The Status Of Life On Earth
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The Status Of Life On Earth
The scientific community has determined that there has been life on our earth for about 4 billion years. Our knowledge has come a long way since we thought the earth was flat and all forms of life were created about 6000 years ago. Then again, it is rather incorrect to say 'our' knowledge since the latest survey shows, even in the U.S., about 1/3 of the population do not believe in evolution. People are, of course, entitled to believe most anything and we all do to varying degrees. Those people who don't believe in evolution most likely could not coherently explain anything scientifically about evolution for more than 5 minutes at most. Via the George Bush 'gut feeling' method of 'knowing' things it is quite clear that life did not evolve or change from one form to another, varied life forms are too different for that to have happened. Yet when they go to pick out a dog for a pet there are so many different forms of dogs to choose from. Of course there are so many different forms of dogs to choose from because of a human designed dog evolution. These dogs were bred to look different and be different. I reckon maybe God could achieve the same result on a more vast and huge scale.
The evolution of life is not magic but controlled by laws created by God. So who is God and where did he come from? Beats me, except I do know that wherever there is a gift there is a gift giver. Our universe and planet is the gift and God is then the gift giver. Further analysis is a bit past our mental capacity.
I would, given a choice, personally like to be more important in the total scheme of things. I certainly prefer that my fate be in the hands of a personal protector and that I really will not die but pass on into another life, the next one a more perfect life. Given the age of life on earth it might seem a tad presumptuous that I can be, or am, a major player. It seems almost absurd that any of us really are that important, but we invent major religions to do just that. Historically it is quite evident that God has never had any 'special' people or groups of any sorts. Good luck with any 'God bless America' or "God bless" any other nation, religion, community, or family. All the evidence indicates every living form of life is governed by the same laws of evolution---including those related to chance, environment, and genetics.
In early times, 4 billion years ago, life forms were extremely simple and unicellular. Multicellular forms of life emerged about 600 million years ago. Wow, a few billion years process. Clearly Time Stays, We go. Things are vague for me concerning my own early years let alone for me to remotely have any clear appreciation of life before my time. Is it really a shame that I have not existed since the beginning of life 4 billion years ago? If it is some sort of tragedy that the world existed without me for so long, I don't seem to lose any sleep or tears over it. Why then should I lose any sleep over the apparent fact that I am not going to be present in the millions of years after my earthly death? While I am alive there are ample things to worry about, when I am dead there is nothing to worry about.
The title of this Musing, The Status of Life on Earth, is a bit elusive. For all I know maybe God, the Creator of all the laws which govern this process, may not know the end status or if there will be any end. Biologists estimate there are about 8.7 million different species on our earth. I guess none of us have any real contact with most of these species. Since I happen to appreciate diversity this makes me sad. Life is really theatre and if we get to know so little of the players, so much for any success we can have to appreciate the total picture of our earthly environment. At any rate, it took 4 billion years to create 8.7 million different species. But wait, many species have gone extinct. The dinosaurs, for example, went extinct about 65 million years ago. More than 99% of all species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. I hope humans can beat this trend. Things get really complicated in assessing the status of Life. For a start, it has always been unstable, differing forms coming and going, a sort of global Grand Central Station.
Extinctions occur constantly over time. The normal average extinction rate is about 1 species every 4 years. This is another way to comprehend just how long life has existed on our planet. Sometimes, in our planet's history, mass extinction occurs and this has been the case 5 different times. The first mass extinction rate was about 440 million years ago. Life was in the sea at the time and about 85% of the species disappeared. The 2nd big extinction rate occurred about 365 million years ago. This one wiped out major fish groups and stopped any new corral reefs forming for 100 million years. The largest extinction rate took place 252 million years ago. This took out about 97% of those species that leave a fossil record. The fourth mass extinction rate occurred 201 million years ago. The 5th mass extinction rate occurred 65 million years ago and that took out, among many other species, the dinosaurs.
Are mass extinctions a thing of the past? Hardly. We are living right now in the 6th mass extinction period. Scientists estimate that we are losing about 82 species per day and 30,000/yr. Is this a big deal? Big deal compared to what? Evolution is filled with big deals and some of these big deals take millions of years to recover from. What is different about our present age is that, for the first time, human activity is responsible for this mass extinction.
Clearly, for most species, their status is doomed. So let's just say, for most species of life on this planet today, the future is stormy or non existent. Sadly, in some vague way, it seems a shame there will be no funeral for the 30,000 species who will become extinct this year. We hardly knew ye.
Of course that a leaves the human species. What is our status? We certainly have impacted on the environment all over the globe. Much of human activity over the past thousands of years had been amazing, clever, and astounding in life changes, materialistic creations, and ethical advances. Physically, materialistically, ethically, and life style-wise human history is soaring---at least for a certain segment of the human population.
Currently the population of our earth is estimated to be a little over 7 billion. That's a lot of people. But even with that population total there are not enough natural resources for everyone to live the kind of affluent lifestyle many live. If population were to double again, like it has in my lifetime, it seems a real stretch to imagine much of a good life for too many of the next generation. So much for the popular 'family values'. Even for those cocooned in any family values unit, the attitude is mostly one of "I gots mine, and any offspring are valued in some sort of 'What have you done for me lately' mentality. It is agonizingly ironic that many of those who push family values the most are the very ones who support wars via borrowing money, astronomical defense spending which limits investing in education, health, social security, social programs, and so on. They also are right in the forefront of tax breaks, shelters, cuts, etc. for the wealthy which just causes the U.S. to lead the way among all industrial countries in wealth inequality. Since history has demonstrated that all 'empires' of varied sorts tend to collapse from the cost of maintaining an empire abroad and from domestic implosion from wealth inequality at home, it is hard to see how these kind of political positions are remotely in the best interests of their offspring.
Of course the status of human life on our planet is not just about America.
Globalization is now a fact. We are rapidly becoming one vast interconnected culture with the actions of all countries interacting with and influencing the welfare of every country. Add to this the media communication gadgets which enable even the poorest everywhere to be well aware of just how others live. Finally, no matter how sophisticated any weapons of mass destruction, average people everywhere have access to the means for terrorism aimed at those they perceive to be the reasons for their own dire straits. The more dire the straits, the more desperate the terrorism. It is often foolhardy to pick a fight with those who have nothing to lose. The United States and others have engaged in military interventions on a wide array of third world countries, and in almost every case even a military power like the U.S. loses. It started in Vietnam or maybe even Korea, and extended to Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and South American countries and in all cases the 'have nots' prevailed, the more powerful country gets tired of their loses, declares mission accomplished, with the invading country leaving a violent cauldron of violence behind. Violence breeds violence, and if this is not an established historical fact, what else is? It is true for nations, for communities, for families.
What really can even the best intentioned world leaders do to improve the lot of future generations, or even save them from catastrophic societal implosion? Human overpopulation is not even up for political discussion. Birth control still is. Wow. How inane is that? Climate change is still pretended to be a lie, or at best an inconvenient truth best acted upon by 'gut' feelings, not science. The wealthy control the politics and economics of most every country, no matter the form of government. This being the case, wealth inequality widens further, and the elements of desperation grow in numbers and in the intensity of their desperation. Not good.
So the world now has 7 billion humans, the activity of them driving the sixth evolutionary stage of mass extinction. So what, we might say, life has always bounced back. Yes, it certainly has, but that doesn't bode well for anyone's personal genetic tree, the very background of family values. And what does it bode for the human race? "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind."
In 1990 42 percent of the people in developing countries lived on less than $1.25 a day, that is 1.4 billion people in 115 developing countries. My cat lives on more per day than these people. Maybe not quite. By most any measure my cat lives better than these 1.4 billion people whether it is measured by lack of stress, comfort, shelter, quality of life.
But what about a highly 'developed' country like the United States. In 1995 the richest 1% of all households owned 48.2% of all stocks, 55.7% of all bonds, 44.2% of all trusts and so it goes on and on. And it has gotten considerably worse since 1995. `It kind of all started in the 70's when wages began to flatten for the middle class. In 1978 the average worker earned $48,000 and those in the top 1% earned $393,000. In 2010 the average worker earned $33,751 while the top 1% averaged $1,110,000.
This is roughly over a 30 year period and began roughly when Reagan assured us that all this wealth to the already wealthy would trickle down. We can't even say it is an astoundingly slow trickle since any sharing of wealth has been sucked upward.
What is amazing, at least to me, is that as wages went down starting in the 70's consumer spending went up. How can that be? There are several reasons. Women started working in large numbers adding to family income. Workers began working longer hours and sometimes two jobs. So consumer spending kept rising. During this period the price of housing kept rising so workers could borrow against the worth of their house. And consumer spending kept rising. Now the bubble has burst. Uh-Oh.
With a burst bubble and wages stagnant or falling, the cushions are gone, so consumer spending is now heading downward. Corporations then downsize and then tax revenues go down. Then government programs are cut back, education suffers, workers end up less educated, except of course for the affluent class. Unemployment goes up with less consumer spending, along with massive outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries----you know, those where earning more than $1.25 per day takes you out of the extreme poverty level.
Poor, of course, is a relative term. Poor in the U.S. is earning less than half the median income. That leaves 45 million poor in a country of 315 million people. But wait, median income has been falling since the 1970's so it is more than just the poor who are getting poorer. Exactly where is the richest country in the world in terms of sharing wealth amongst it's citizens? The U.S. is in 64th place. Wow. We are the richest alright if we refer to the top 1%. But wait a minute. In our society the poorest have every opportunity to escape poverty and become a member of the 1%. Fair is fair. Well, not fair yet since 42% do not escape poverty in their lives. Those who do escape do not, in most cases, become a member of the 1% but rise to maybe the bottom rung of the middle class. Still, 42% do not escape. In countries like Denmark only 24% or those in poverty do not escape poverty. Both countries are capitalistic but one has regulations and limits to capitalism. Guess which one?
Since the late 1970's jobs moved abroad, de-regulation became rampant, tax rates on the wealthy plummeted, and the labor force declined. The part of our economy which really blossomed was financial speculation of varied sorts. Individuals make vast amounts of money just speculating on financial matters, they don't produce anything or provide any service to society, but like sponges they just take money out and put it in their pockets.
When Eisenhower was President the top tax rate on the wealthy was 91%.I guess Republicans were different back then. Reagan then dropped it from 70 to 50% so the middle class could get trickled on. Today, the top tax on the wealthy is 35% and that is after all the tax loop holes, tax breaks, tax shelters etc. Warren Buffet pays a 17% tax rate, others in his office pay an average of 35%. Romney pays 13.9%. Most stocks are owned by the wealthy so of course income from stocks (capital gain) is taxed at only 15%. I suppose some in society should get a little sympathy when it comes to paying taxes.
At any rate, a high percentage of the human race on our planet today are not living any where's near the standard of living many of us do. Poverty, it should be noted, has always been present in human society since human existence on our planet. However there is poverty and then there is poverty, of two different kinds. It is one thing for a family to live off the land in a simple bare bones house and it is another thing to live in refugee camps or jails or the streets in numbers which today are huge. It is one thing for children to be poor and another thing to be homeless, without any health care, and no personal security or space. The percentage of people living in jail is different too. It really is the best of all possible worlds for some and the worst of all possible worlds for a huge greater number.
13-18 million people die each year due to starvation or starvation-related causes. As many people die each day as Americans died in the entire Vietnam War and the deaths here are well over 4000 times greater than those lost in the World Trade Center bombings. Unnecessary deaths of some is clearly more important for some than others. In terms of sheer numbers there are more humans today dying from unnecessary deaths than ever before in human history. 20% of the world's children go without basic immunization and the cost of such immunization is roughly $40 per child. 9 million children die each year from preventable causes, and for all people the total is 17 million. A billion people lack access to any health care. There are 53 million uprooted people or refugees in the world, 80% of whom are women or children. There are 110 million land mines scattered in 64 countries killing 9000 people every year and over one million since 1975. Life is rather cheap depending on whose life where.
One difference today is the lack of any place to escape to. Not that many years ago people could pack up and travel to America, and within America if times got rough or unbearable one could just head to the frontier and start again, living off the land if necessary until better times. All the frontiers are gone now for the most part and what is left to run to doesn't have the best of weather.
The richest 20% in the world now have 85% of the world's income while the poorest 20% have 1.4% of the world's wealth. Capitalism is not the problem, but unregulated unlimited capitalism is. There is always such a thing as enough is enough. And there is such a thing as Fair is Fair. And there is such a thing as the Golden Rule. There is no real reason why so many in so many people have to suffer so many indignities and personal tragedy. Diversity, a cornerstone of the evolutionary process, dictates that there can never be equality, but humans have the mental capacity and ethical nature to generate far more fairness and create a safety net for those genetically or environmentally less fortunate.
It is not that everything is going downhill. A good deal of the above reflects what can be predicted from human overpopulation. There has been admirable progress in the treatment of children, women, gays, minorities of all kind, the elderly, and a huge number of humans live in a really civilized mostly compassionate environment. The trouble is, many more do not.
In terms of armed conflicts the situation is not so rosy either. There are currently 79 armed conflicts going on around the world, 65 of which are in the developing world. 123 million people have been killed in 149 wars since World War II. It is not at all clear how wars will not become even more common when overpopulation pits everyone against everyone else in competition for limited natural resources.
An overpopulated planèt ravages natural resources of all sorts. Water availability is becoming rapidly a problem in more and more areas of the globe. Topsoil is being lost at a rate of 26 billion tons from the world's farmlands. Deserts are advancing at the rate of 15 million acres per year. 10 million acres of rain forests where most species live, are destroyed annually. 6 billion tons of carbon from fossil fuel burning were added to the atmosphere in recent years. There is now a 6 million square mile hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica and a 4-5 % loss of ozone over the northern hemisphere. The planet has warmed 1 degree C in the last century and is predicted to rise another 2,5 -5.5 degrees C in the current century. There are 13,000 tons of known nuclear waste which will remain poisonous to the planet for 100,000 years.
Most of us, in rare moments of reality, probably understand that so much of this is out there. Perhaps if just a handful of tough problems were coming down the pike we might collectively act. But these major problems exist or are coming down the pike from so many directions that we have become like deer, frozen into inaction by the glare of all these problems at once. If I were President I do not know where I would start to meet all these situations. When human overpopulation becomes the underlying problem with no place to run, it really becomes every person or group for themselves, sacrifice is something someone else has to make---that is what elections and uprisings are about---tolerance for diversity becomes strained (it is these others who are the problem)---and self denial of what is happening the only means to fend off reality of impending consequences.
If we could see the forest and not focus so much on the trees we would realize our current Time in earthly history is but a minuscule blip of time, that evolution has been proceeding for billions of years, that catastrophes and corrections happen, that no species yet has controlled it's own destiny. In theory, the human species has the brain power to control all of the problems we are facing right now BUT there is no evidence that we will, and that means we cannot, or will not, control our own destiny. If we won't what will? The very laws created by God (provide your own definition here) will determine the future of our species and our planet. We know a little about the history of our planet, certainly a lot more than we have ever known in the past, but predicting the future of our planet or the human species is beyond reach. As individual members of the human species, what we do have is an inherent ethical nature. Just like we have the ability to laugh, to remember, to reason, to walk, etc. we have a need to develop all these inherent capabilities, including our ethical nature. Diversity dictates that we are not born equal in any of these potentials, but what we have, as humans, is the ability to individually or collectively make the playing field more level for those less fortunate. In any ethical system there is right and wrong, and by necessity for it to be an ethical system there has to be a reward for doing right. It does not have to be some sort of contest between good and evil or a Devil and God. To the extent we succeed in doing the right (The Golden Rule) we achieve varied degrees of contentment. Those who choose not to follow the Golden Rule will never reach much contentment. At some point past the materialistic necessities to live, modernism or materialism has little bearing on contentment. He who is happy with less is more content than one who has more and wants more.
Thus, the status of Life on Earth is approaching a turning point. Something huge seems about to occur with humans and the planet at this point in time. Mother nature always bats last and may well be warming up and starting to take a few swings. All of us have a transient existence in this evolutionary process. All of us would like to be more important, to exist forever in some sort of heaven after death, but there is no evidence for this except some sort of faith based notions, but we miss the point. All we ever got, by chance, was a chance to participate in the process. We don't lie awake nights fretting over the fact that we ourselves were not present over 99.9% of this evolutionary process and why then should we fret about not being present in future years of this process. It is enough that we have the chance to appreciate the process, to understand our own strengths and weaknesses, and be thankful that the Golden Rule exists, making it possible for so many others to help us along the way in life. Whatever our own strengths and weaknesses, existing in a particular environment and circumstances, we all have the chance to achieve some contentment via our own adherence to the Golden Rule. The help from others, the friendships, the personal achievements (no matter how modest), the theater aspect of life---all this gives us good memories to sustain us throughout our lives. If we do the best we can, which is all we can, whenever we can, then life will be better for us and others than it would be otherwise, and the reality of our death will enable us to go gently down the stream to personal oblivion. The Status of Life on Earth right now is interesting, enlightening, but not really sad. It is only sad if we ourselves make too much of our own importance to the evolutionary process. If we insist we must be of major importance to the process for us to be happy we will never be happy. If we cannot accept that all of God's laws which apply to the evolutionary process apply to us---all of us----then all the prayers to gain some exception to these laws for us or others will just generate frustration. There are things we all can do to increase our contentment and the Golden Rule is the universal ethical principle to enable us to gain some contentment. Amen.
