Marty's Blogtacular Thoughts: February 2017

Life in the Savannah

The January/February edition of Discover Magazine each year prints an edition detailing the 100 top stories, in various branches of science, for the year. I’m no scientist, but I do enjoy reading the highlights each year. For example, number 16 on the list from the annals of paleontology/anthropology and archaeology comes research showing that homo sapiens all evolved from Africa. Our DNA, yours, mine, everyone on this planet “ part of the human story”, evolved in Africa some 200 000 years ago and migrated outwards.

I find this research fascinating for many reasons, but mainly it certainly defeats any notion of racism when one realizes that we all come from the same origins and we all share the same DNA. I also thought a born again Bible-Belt-Creationist Christian would dispute any such DNA evidence as bogus, but do these same people also deny DNA use as a forensic tool in criminal investigations. You see there are those who walk among us who use science, or ignore it, when it serves their purpose.

The main story that drew my attention was actually story number 14 “The Hole in the Ozone is Finally Healing.” There’s a bit of good news. When this “hole” over Antarctica was first identified in 1986 it posed an environmental disaster. Susan Solomon did some of the original research which also paved the way to the 1989 Montreal Protocol, a forum bringing scientific knowledge together with political will, in order to ban ozone depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons.

Three decades later further research has shown that the hole, although not gone, has significantly been reduced in size. Therefore, dangerous ultra violet radiation which in turn kills plankton, at the base of the food chain, and promotes skin cancer and cataracts in humans, among other things, has been likewise reduced.

The point is: an environmental problem was researched and identified, the scientific community was listened to by both the public and the politicians, bans were put into effect and long term environmental goals were achieved.

The parallel problem today is global warming, a much greater issue. I no longer have the confidence that we can solve this problem as we did with the hole in the ozone layer.

There are too many people both in the general population and in positions of leadership who deny the existence of global warming. I’m not sure how many of these doubters live in Miami, The Maldives or in Arctic areas where ocean levels are rising as ice caps are diminishing. Cause and effect.

Unfortunately, in todays climate we have political and economic systems designed for short term gain and short term planning. People want immediate gratification, they don’t tolerate change nor do they like expense. Problems have to be solved in the short term. Add to the mix those people, due to ignorance, greed and or vested interests who simply do not accept that global warming is happening, or if it is, deny that humankind has any impact on the process.

The United States has a president and environmental departments that support the fossil fuel industry over survival and therefore the parallel to the Montreal Protocol, the Paris Accord has been replaced for short term gain.

The gains will be real. Companies and individuals will profit and jobs will be created. But the opportunity costs associated with such profits are never factored into the over-all cost benefit analysis. The scale is skewed as those with power see only the short term gains to be had.

Why bother with reform in terms of carbon tax when polluters like China and India do so little to clean up. It gives us carte blanche to exploit, to frac, to build pipelines, and destroy the environment until those in power find it to their advantage and profitability to move on to the next thing, leaving a huge wake of destruction behind. This is what makes the 1% great, as they are not usually accountable because blame can be spun, alternative facts fabricated and double speak formulated to baffle and confuse those who ultimately suffer.

The question is can we as a species survive the destruction. We marched out of Africa as a single united species 200 000 years ago, but now are we too stupid to see our own demise? What good is our opposable thumb and advanced brain if we don’t know how to use them.

We might have been better off staying on the Savannah.

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