CLIMATE CHANGE

Honey, I’ve Killed The Planet (Ooops)

5 Reasons why the destruction of the planet is the default scenario

1. As much as we think we are different, we are just another self-preserving species on the planet

This means that, when given the opportunity, we take over. We are just like a virus, mulitiplying within its host but in the end killing the host, its own life support system. Unless humans were to “infect” another planet, this is our natural progression. To die together with our planet.

2. We continue to have no predators

This means there is no one to keep us in check. No one but ourselves, and as we can see we’re not doing a great job at that. We are responsible for all the imbalance in the ecosystem because we are not part of the food cycle. We are just eating the whole cycle. It is more of a food conveyor belt actually. We are at the end of the belt, eating everything until it runs out.

Moreover, we are the only species obsessed with having more than the person next to us. This competition between neighbours, cities and countries pushes us to commit even further environmental destruction

We are not part of the food cycle. We are just eating the whole cycle. It is more of a food conveyor belt really

3. All the behavioural evidence so far points in the same direction

Photo by Vikas Anand Dev on Unsplash

Our history proves that even when we get advance warning about ecological catastrophes, we fail to avert them. The overhunting of countless of now extinct species. The deforestation throughout our history. The draining of the Aral Sea. It goes on and on. All these were processes that took tens, if not hundreds of years, yet we still kept destroying even when these resources had all but been depleted.

There are some exceptions, such as the reconstitution of the ozone layer following the ban on chlorofluorocarbons, or the growth in European forests due to de-industrialisation and urbanisation. But the overwhelming evidence of past behaviour points to a scenario where we just keep ransacking the planet till there is nothing left.

4. We are addicted to risk

Put it simply, we like to push our luck and see how far it takes us, and we don’t give a fuck. It is one of the qualities of our species that has propelled our civilisation. People taking immense risks and gambles rather than looking at facts and balancing decisions. Capitalism and the obsession with Growth has made risk-taking a central value in society, encouraging this behaviour in all its forms.

As much as we think we are intelligent, there is something sick about the brain of humans. Our levels of mental disease and anxiety far supersede that of other species. Our unhealthy minds are making us shop more, hoard more, destroy more of the environment so we can have bigger houses and grow more crops.

Most of us still believe Earth is too big to fail. It will all heal itself somehow, if we just stop our destructive actions in the last minute. Our attraction to risk means that unless we are dying right here, right now, we will keep on doing what we’re doing. Even when we are eventually faced with total Armageddon, we find ingenious ways around it, the main one being Denial. Denial becomes our strategy, our coping mechanism. When we are faced with facts and run out of Denial, we then choose Radical Acceptance, Normalisation, and Defeatism. Keep Calm and Let the World Die.

Denial becomes our strategy, our coping mechanism. When we are faced with facts and run out of Denial, we then choose Radical Acceptance, Normalisation, and Defeatism. Keep Calm and Let the World Die.

5. It is (probably) too late already

A 2–3 degrees Celsius temperature increase is already seen as the “average” scenario, the consequences of which we already know may mean the end of most life on Earth and possibly human civilisation

We are unconscious to anything that has to do with long-term, as opposed to short-term damage. Half of us are overweight, going about our day with big bellies that we know very well cause a significant reduction in our life span. Smokers know very well their habit means 10 years less on average. Yet we still do these things. If we don’t care about ourselves it is a given we won’t care about the environment.

Sorry if this doesn’t make for a happy reading

Hey ho. Onwards and upwards. RIP.

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