Environmentalism is becoming my number one issue.
In the long term, other current issues are mostly irrelevant. Whatever legislation or policies we implement on issues like gay rights or gun control or religious freedom will only make a difference during our day. In one hundred years, or in five hundred years, when we and all those who knew us are dead and no one remembers us, new generations will come along and re-fight these issues and rewrite all we did.
Even the most influential triumphs (things like the Declaration of Independence or the Fall of Communism) are extremely fleeting in their effects. In another two centuries–or ten–no one knows what the world will be like. Maybe the center of the Earth will be Mecca. Or maybe it will be Tokyo. Or Salt Lake City. It’s extremely unlikely that the Fall of Communism will be much remembered–much less who the next US Supreme Court justice is.
Environmentalism is different.
It’s different because industrialization has tremendously boosted the amount of power we have to screw up the planet, and the damage we are doing will last for a very, very long time–in some cases forever.
Nobody’s vote on anything in 2014 will have as long-lasting an impact as the 10 billion K-Cups that were thrown away that year. And K-Cups are just a tiny fraction of our trash, and trash is just a tiny portion of the damage we’re doing.
We’re fundamentally and permanently reshaping the surface of the earth. In the last 200 years we’ve paved an area the size of Ohio. And that’s just in the US. A portion of the US the size of Ohio devoid of any significant wildlife or plant presence and incapable of absorbing water.
We’re killing off huge percentages of wildlife. 96% of tigers. 97.5% of bluefin tuna. 90% of blue whales. 98% of African elephants. The list goes on and on and on.
We’re altering the chemical balance of the atmosphere and ocean. Atmospheric CO2 levels are 30% above historical maximums. Oceanic surface acidity is up 30%. Ozone levels are down. UV radiation is up.
The sum total of all these effects is approaching a fundamental, catastrophic change to the planet’s natural systems, and it’s all happened in just a couple human life times–indeed, the majority of the damage has been done since my mom was born in 1944.
Rapidly surging human population combined with the powers of industrialization have made the last 100 years an environmental disaster, and the situation is only getting worse. Human population continues to soar, and the powers of industrialization are spreading to an ever higher percentage of that population.
At the rate of speed these changes are happening, we cannot afford to not think about them for another ten years while we focus on our careers or our kids or our retirement. The time for action is now. Right now.
It is a time of crisis unlike any in human history, and the action we take (or don’t take) and the decisions we make (or don’t make) in our lifetimes will leave a mark on this planet that will last for many thousands of years. Every future generation will look back on this era and how we respond on these issues.
You may expect to see many more posts on these issues from me going forward. I encourage you to hear what they have to say, and share them and the ideas they represent with the people around you.
The time is now.
One final note:
For my Christian friends who take the view (as I once strongly did) that the environment matters less because the whole Earth is bound for cinders anyway, and the only thing that really matters is souls and eternity, I would offer this: Humanity’s first calling in the Bible is to steward the Earth and its creatures. Humanity’s greatest calling in the Bible is to love God and to love our neighbor. Stripping and poisoning the planet we are called to steward for the sake of our present comfort, and leaving behind a denuded wreck for future generations is not honoring to God and shows no love for our neighbor. Souls may be the most important thing in your vision; but being a good steward of the gift God has given should be second on your list.