Doomsday theorists claim that the humans are going to destruct on Dec 21, 2012 in a series of cataclysmic and transformational events. For once, I hope they are proved right.
When I was a student, I would eagerly look forward to a new class as we moved up in our grade.It would be a new start, a new chapter and I had a chance to write my destiny afresh somehow absolved of all dismal performances in the past. I still recall the joy of writing in the first page of a new notebook.
We, as humans haven’t fared very well either. Lets look at our scorecard.
We have,in fact,successfully become a human scourge on the face of the earth. Destroying environment, causing global warming, causing the extinction of countless other species.We have reproduced rabidly causing our population to cross 7 Billion 1 with the closest rivals being only brown rats and chickens according to FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) 2 but they are nowhere near our body mass and hence, do not cause the consumption avalanche we do.
Existing fresh water resources are being depleted at a rapid rate which will soon bring its companions of drought, hunger and social unrest to go with it. We have polluted the air and water which will not only give us a slow death but unfortunately also kill several other innocent species.
And while we are on the subject, we are have not exhibited anything remotely neighborly with the other species inhabiting our planet. Rapid deforestation, wide spread hunting practices and making their habitats practically unlivable has resulted in bringing about the sixth wave of mass extinctions since the past half a billion years. Past mass extinctions were brought about as a result of climatic shifts, asteroid strikes and such but this one is due to us – humans.3
Due to the greenhouse gas effect, temperatures will continue to rise and huge parts of earth will become practically unlivable for humans in the near future.4 Imagine a 10 Billion population living in just 1/3 of the existing land ! We are mining heavily, to support our increasing consumerism, for oil and other natural resources and causing large scale loss to the top soil and other important life sustaining habitats.
Well,I think we all get the picture.
And have we, in the bargain, become better human beings ? We have made rapid technological advances which have enabled us to be physically lethargic abusing the capability of the human body through disuse. Smart devices abound around us, resulting in us using our mind lesser and lesser . As devices become smarter, we become lazier and stupider.The mind is on its way to become a vestigial organ.
The lesser we talk about our emotional quotient the better. The flagrant human rights violations are mute testimony.Newspapers are filled with countless accounts of rapes, child abuses, murders, extortion. We are high on social networks but isolated and psychologically damaged.
So, all in all, we have a dismal future and our overall scorecard is abysmally low. Out of the options that we humans have, I can see dying due to hunger,thirst,social unrest when the demand heavily exceeds the supply, impending natural disasters, exposure to extreme temperatures, choking due to pollution and other humanity induced causes.So compared to such options, isn’t it actually wonderful for it all to end on one fine day, without us being around to witness the harm we have given birth to.
Its time in the human chapter, to turn a new page,make a fresh start and re-appear a billion of years later by which time , hopefully the earth will get time to recuperate. Let’s just hope the future man doesn’t commit the same mistakes which we did in our times.
References:
1 Wikipedia
2 http://www.npr.org
3 http://www.biologicaldiversity.org – The extinction crisis
4 Global Research
5 National Geographic
6 Scientific American
The Motley Collection 