Life is a Process

I owe the Japanese a debt of gratitude for sending a probe to the moon that has taken awe inspiring high-definition pictures of this overburdened planet that we call home. As a pantheist, I find these images humbling, breathtaking, and in many ways spiritual. But no matter what you believe, there is only one earth in this universe and it is fragile, tiny, and dare I say it… insignificant. That’s right, the earth and everything that lives on it is insignificant from the universe’s perspective. Stuck in an uncaring universe, the earth toils along doing the things that planets do. It will continue to do this until it is destroyed by some cataclysmic event, such as the Sun going supernova, being sucked into a blackhole, or possibly when the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies collide. So why does this tiny pale blue dot matter, anyway?

Obviously it matters to its inhabitants, and should matter to humans in particular, given our complete dependence on it for survival. But here we are with our government denying that global warming is a problem, unable and unwilling to take the most basic actions to try and slow its effects. If only we could frame global warming as being so crucial to our survival as the so-called “war on terror”, maybe then we could spend billions of dollars doing something that would actually make a difference. The fight against global warming is ultimately about saving humanity, but we can only do that by saving the planet. Unfortunately, the whole anti-global warming camp focuses on the latter instead of the former. To them it’s one in the same and is completely obvious. What they really need to be telling the masses is that global warming is about the people, stupid! If people cared about saving the planet then they would be doing more to save the planet. People care about themselves, their children, and supposedly the troops, and are more likely to take action if the threat is brought closer to home. Something like “the terrorists are using the planet against us! Cut back on your C0₂ emissions to help the war effort!” might work.

Then again, I often wonder if the earth and the universe really would be better off without us. After all, humans are just as insignificant to the earth as the earth is to the universe.