THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 1, January 1, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
HUMANS! GET OVER YOURSELVES!
By Alan Caruba
INABILITY OF THE HUMAN SPECIES TO CONTROL & DIRECT THE COURSE OF NATURE: HUMAN BEINGS HAVE NO CONTROL
OR INFLUENCE OVER THE NATURAL PROCESSES OCCURRING ON PLANET EARTH & IN THE UNIVERSE. HUMANS DO NOT
CONTROL THE BIOSPHERE OF LIFE ON EARTH, NOR DO THEY CONTROL THE EARTH'S NATURAL CALAMITIES. HUMAN
ATTEMPTS AT GOVERNANCE OF THE EARTH ARE FRAUGHT WITH CONFLICT, CONQUEST, & OPPRESSION.
FULL STORY:
The greatest absurdity has been the belief that human beings have any influence over the planet on which they live.
The Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest of the Solar System’s four terrestrial planets. It is the only
planet that sustains life as we know it, and humans came late to the party.
The Earth is dated to be 4.5 billion years old in a universe that is increasingly believed to have always existed, despite
the Big Bang theory. Such evidence as exists suggests it is the only planet that has given rise to the evolution of life
from self-replicating molecules, starting around 4 billion years ago.
Scientists have given names to the various periods of time of the Earth’s existence. These include the oldest, the
Devonian, followed by the Silurian, Ordovician, Cambrian, Paleocene, Cretaceous, Jurassic and Permian, among others.
Robert W. Felix, in his book, Magnetic Reversals and Evolutionary Leaps, notes that, “For all intents and
purposes, though, life on Earth began about 580 million years ago, at the beginning of the Cambrian Period, when new
life suddenly exploded across the Earth.”
“A dizzying burst of shelled forms took place, and virtually all major forms of animal life.” This is known as the Cambrian
explosion, and Felix notes there was an “abrupt change from simple life forms to more advanced. No one knows how or
why it happened. What we do know is that the pattern has always been the same — sudden — always sudden.”
What we do know is that mass extinctions have marked every period since the Earth’s beginning. Following the
Cambrian explosion, around 535 million years ago, there have been at least five major mass extinctions, all pre-dated the
existence of mankind. Indeed, mankind didn’t begin to gain traction as a species until the end of the last continental
glaciation — great ice age — about 10,000 years ago.
The Archaic Homo sapiens, anatomically human, date back about 500,000 years, but what we regard as modern humans
did not make an appearance until 200,000 years ago, and the earliest indicators of anything resembling Homo sapien
sapiens, humanity, date back a mere 35,000 years ago.
Civilization is defined in a variety of ways, but is usually dated to the development of agriculture and the organization
of human life around villages and cities. The Jews date their history back 3,500 years, but some date their arrival to 5,000
years ago. The last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago, so humans, as we know ourselves, didn’t begin until well after
that event.
We are now 11,500 years since the last ice age and the next one is due any day now. The Earth has been in one of its
cyclical cooling periods for a decade, the result of less solar activity, also a cyclical event.
Humans, you need to stop worrying about “controlling” carbon dioxide and stop passing laws to reduce its emissions.
CO2 is 3.618% and man-made CO2 is even more miniscule, only 0.117%. Without CO2 we and everything else dies.
As the late Dixie Lee Ray, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, noted:
“Such increases (of CO2) have occurred in the past without
any help from us at all, and this time is probably no different.
Most likely, the causes were and still are colossal cosmic
forces quite outside human ability to control.”
The Earth’s atmosphere is composed primarily of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Water vapor is being constantly
recycled from the atmosphere to the Earth, and, absent the atmosphere, no life would exist on Earth.
The other major factor affecting our lives is the Earth’s magnetic fields. The magnetic poles drift and periodically
reverse. The magnetosphere deflects particles in the solar wind. The collision between the magnetic field and the solar
winds forms the Van Allen radiation belts that protect the Earth.
The most recent magnetic reversal occurred approximately 700,000 years ago, and reversals appear to occur in sync
with ice ages and with the procession of the equinoxes.
We just experienced a Winter solstice, one of the equinoxes marking the seasons as the Earth hurtles through space,
circumnavigating the Sun, completely indifferent to human beings and all other life. In the southern hemisphere, they
had a Summer solstice.
The human race continues to grow in numbers. It reached 6,803,000,000 by the end of 2007, and is projected to
reach seven billion by 2013. As the Earth's human population continues to increase, it is worth keeping in mind that
only 13.3% of the Earth's surface is arable -- which is to say is available for growing crops that, in turn, feed us and
the livestock we grow.
Only about one-eighth of the Earth’s surface is suitable for humans to live on. Three-quarters is covered by oceans,
while half of the land area is either desert (14%), high mountains (27%), or unsuitable, unless you are an Eskimo or
Bedouin. Most of us live in or near cities.
The relatively short history of humans demonstrates a capacity for violence documented in myths, the Bible,
and recorded documentation of wars without end.
There is little evidence that murder, individual and organized, for any reason or no reason, will end. The primary
change of the last century was the development of nuclear weapons to destroy humans in numbers that defy the
imagination.
So, humans, get over yourselves!
You do not control the biosphere of life on Earth. You do not control its natural calamities. Your attempts at
governance are fraught with conflict, conquest, and oppression.
After the next magnetic reversal, the survivors — if there are any — will likely learn nothing from the experience.
--------------------------------------
© Alan Caruba, 2011
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Earth's Natural History, Global Climate Changes,
& the Future of Human Life & Civilization on the Planet:
Science, Ideology, & Public Policy
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, commentator and business and science writer,
he is the Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about "scare campaigns" designed to influence
public opinion and public policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity