Save the Animals (That Includes Us)

We frequently hear we should do this, that, or the other to save the Earth. But, as was aptly pointed out by a new friend I lunched with yesterday, the Earth will go on without us, regardless of our survival as a species (or the survival of any other species on the planet, for that matter). Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Earth science should realize this before long--"should" being the critical word. The Earth has a tremendous capacity for renewal; she can clean herself, recycle herself, and regenerate herself with far more skill and rapidity than we can ever hope to match, and has done so continuously to this day. We see that, for instance, in the rapidity with which polluted rivers and lakes refreshen themselves--as soon as we stop dumping in them.

So, if there is anything to be saved from us, it is us. WE are the ones who die when we drink water from polluted rivers and lakes, or eat the fish that have managed to survive long enough to be caught in them. To borrow a phrase from an old Star Trek episode: it is in our "enlightened self-interest" that we ought to live the green life--because we're just passersby here for a bit, and we make our time, and our children's time here, and that of many species on the planet, that much more difficult if we live out of balance with the Earth. She will go on without us, no matter what.