Planet Earth needs our full attention
I’m writing this on Earth Day 2021, at 8:30 a.m., and wondering when we’ll be able to give the poor old planet our full attention again. We’ve been so busy trying to survive a viral attack that other concerns, equally pressing, have been put on hold. Our own lives have been in danger, but the life of our planet still needs our attention.
When the pandemic passes, as I feel sure it will, we’ll still need a healthy planet to live on. Some reports tell us that the reduction in air travel and in road use has caused a slow-down in atmospheric degradation as we release less carbon from fuel combustion. I hope it’s true, but we’ll probably get back to higher emissions soon after the pandemic releases us from our enforced inactivity.
Maybe we’ll be less receptive to the pleading of scientists for a reduction in our use of fossil-fuel burning vehicles, just as we resisted their advice about masking and distancing. In both cases, we’re at the mercy of that very human reluctance to change. We’ll probably insist on our freedom to travel, just as we’ve pressed for our freedom to congregate during this pandemic. But where COVID-19 is taking millions of lives, climate change will put a final end to the human occupation of planet Earth.
Botanists and biologists tell us that we’re losing species at an alarming rate, as our atmosphere loses its ability to sustain the life of plants, insects and, as the fish, birds and mammals go, so we will go. I’m no scientist, but I do respect their wisdom in the life sciences. I’m willing to follow their advice, as we followed the advice of Public Health advice and put our faith in immunologists.
Several big automakers are producing hybrid and electric vehicles, which may become accepted more widely as they prove to be reliable. A simple muffler adjustment will no doubt give them the aggressive growl that motorists seem to love so much, and grillwork can surely be modified to give us that snarling face that helps us to feel invincible. I don’t know if jumbo jets can be electrified, and I’m sure the return of the Zeppelin would not be welcomed by modern business-class travellers.
Still, we’ve got to keep on devising more planetfriendly alternatives to our old Industrial Revolution polluting habits. An Industrial Counterrevolution would be helpful, if we have the courage to set it in motion.
Ed Healy Marystown