BIG11.EASTER PLANET

BIG11.EASTER PLANET

“There is no plan B, because there is no planet B.” – Ban Ki-Moon

Can humankind adopt an 11th commandment?
BIG outline: By the time we get to this point in Lecture 11 we’ve covered a lot. You’ll be aware of all kinds of “I didn’t know that” stuff, and this final BIG is about something current and pressing, our impact on the natural world.  Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is an example of how humans overran nature to the point where their civilisation collapsed, and this BIG frames our current predicament with nature as one of Easter Planet. If nature had a vote, or a voice it would NOT go along with evolutionary theory as an explanation of what humans do. What we do is unnatural, artificial but very real, with very real consequences for the natural world. It was the early 1800s before we reached one billion humans. We’ve added another billion in just the last 12 years and it has tremendous impact on nature’s aggregate to support the array of human lifestyles we have the billions and billions of artefacts we’ve made. As discussed in BIG04 ‘energy slavery’ means our impact on nature could be up to one trillion humans, and with this new metric and the ‘nature’s eye view’ we need something BIG in terms of appreciating our real impact on the natural world, on species, rivers, oceans, climate, landscapes, even geology. Geological periods last for millions of years, but the Anthropocene is an idea gaining traction as testimony to the pressure we put on the planet from just 300 years of human industrial activity. We also need something BIG that shows we are taking this situation with the gravity it merits. Edward O. Wilson (who has tried to Darwinise culture with 3 approaches now) is aware of the creative and destructive power of humans, particularly on nature and his current Half-Earth "visionary blueprint for saving the planet" proposes humankind dedicate half the surface of the Earth to nature. There is no doubting Wilson’s commitment to the natural world, and while we need to consider this and other measures, we need something more.  Cue Rene Dubos, and the BIG outcome.

 “Earth and humanity are thus two complimentary components of a system that might be called cybernetic, since each shapes the other in a continuous act of creation….To strive for environmental quality might be considered as an eleventh commandment.” – Rene Dubos

We’re not Gods, we’re humans. I (and Rene) are not changing any commandments, what we are advocating is the addition of a commandment that (a) recognises our impact on the planet, and (b) recognises our current state of knowledge and the responsibility we need to take in the light of this. Culture is different but not detached from the natural world. It is a difference of dimension, beyond the measure of evolutionary theory. I’ll say that time and time again as a person into his third decade on scratching, digging and drilling away at how culture works. All that work brings us back to this point where I’m arguing the need, through evidence, for humankind to express and adopt an 11^th commandment. We’re the only species without a natural environment and through culture and the expressive process we’ve reached a point where we can override nature in part, a creative-destructive part. While nature is there with every breath we take, we can’t ignore the impact humankind and culture have on our planet. We’re right at the centre of the earth problem. Seriously, look at that word again: e(art)h, human expression is right at the centre of it. We need a statement from our time, to all of time and the biggest, most justified statement we can make is an 11^th commandment. It crystallises the notion that we’re different, we’re more and we’re taking responsibility for our actions individually and collectively and making the future respectful of our present. Our gift.