Immense natural threat. (#198) –Robert M. Shelby, 7-30-13. [545 txt wds]

We humans are an ecological part of the biosphere, not apart from and above it. We are subject not only to the explicated laws of physics and economy but also to the laws of life which still remain obscure to a great many people. None of the received religions of contemporary western culture actually conceive and incorporate whole-system reality and orientation. Chinese Taoism comes close to the necessary, transpersonal holism in which truly circumspect and respectful reverence is accorded to the natural surround and and socio-cosmic matrix, as do the spiritualities of native Americans, Australians and other so-called “primitives,” who approach the Other as part of, or cognate with, themselves. Where Self and Other are not separate can be no conflict. Anciently, even in hunting economies, predator and prey are sacramentally linked. Pardon is asked of prey in advance, apology given before and after a kill, the prey is beseeched to sacrifice itself for common good, the hunter’s death repays the debt by returning a body to the earth that plants may grow to be consumed by herbivores that feed carnivores. Kinship is felt with various animals that become totem figures. One quests for identity in cosmic wholeness through dream and mystery. Life is grasped poetically, not through self-aggrandizement. Selfish behavior is condemned, ostracized or punished. Even family is subordinate to the greater community and, ultimately, to life itself.

An oceanographer commented recently on a Common Dreams article, saying he works in Alaskan climate change research making observations in the Bering and Chuckchi Seas. He states that Alaska has warmed by 4-degrees Centigrade over the last 40 years. His team has documented (One) that the permafrost is thawing and releasing CO2 and CH4, (Two) the rate of thawing is increasing. “These create feedback loops that only exacerbate the situation.” (Three) There is a noted shift in primary producers in these waters from diatoms of cold water phytoplankton to coccothithophorids which are warm water phytos, changing the structure of the ecosystem to impact vital fish species such as salmon, lingcod and sheefish. He writes: “I too tire of hearing about economic impacts. We should be focusing on ecological impacts … Witness what is happening to the Native people. Their culture, their way of life, their subsistence culture is being lost. It is tragic if not criminal. Humans simply do not get it that we are a part of the ecosystem not separate from it. If we do not learn this lesson and soon, we will be extinct in a very short time. Then Earth will breathe a big sigh of relief.”

Yet many commenters see that casting ecological argument in financial terms may be the only way to waken the sleeping or self-preoccupied Big Money Folk. Hence, it is reported on Common Dreams in an article on arctic methane release (by an unnamed study) that a resulting atmospheric catastrophe would have an impact costing the world economy 60-trillion dollars, excluding lost land and life. I regret that neither Jon Queally nor my commenter disclosed the study source. They may have thought it was common knowledge. Does it sound fanciful? Can any dollar cost really be assigned to loss of the entire world we have known, such as would occur on reversion to anoxic atmosphere.

 

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