Humanity began in a world filled with starving, unprotected souls, bathed in adrenaline from life-and-death fears, as a weak, slow prey for other animals with only meager attributes: an opposed thumb and an outsized brain. For millions of years these attributes were of little consequence; predators were faster, stronger, more agile, armed with huge teeth, long sharp claws, and they, many times, hunted us in packs.

For 90% of our heritage our single imperative was “Stay alive long enough to procreate and grow the species. In numbers there was strength. Population became a major defensive strategy. We accumulated people, and in doing so, grew a species memory and thus began knowledge and technology.

Rapid progress in technology did very little to grow our understanding of ourselves nor how to make rational, mature, society-benefiting decisions beyond food, defense and shelter. Instead, we have remained much the same as we were in the beginning – thinking as though we are still shivering in the cold, bathed in adrenaline from over-powering fears, and as though we were still, a weak, slow prey.

But our numbers have grown. Almost over-night, in geologic terms, we’ve become the dominant species, using knowledge, technology and communication globally and extending our reach into space.

Gradually we have become the husbands of the biosphere, the landlords over millions of species and the fiduciaries of planet earth. Yet, has anything in our thinking about planet earth changed?

We continue to use non-renewable resources and dump waste, as though we were still inhabiting a planet populated by small and endangered hunting parties. The seemingly endless resources and open space, the massive forests and lakes and rivers, are now challenged by over-population.

In our climb from early man we have found solutions for the numbing cold, overwhelming fear, and protection from lethal predators. We have accomplished so much that our progress may be viewed as the cause of our own extinction. The question for the 21st century is can we survive our inventions, our technology?

Climate change is only a catch phrase, a harbinger, a wake-up call. The reality is that if the pollution is slowed or stopped soon we as a species may continue. Global warming, if allowed to progress at today’s increasingly dangerous pace, makes the future of mankind doubtful.

There is no choice, no reprieve, no easy way out. We have set an immense trend in motion. Climate change caused by human-based pollution is a lethal trend. The billions of tons of waste dumped into the atmosphere is a statistical reality.

Today our CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS alone:

Petroleum - 85 Million Barrels extracted & burned

Coal - 27 Billion Pounds extracted & burned

every 365 days a year and growing 4-7% annually

The particulate matter in the smoke generated by burning these fuels is equal to billions of tons and there is much more in gaseous form.

The irrefutable conclusion is, stop the pollution or the pollution will stop us. Period. Hard stop.

Whether you accept Climate Change or reject it, the simple math supporting the accumulation of particulate matter will continue. Unstopped and your children, grandchildren or successive generations will be just as dead.

Only a concerted effort, by most of the planets peoples, can slow or reverse the damage.

The choice is clearly ours. Think on it, then act responsibly.

Lisa & Terry Wellman

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