Another Earth Day

Anthropocene is a relatively new term coined by scientists to indicate our current geologic era in which humans have imposed grave changes on our world. The term refers to humanity’s drastic impact on the massive, complex, interconnected organism that is our world. This connotation displays mankind in a bad light unless you consider greed, rapacity, and a tendency to foul our own nest as worthy traits.

Humans have a short history on our planet, but the world is certainly marked by our passage. Our trash is found in the depths of the ocean and the highest mountains. Once pristine forests and vast areas filled with wildlife are diminished. We cause deserts to expand and mountain forests to burn.

The most pressing problem is the indiscriminate release of previously sequestered carbon dioxide. We have rapidly released millions of years of locked-up carbon into the atmosphere. The science showing the correlation between rising CO2 concentrations and trapped heat in the atmosphere is too often ignored. Deniers rebuff climate science out of hand while accepting other scientific observations and breakthroughs. They reject the needed investments in prevention and mitigation while ignoring the ongoing costs of climate change. Fossil fuel companies with energy stockpiles place profits above the common good. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law states: Last year, the United States faced 22 extreme weather and climate-related disaster events with losses over $1 billion – a cumulative price tag of nearly $100 billion. These included damaging floods, fires, and wind storms across rural America.

Humans celebrate our cleverness but our inventions often have unintended consequences. Plastics are ubiquitous and used in all manner of applications. Most plastics are single-use, and once discarded may take 500 years to degrade. In nature, animals often get fouled in discarded plastics or die after its ingestion.

In an April 2nd article about the dangers of plastics in the Washington Post, it is noted that “of the 8 billion tons of plastic produced since the 1950s, less than 10% has been recycled”. Discarded into the environment it can break down into smaller pieces known as microplastics. These particles have been found in human blood and have potential to cause numerous health problems.

Our manipulation of the world has repercussions we are only beginning to understand. Heating our atmosphere has caused ice sheets to melt which threatens to flood the ocean with fresh water, rising sea levels and possibly disrupting the Gulf Stream, which in the past caused disastrous weather events and would impact some of the most populous areas of the world.

Most earth processes happen on such a monumental scale that they are difficult to understand until a confluence of events causes phenomena too powerful to be ignored. Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, heatwaves, and droughts are all products of the natural forces around us, but the increased heat caused by greenhouse gases have indisputably made them worse. We now experience what were once termed “100 or 500 year” extreme weather events regularly.

The responsibility belongs to all, but many categorically deny the changes. Some who benefit economically by the damage, and with the resulting profits, attempt to insulate themselves against the dangers. We have been taught to place our allegiance in short-term results and business as usual. Even without a carbon tax to ensure fossil fuels are equitably regulated, alternative energy is approaching a par with traditional energy sources.

The deep time scale of our planet shrugs off our notions of dominance as pathetically out of step with the natural rhythms that perpetuate life. We must educate ourselves and recognize the sustainable capacities of our home planet. We may be able to prevent or mitigate some of the changes, but the damage already inflicted will continue to wreak havoc because it takes years for the ecosystems to rebalance. The earth will prevail, but mankind will suffer dire circumstances.

Steve Foreman
Warren County