Maybe Devo Was Right

Reading Stirling Newberry’s Daily Kos diary about resource wars started me thinking about the future of our species on this planet. His thesis is that the competition for limited energy supplies will escalate and create conflict among nations. Our near term prospects may be stormy.

It also reminded me of a post I saw at skippy the bush kangaroo some time ago about prospects for life on this increasingly polluted planet. I can’t locate a link to the post but its substance was that all life on this planet is part of an unintended genetic experiment resulting from the constant release of chemicals and other compounds into our environment, the long term effects of which are unknown.

This “background pollution” is pervasive and persistent; it includes all the substances that are either unregulated or allowed under existing regulations, especially trace amounts of substances like polychlorinated biphenals, volatile organic compounds, mercury and arsenic to name only a few. Although their immediate impact is largely unnoticed, their slow accumulation in plants and animals may have serious long term impacts. No matter how careful any of us are about our food and water, we cannot escape exposure. We are all guinea pigs in this vast experiment.

Many of these compounds can cause neurological damage in larger doses; I wonder what their impact may be over generations. One possibility could be a gradual retardation of homo sapiens’ intellect, which has allowed our species to overcome the natural limits that control other populations. Our advanced brains have allowed humans to perform amazing technological feats that seem to control nature. If the persistent environmental poisoning degrades our intellect, humans may once more be subject to nature’s whims. If so, our future will be tenuous at best.

So perhaps humans will devolve into creatures more at the mercy of nature. If 2005 demonstrated anything, it showed that even with our advanced brains and technology, humans are still at risk from environmental catastrophe. Losing our intellectual edge will only leave us more so. Perhaps that will be the ultimate solution to overpopulation, wasteful consumption and resource scarcity. We will do ourselves in through our own greed and stupidity. I guess that’s appropriate.

Of course, we always have the option of using our advanced intellect to anticipate trends and make the necessary changes. As a society we look to our leaders to exercise foresight and wisdom. Facing a future where fossil fuels may be in short supply and their continued use may irrevocably change the planet’s climate, we should be looking for alternatives. Sadly, America’s leaders are stuck in the 20th Century, trying to perpetuate a fossil fuel based economy that is increasingly unsustainable.

If BushCheney had any real foresight, he would endorse the Apollo Alliance, a program that promotes energy efficient research and development in much the same way that the Apollo program focused efforts on landing a man on the moon in the 1960's. That Apollo program generated immense technological and economic benefit for America. The Apollo Alliance seeks that same level of investment and dedication in meeting the challenges posed by dwindling fossil fuel supplies and increasing hydrocarbon emissions. The Apollo Alliance homepage is here. William Greider’s excellent article in The Nation is also good introduction to this project.

In the meantime we can always listen to Devo.