Will the Human Race Survive?
(photo by Tumisu on Pixababy)
For the past five years, since summer forest fires have become the scourge of our Canadian landscape, I am finding myself mentally preoccupied by the fear of climate change. Growing up, we very rarely had such fires and we always had big piles of snow every winter, so I know that climate change is very real. I cannot even think about polar bears without feeling depressed, so I push these thoughts away and try to stay positive. While I encourage my adult daughter to have a child, so she will have a caregiver in old age, I also question whether human life is sustainable on the planet.
From an anthropologist’s perspective, since the last ice age almost 12 000 years ago, we are now in the Holocene era. Within this era, we are in the Anthropocene epoch of humankind, which started in the 1950’s, with the advent of nuclear weapons and heavy industrialization. This is when humans began covering the planet in a layer of concrete, building huge cities, which have a tremendous impact on our ecosystem. Concrete smothers organic growth and the production of cement also causes 6-8% of carbon emissions. As the population continues to grow, so will this infrastructure.1
However, positive changes are also being made, such as switching to electric cars and aircraft and finding alternative eco-friendly ways to heat and cool our dwellings. Scientists are creating tasty meat alternatives to water-intensive livestock. Measures to reduce waste and recycle are becoming widespread. Developed and educated nations are choosing to have fewer children. International diplomacy and development are gradually improving the quality of life in third world countries.
So, as I try to keep my own carbon footprint smaller, I will focus more on the positive and philanthropic initiatives around the world. The media tends to report only disasters, but certain websites, like globalgoodness.ca, report daily on environmental breakthroughs and humanitarian initiatives. How are you feeling about the future? Please subscribe / leave a comment below.
1 http://www.anthropocene-curriculum.org Matt Edgeworth and Cristian Simonetti, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 2023.
