In his film, A Life On Our Planet, David Attenborough suggests that our human population is leveling out. As with every other species, once we have reached a maximum level, nature will reset the balance. He goes on to say that the survival of every species is dependent upon the survival of all species. It is this balance on which our planet has been designed. We humans have made an awful mess of things and the scales are tipping us in the direction of another possible mass extinction. Earth has alway rebounded after these extinctions (There have been five of them.) by beginning again. It begins with simple life forms, becoming more and more complex, filling every niche and need that is encountered.
Over-population is something that has concerned me for many years. As of this month in 2020, our human population has reached 7.8 billion. I hope that David is right, but my grandchildren are having children and they appear to be oblivious to the problems our planet is facing. We can blame COVID19 on China, or we can blame those who refuse to practise social distancing; but the truth is that nature will intervene by whatever means she chooses and that is exactly what she is doing. She has given us a pandemic, out-of-control wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts, in order to reduce our burgeoning population. She is doing all she can to wake us up and to get our attention. We have been playing with fire and deluding ourselves into thinking we are smarter than she is. It is time for human beings to wake up and to grow up. We may be the top predator, but we must learn to use our wisdom and not just our brains. We must stop fighting nature as a teenager fights his parents. We must be willing to honor and respect her in order to learn from her. She is our teacher and our mentor; and until we learn to follow her lead, we will continue to create chaos in our world. The fate of humans is up to us. It is up to all of us.
