LIFE AFTER PEOPLE?????

Environmental activists, especially the radical ones, have long been harping on the idea that people are destroying the earth. We are hearing about such things as global warming, weather pattern changes, and other assorted calamities for some time now. I was recently treated to the epitome of their radical thought with a show on the cable network about what the world would look like after all the people are gone. Maybe some of you saw the program.

To show you where I stand on many of these issues, I do not think that so-called global warming, if it is even happening, is caused by anything humans are doing or have done. I do believe the evidence shows that some climate change is under way but climate change has been happening for eons. It probably is just a part of our solar system. This planet has experienced ice ages and warming periods. We may well just be in a phase of warming that has been under way for centuries. We didn’t cause this and we can do nothing to alter it.

So back to the program about life after people. My first question would be, “Who cares?”. If there were no people, who would report these facts? To whom would those facts be reported? Humans are nothing more than mammals inhabiting this earth for this time in history. I believe the earth was here before humans and will no doubt be here after humans. I’m okay with that.

Humans have, however, done more to tame and control their environment than any other animal in the history of this planet. Humans have developed ways of warming themselves when they are cold and cooling themselves when they are warm. Humans have made roads through otherwise impenetrable forests and over high mountains. We have also invented vehicles to travel on those roads. Humans have even gone so far as to invent vehicles that fly through the air as well as vehicles that are able to travel beyond this earth and into space.

No other animal has done so much to make his life on earth more tolerable and fulfilling. Some would say that man has had Divine help. Some would say that man is just a part of a Divine plan. You will not get any argument from me on that thought.

So what are we to think of those among us who would seek to indict us for perceived crimes against “Mother Earth”? When we see their idea of a utopian earth where no human lives, what are we to think? Don’t these nitwits know that if no human exists on the earth that would include them?

Don’t get me wrong. I do not believe any one of us should squander or waste any of our natural resources. We should respect our environment and do anything we can to protect it, but at the same time we should recognize our limitations. It is pure arrogance to think that we could in any way alter the course of this earth. The next time you think you can, put your hands up and try to stop the wind. Make the rain stop so you can enjoy your picnic. Throw the lightning back into the sky.

Personally I wouldn’t want to live on an earth where I was the only human inhabitant. That would not be my ideal. If I am wrong in my observations, you have my permission to bring any legal action you wish when all the humans have been removed from the earth. Oh wait a minute. Where would the lawsuit be heard and by whom? How would a judgment be rendered if there were no people? The whole concept is just nonsense.

I plan to live out the remainder of my life respecting my home and her inhabitants. Life is great here on Mother Earth. I suspect it will be for generation after generation to come.

Ron Scarbro May 1, 2009