Surviving the Third Millenium

One of the key questions on our minds at the turn of a new millennium is what will become of this Earth, our home, in the next thousand years. In considering it, let's take stock of trends over the previous centuries.

One thousand years ago, no single culture dominated the world. But the related religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity were poised to sweep the globe. Their attitudes about the environment have shaped today's world.

The Earth was perceived as God's dominion. People were God's servants, endowed with the responsibility of ruling Nature. At their heart, these beliefs held potential for a useful concept of stewardship. But instead, our ancestors set out to conquer not only less developed cultures, but the wilder lands which seemed hostile to civilization. Creatures of every kind, from the whale on down to the virus, could be seen as enemies.

Our primary energy sources have changed from wood, to coal, to petroleum, to hydroelectricity, to nuclear, each with its benefits and detriments. The more harmless forms of solar, wind, sea and geothermal have only appeared as viable alternatives in the past quarter century. We have still made little progress in applying them.

From these fuels and our use other of resources have come pollution: to the air, water and soil. Water pollution has caused disease for centuries. Even the simplest farming methods have raped the soil in marginal areas such as Ethiopia and Sudan, leading to erosion, desertification and chemical poisoning of the topsoil over decades. Pollutants we have come to know as greenhouse gases, from wood and coal, began gradually altering the atmosphere well before the industrial revolution. Yet only in this last century of the millennium have thinkers like Rachel Carson alerted us to the threat these processes posed.

From our place at the right hand of God, people took license to slaughter or abuse whatever  organisms offended them, or from which they could derive profit. This led to the extinction of many species, mostly among large birds and mammals prior to 1900. Once a few people took notice and put a stop to the decimation, it turned to other frontiers. Now most of the losses are among creatures invisible to most of us: plants, small birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates in the richest ecosystems of the planet, our rain forests and coral reefs. The toll carries on because most of us are unaware that our own consumer habits contribute to the devastation.

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