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Show THE ZEPHYR/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2006 POINTBLANK WHO THINKS IT CAN'T GET ANY WORSE? BY EVAN CANTOR Lately I’ve heard a lot of talk about human potential. Al Gore pursues it in his recent cinematic showcase and “proves” that just as humanity has had a negative global impact, we can also choose to have a positive impact. Stephen Hawking waxes romantic over it in a message to Yahoo e-mail users. And Martin Murie quotes Rachel Carson and Henry David Thoreau to the same effect in the recent Zephyr. Yes, humanity can make the right choices, save ourselves, the earth and our fellow travelers and create a sustainable economy-ecology for all eternity. All we have to do is choose to do so. years worth of human behavior and come to some inalienable conclusions. Human beings are monumentally creative, but equally, or moreso, destructive. Often charitable, altruistic, generous, humble and compassionate, human- ity is just as often greedy, cruel, jealously proud, vicious and bigoted. Human history is a story of compassion consistently overshadowed by cruelty. Unlike Personally, when I want to see human nature illustrated, I get behind the wheel. Aggressive driving and road rage boggle my mind. So much white-knuckle weaving and lane-jumping, tail-gating and nail-biting, getting motorized humanity nowhere fast. It’s a big “If.” Human nature is a funny thing. Is it in our nature to make the choices that Gore, Hawking, Murie, Carson and Thoreau recommend? Personally, when I want to see human nature illustrated, I get behind the wheel. Aggressive driving and road rage boggle my mind. So much whiteknuckle weaving and lane-jumping, tail-gating and nail-biting, getting motorized humanity nowhere fast. Road rage may not be humanity’s worst trait, but it is a manifestation of the same instinct that drives the current wars in the Middle East, that drives the cor- porate world’s effort to payee national governments and the same instinct that sees nature as an exploitable resource rather than a shared environment necessary for living. Nearly every time I get behind the wheel of my automobile, I see the stark reality of human nature revealed. Collectively, this is the way our species behaves. | If we cannot voluntarily drive down the highway in a civilized manner, what makes anyone think we are going to voluntarily choose to stop degrading the planet? I posit that although we are physically capable of making this collective choice, our own human nature makes it impossible for us to do so. Can the rebellious beaver choose to make no dam? A bee no hive? Can the little red-ear turtle in the pond choose migration in lieu of hibernation? Although it is often difficult to see the big picture, all animal behavior is circumscribed by a series of behaviors, some simple, some complex. Admittedly, the human animal possesses (perhaps) the most complex behavior of all. But a curious Martian doing demographic research on Planet Earth might observe several thousand the cinema, the good guys don’t always win. War is an endless cycle, greed continues to power economies and, through enormous collective denial and hubris, sheer numbers are forcing the collapse of the whole human drama. The Optimists believe we can avoid the collapse by voluntarily choosing to change our collective behaviors. That might be true, if possible. How likely is it that we shall become Nietzche’s ubermenschen, a better people now than we were in the past? Not bloody likely, I’m sorry to say. I’m weary of the ubiquitous Pollyanna smiley-face mask we environmentalists like to wear. I won't stop supporting good works, but I won’t fool myself into thinking that the vast mass of humanity will make the needed choices to avoid the coming eco-tastrophe. The question is not whether it will occur, but when. Unfortunately the only way my hypothesis can be proven correct is to bear witness to disaster on an unprecedented Evan Cantor lives in Boulder, MOAB FITNESS _ CENTER 160 EAST 100 SOUTH 259.5981 Open 24 a 7 a hours day... days week scale. Plague, famine, flood and drought. It’s already happening. Who thinks it can’t get any worse? Colorado LITTLE WEASEL ADS, INC. PRESENTS EXPONENTIAL GROWTH??? Think of it like this... Imagine ME tripling in numbers every 75 There's always years... TIME to get FIT lf THAT doesn't scare You, NOTHING will.. |
