It’s already too late for this iteration of humanity, but that is not a reason to give up

Many more people are beginning to accept that it’s already far too late to reverse climate change. Indeed, what does ‘reverse’ actually mean in this context? In the past decade alone, 160 species have been declared extinct, and the stark evidence shows us that humanity is incapable of making the necessary changes that will avoid the impending climate catastrophe. And yet there is good reason to keep fighting for the cause.

In the main, we humans love trying to stay positive. We are engineered to seek the silver lining, and in fact often scorn those that don’t look on the bright side. As Alexander Pope wrote in his Essay on Man, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast…”, hope is attractive and it feels good. What is the alternative to hope? Sorrow, depression, surrender…hopelessness. Unfortunately though, in the case of the environment, it’s the hope that will ultimately kill us.

There is still an innate faith in far too many humans that things will turn out for the best. Whether that is because we believe that a god or gods will somehow save us, or that this is all a god’s plan and that Armageddon of one kind or another will take the deserving to a higher place. Or confidence that political leaders will do what is necessary, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Or perhaps a childlike view of the world built around the happily ever after ending of the majority of stories. For one reason or another, most of us cannot or will not actually believe that humanity will be wiped out, and that our Earth will become a barren dustbowl spinning lifelessly in the vastness of space.

And in many ways, this isn’t our fault. Most animals generally trundle along in the same way for millennia. Sure, we see the odd glimpse of advancement. A bird that has learned to use a stick to extract some ants from a tree, for example. Or something unique and wonderful such as the behaviours seen in My Octopus Teacher. But in the main, animals don’t deviate from their programming — for that is what it is — very much at all. However, something happened to the human brain that made us climb down from the trees, leave the forest, forge tools, farm crops, build homes and ultimately launch rockets into space. Whilst at the same time killing ourselves and a great deal of what we shared the planet with. It is this mutation of our brains that makes humanity so amazing, but ironically it is that mutation which will wipe us out. The unstoppable drive to advance, to explore, to progress, to develop by definition means that ultimately we will run out of space, of food, of materials and of fuel. And as any astronomer will tell you in relation to stars, whatever burns twice as bright will burn for half as long.

It is very hard to be a human with a conscience at the moment. We live in an age where we have the instruments, the lexicon and the undeniable evidence that our behaviours have caused, and are continuing to cause enormous damage to the planet. And yet we are trapped in lives so complex, that the sacrifices that would be needed to make enough of a difference to save our planet are nearly impossible. We are trying so hard to find solutions that will enable business as usual, and in doing so we are denying the reality that the only way to make the changes that are needed is to stop buying things, stop stop worrying more about sports results than the environment, stop reproducing at anywhere near the same level, and stop driving and flying. And the problem is, if we did stop all of that, economies would crash, people would starve and it would be an armageddon in its own right.

My view is simply this, within the next two hundred years, there will be a series of global catastrophes. Exactly what I don’t know, but take your pick from a deadly pandemic, huge wars for resources, mass starvation as a result of crop failures and ocean acidification, and flooding on an immense scale as a result of a failure to reverse the melting of the Arctic sea ice. The human population will be reduced from 10 billion or more, to less than one billion. It will be a time of sorrow, of grief, of horror and of regret.

Unfortunately, it’s all rather hopeless. But given the current trajectory, there is no other possible outcome. And yet, I do not see this as a reason to give up the fight. Because although the Earth will be much changed, life will endure to some extent. Each species that we fight to save now means that more may survive than if we didn’t try. And each genuinely sustainable technological advancement and positive behaviour change that we learn now will mean a better life for those humans and other species that do remain.

Life on Earth will never be the same again, but humanity 5.0 has no god-given right to continue in its current form. It has indeed burned extremely brightly, but sadly at such great cost. Our only hope is that after the cataclysm, the entirety of humanity 6.0 realises that the most important thing that we can ever do is live in harmony with nature, and treat the Earth as our most precious gift.

Of course, there were those who already knew this, but nowhere near enough people listened, or were willing or able to really do something about it.

Some day the earth will weep, she will beg for her life, she will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let her die, and when she dies, you too will die.

Attributed to John Hollow Horn, Oglala Laakota, 1932.