipeds will eventually evolve.
It can’t be otherwise.
Ok I’m not quite that optimistic. I said life will go on, primates are not guaranteed. Plus even if primate like creatures come back, it might take another hundred million years, which isn’t very long to the earth, but its a while by our timescale.
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Curious I happened to read blog4brains this morning.
I may be dying. I don’t know. Dying by starvation determined by the State (oklahoma) that I live in. I am “dying by starvation” … it is not fun and not pretty, although they claim it is.
My personal blogs on private communities I vent the pain and fear and fustration. But I have known for a long time that our governments want us to be nonexistent.
I care about the long term, but that also reflects short-term attitudes. Life force these days has no value. My life force has no value. So they tell me I cannot have my nutritional needs met and they tell me they will have a “meeting in a week or two.”
And I say, Okay. In that time I am supposed to not eat or absorb the nutrition I need.
Currently I am on day 10 of no nutrition. It started in October. They give me food then they withhold it. This is sponsored by the State of Oklahoma. I’m confused because they told me they were an agency to make me live my days comfortably.
I should have checked with them … how many days?
I am scared shitless to learn what is happening to you right now, 127001, because this could very well happen to me, to anyone, in any state, in countries like ours, today. But that’s small comfort as it is happening to you and happening now. I don’t know the circumstances and they probably don’t matter. But the results? You exhibit rage and anger and that shows them and everybody else that your life force still has value and power. And your anger is directed at the State of Oklahoma. Nice target! Good! Stay with the anger.
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