i found this blog post on the wall street journal today describing several methods scientists could potentially use to control the climate. why not install huge solar mirrors to divert solar radiation, some are asking? please, yes, let’s spend money to send thousands of crop-dusting airplanes to blanket the arctic with engineed “particles,” others say.
the salient issue in any yoga or meditation class always comes back to control: what is in your sphere of influence, and what is not. one of the practices of raja yoga (the yoga we do in studios, the yoga of the mind) is to consider all possibilities. maybe crop-dusting planes in the artic is actually the answer. perhaps the long view is that this practice will save the earth.
i’ll be honest, though: it’s when i get to this level of justification–save the earth–that i have to stop and ask myself what we’re really considering here. what are we doing, and what are we reacting to?
the sudden hype over global climate change is obviously justified; only the diehards at this point are calling the rest of us chicken littles. but the question is: what are we trying to change and why? does anyone seriously think that a 4.5 billion year old rock won’t balance itself out, even if that means destroying everything on the planet that we–its squatters, effectively–call life?
crop-dusting the arctic is like taping the sprained ankle of a basketball player and telling him to get back on the court. as any fan has watched, this star might still be able to play and, position depending, will block, defend, and/or shoot for the rest of the game. but playing will in fact make that ankle worse, which in turn will lengthen the icing, xrays, and rehab when the game is over.
it isn’t even that our short-term, scientific solutions won’t help–the player with the sprained ankle might win the game. it’s rather that these scientific forays, and indeed the money and resources backing them, run the risk of diverting the attention from the real issue, which is where we actually are now. as a collective group of 5 billion people, and certainly the billions before us, we have created this.
the questions, then, are: what human practices have directly caused this problem? how do we stop them? how do we all accept responsibility for the fact that “developing” to this point has necessarily been derived of selfish, greedy, short-sighted, and in fact quite brilliant behavior and decisions? most important, is it possible for us to let go of the hubris of control, and to recognize that the 100 years we’re here, and any decision we make during that time, is not really going to impact the 4.5 billion more years this rock might keep spinning around the sun?
the point i’m making is that looking outward and upward is not always the place to go. the weather problems we are experiencing, and will continue to “suffer through,” are nothing more than a slap from earth, like any of our moms disciplining us as children because we reached for too many cookies at once. mom had a point: eat too many cookies, and you’ll get sick.
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April 26th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Very good observations, Kim. These days I am working with the Sierra club to help “fight” global warming. Indeed I feel like this should be what I should spend much of my life on. So I was touched by your very thoughtful and heartfelt observations. Yes, indeed, as someone who is in love with nature and the earth I hope we all lead responsible lives more in harmony with everything else in the universe. But as a scientist I am also enamoured with our ability to “conquer” and solve even the most difficult challenges. I do believe, though, a real solution to the problem will take care of the disease and not just the symptom, and will not create more problems along the way. Much of what is wrong with modern technology is that while we tinker with nature we are always upsetting its subtle balancing act. Such is the risk of working with incomplete and partial knowledge. But I believe we are getting better at understanding nature.
April 26th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
1): tinkering with modern technology just because we *can,* and not through a deference to the gifts the universe has delivered us–the intricate workings of the brain and our own sentient awareness created technology in the first place–is when we err.
2): i, too, believe that many of us are improving our understanding of nature. to under-stand, to stand “under,” is in fact to be placed under, placed really within, the huge cosmos that gives us the ability to play as we do every day. to play out our own destiny.
April 26th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
personally, i’m burning every plastic bag i can get my hands on. recycle? why bother. lower emission gases? right here. the sooner we get nuked off this big blue marble, the better. scared monkeys are too arrogant to appreciate the world.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
why do you always call us monkeys?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
would you prefer “chimps?”
call a spade a spade, i say. if you want to hold onto some pagan religion that sees people as a reflection of god, by all means go ahead. i see it otherwise.
April 27th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Agree totally. Whatever we do should be accompanied by a healthy respect and love for nature. I didn’t mean that we should tinker with nature. But in order to survive, we inevitably end up tinkering. I guess what you are really protesting is tinkering because we can or out of greed.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
i’m with yogi beer, the sooner the better. although i don’t hink we actually have the nerve the destroy ourselves completely, nukes or not. “our” planet will eventually kill us in one big cathartic sweep. Katrina? the tsunami? mere burps as far as the Earth is concerned. she’s just clearing her throat, and whever she does, hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions perish. i just hope i get to go in the big one. if i have to sacrifice my little life so that this beautiful life-giving planet can clean house of us arrogant filthy pests, bring it on. i would consider it an honor. if you are unfamiliar with the Tool sonf “aenima” here are a few lines that really sum up how i feel about this topic:
some say the end is near
April 30th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
damn, i messed up, anyway, here’s the song
some say the end is near
some say we’ll see armageddon soon
i certainly hope we will
i sure could use a vacation from this
bullshit
three ring circus sideshow of freaks
. . .
some say a comet will fall from the sky
followed by meteor showers and tidal waves
followed by fault lines that cannot sit still
followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits
some say the end is near
some say we’l see armageddon soon
i certainly hope we will ’cause
i sure could use a vacation from all this
stupid shit, silly shit
one great big festering neon distraction
i’ve a suggestion to keep ypou all occupied
learn to swim
mom is gonna fix it all soon
mom is coming around to put back the way it ought to be
learn to swim
’cause i’m praying for rain
and i’m praying for tidal waves
i want to see the ground give way
i want to watch it all go down
mom, please flush it all away
i want to see it go right in
and down
i want to watch it go right in
watch you flush it all away
time to bring it down again
don’t just call me a pessimist
time to read between the lines
i can’t imagine
why you wouldn’t welcome any change
my freind
i want to see it all come down