Last night, I posted about the majesty of the Northern Lights, where the sky is on fire, burning the green flame of ups. Today, it is back down to earth and a reminder that nature is indifferent, it doesn't care - things happen - it goes on regardless.
WARNING: there is a little bloody death in the images below.
There was some coincidence that led to this post today, as I was on the phone to one of my brothers and we were talking about the environment, where I was saying how ridiculous it is that people say we are "harming nature" and we need to "save the planet" - when in actual fact, they are just virtue signaling in an attempt to hide their self-interest.
Nature doesn't need saving, because nature doesn't live, it isn't conscious. It existed before us, it will exist after and whether it is a second or 10 billion years, it matters not to it.
Who it does matter to is us, and while we like to think that we have to save the animals, the only reason we care about any of it at all is because we need saving from the changing planet. Humans can only live in a narrow band of conditions and the more they change, the more uncomfortable it becomes for us until such point that we cease to exist. It doesn't matter if it is a meteorite, a virus or a nuclear war - our time here is limited.
When I was a kid over thirty years ago, the conversation around the environment was pretty much limited to one thing - pollution. Pollution was the enemy and in Australia with a growing hole in the ozone layer, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were the devil. But, pollution in general was the focus - something no one could argue with, as no one wants to live in a trashed environment.
This argument however shifted to global warming as a proxy topic for pollution, which changed the narrative into something people could argue about. So, rather than looking to cut all kinds of pollutions and become efficient, the conversation became on the causes of global warming, something that could be argued.
This has been a boon for all of the corporations as rather than reducing their production and becoming more efficient, they can increase their production in a "green way" and generate more money and subsequent pollution, but in a socially acceptable manner. We use half the pollutant in this product, and sell three times as much.
I will get back to this in a later post.
However, while we were in conversation, my wife came to me, took me to the window and asked "what's that?" She had seen through our upstairs bedroom window something out of place.
NOTE: The pictures aren't that graphic - but you are still warned.
The picture above looks like a beautiful abstract painting on canvas.
For a couple years, I have been teasing my wife about her "lynx sighting" in the area, as I just don't believe it. However, I am a little more convinced today, as in our garden there was this relatively young deer - conveniently located next to our daughter's playhouse.
It could have been hit by a car and became easy prey for a fox perhaps or, it was indeed a lynx, as a few nights ago there were some suspiciously large prints in the snow, but I didn't want to give in and say they were from a lynx. However, the ribcage was torn through completely, so it wasn't just some birds feeding on the carcass.
After closing the blinds so my daughter didn't see...
I think she would have been fine and curious.
...When you have a body to dispose if, you learn who your friends are.
My friend and neighbor was outside doing some work around his house and I went over and asked for a hand.
Are you able to help me for a moment?
"Sure"
He starts to walk over...
Do you have some work gloves?
As I pull on mine.
"Why?"
Ummm, it might be messy.
"What have you done?"
You'll see.
It ends up, he has never seen anything like this before either, but without asking too many questions, we set to work with some shovels and an industrial strength garbage bag to get rid of it. In the end though, I had to pick the little (and surprisingly heavy thing considering it had no insides) thing up and get it into the bag. I don't know how long it has been there, but there was no snow on it at all, so I suspect not very long as it has snowed most of the week.
This is nature.
It really doesn't care about life or death, it just is. There is no meaning to the existence of nature, nor is there any consciousness disappointed in the way we treat it, other than our own. Even all the animals we have forced into extinction don't care, as this is no a Disney movie with singing and dancing. Life is what life is and we do the best we can, whether that means getting eaten by a large cat, or polluting ourselves out of existence.
The real problem with climate change isn't for earth, as it is just another event that it will be indifferent too, as change is a constant. The problem is for us, as we are not only conscious beings, but based on our skillset, we are able to see into our future and predict our own demise. We can predict that an obese person or a smoker will live about a decade shorter than the average on average. We can predict that if there was a nuclear war, we would likely all be decimated. We can predict that if a meteorite of a certain size struck earth, it would be an end of life event for our species. And we can predict that if we pollute our planet enough, we will have poisoned the air, water and food sources we need to survive.
The earth, nature and the entire universe however, just doesn't give a shit either way. Like the dinosaurs, it will just dispose of us and all the carbon we have released, or all the poisons we have created, will slowly be broken down over time, redistributed and turned into something else.
A day, a year, an eternity - It is all the same.
Nature is the deer, the lynx, the garbage bag and the disposal service all at the same time and it is infinitely patient and ultimately efficient.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]