Extinction, now it must be said that it is the nature of the universe for things to be created and to be destroyed. So adamant in enforcing this law is the universe that it is as subject as is any other thing within it; the universe itself shall fall, as does every sun, species and and tasty snack. However it is very easy in the light of the precipice we seem to be balanced upon at the moment across the globe that extinction is inevitable as the next major step in humanity, that when the collapse comes, which it certainly will, that this will be the final collapse.
Now, we are in the last stages of our society as we know it now. Western society and the globalisation it has spread throughout the world has grown too quickly and to greatly and continues to do so beyond its means, and is now grasping at sustenance like a gibbon plummeting through a canope. We suck the world dry. We are involved in wars which, though debatably, are pretty much about oil and the imposing of “disaster capitalism” which has been coined by Naomi Klein in “The Shock Doctrine”. Here she spells how that a government will go in blazing the banner of free enterprise, set up free enterprise and then capitalise on it before the locals get a chance. In the middle east we have this and also greater oil reserves as a result. This is just one way in which we exploit the world to strengthen our economy, and specifically with the middle easy keep our resources flowing. Otherwise it may be children and families making Nike’s, it may be people tilling soil for their next meal in the baking hot African sun so we can be stocked up on chocolate and coffee. Our luxuries, upon which our economy has come to depend on, comes at the expense of the comfort of other nations.
So, we are now on the verge of collapse it seems, that what happens when say, the oil runs out, planes stop flying, boats stop running, life can’t move fast enough to provide all the people it needs to provide. Economy collapses, inflation soars, food becomes scarce to the millions in the concrete jungles of cities, police and doctors are paid to little to care and enter the survival trip with the rest of us; the concept of their “job”going the way of stability. We enter a time of famine, pesitlence, disease, lawlessness and other grim reapers of nature.
This is the worst case scenario, and is incredibly likely to happen in some drastically destructive capacity, at some point. It is a basic Biological fact available in any High school biology textbook that we have population growth curves when looking at a species within an environment. There are essentially two different models. One: a species enters it’s environment, it grows exponentially, and then hit’s a cut off point where the population stabilises and oscillates in equilibrium; sometimes up and sometimes down but in harmony. This is called the environments “carrying capacity”. An example of this is birds and grubs, the birds get a few too many, there is less to eat, fewer birds live, there is higher infant mortality and so their numbers drop, the grubs then grow in number as less is preying on them, and so the birds then grow in number as for a few generations their is plentiful food. This is essentially how nature creates a balance between what is eaten and what hunts. There is another model however, one where a species overshoots the aforementioned cut off point, the trend here is exponential growth, reaching a point to plummet the other side: A bell curve.
There is no doubt that we have overshot our carrying capacity. To quite some degree.
We are no longer part of the greater eco system, we are hinged upon using more than we give back and rather than fall, we continue to grow and have been growing since the Black Death in the 1400’s, and so vast is our society that once it collapses it will be huge and many deaths will most probably occur. The more we grow the more we use and still the less we give back in proportion However, and now to the main point. I don’t believe extinction will occur. We are too resourceful and too well developed a species to succumb to total extinction, though there are many deaths we can still live off the land, it is not all ruined, Humans will live as long as the earth or till something more intelligent evolves and does away with us. We have adapted better than any species, into all habitats on offer. For now and a long time we are safe, but only as a species. Drastic measures must be taken if we are to be safe as individuals, or our children are to be safe as a generation. We teeter on the brink and we are delaying the inevitable, we give our race the facelifts of an ageing supermodel, but when you look into the eye’s you know something is amiss, that despite the cover, inside age is taking its toll, you go through their medicine cupboard and you find all the drugs which keep the organs in check, you look into their face and it fool’s none with honest eyes, their decay is just beneath the surface, their death just around the corner.
Still it’s not over yet, so enjoy yourself and try and figure out what it is to be human, as you only get this shot at it and maybe if we all did this and forgot about the grander ideals and appreciated what we need and do away with the desire for excess, planted within our psyche by glittery commercials and branding, and not by our nature, that extinction wouldn’t be a topic of consideration.
