A Choice - Future, or Fossilisation?

When the creatures and plants that trapped all this contentious carbon dioxide were formed in the Carboniferous period man wasn’t even a twinkle in the eye of evolution.

From 65 million years ago these plants and animals were extracting carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere and were gradually causing massive climate change. Curiously, also around 65 million years ago about half of all the living species on the planet were eradicated. The reason and process of this is the subject of debate, but the agreed fact is that there was a massive change in the ecology of the planet.

All tales should have a happy ending and as a result of environmental change more species were able to flourish, and just a couple of million years ago the climate, atmosphere and natural environment could sustain the human species. The planet and the range of species it supports adjusted, as in earlier eras, to suit the prevailing climatic circumstances. But, this is not the end of the tale.

As Mankind reached what some could see as the pinnacle of our evolution, we have spent the last 250 years or so re-releasing a lot of that stored carbon dioxide as a result of the Industrial Revolution. As the atmosphere changes its composition Nature will again adjust to the prevailing conditions and, in all honesty, doesn’t really care what happens to Mankind. As individuals and as a species, do we care?

We already have our dinosaurs.

Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘Whatever I do is a drop in the ocean, when my next door neighbour puts out their recycling box then maybe I’ll feel it’s worth the effort?’

Maybe you’ve even said it yourself. Doing nothing is how fossils are formed.

We can not only maintain the atmosphere but also maintain our lifestyles with just a few changes in the way we do things. What stops these changes taking place? There are sadly some people, vocal people, who object to the idea of wind farms, hydroelectric plants, eating strawberries only in the summer, re-using plastic bags, catching buses, etc. All superficial objections based on aesthetics and taste rather than logic and species survival. I would really like to believe that the vast majority of people are not superficial and are capable of putting their personal tastes second and the needs of Humanity first.

Please prove me right.

Tolerance

It occurred to me the other day, in the reflective aftermath of a rant, that tolerance is not the same thing as putting up with something or someone. Nor is it the same as patiently waiting for someone to see your own point of view.

What has caused this thought to occur to me? I recently ended a relationship with someone who portrayed himself as extremely tolerant. I recognise this because I like to think I portray myself in the same way. I think we both may be wrong about ourselves.

It is not tolerant to keep badgering someone to see things ‘your way’, nor is it tolerant, however gracefully, to shrug off their lack of understanding of your feelings or views in a martyr-like manner. ‘I suppose I’m just going to have to live with you not understanding me.’

Tolerance is accepting wholeheartedly that each person has their own point of view, and not trying to impose change on that, including on oneself. Allowing the other, and yourself, myself, to feel whatever it is and not to deny or diminish the validity of those feelings. We each spend a lifetime gathering experience, and baggage, that influences how we feel and respond and whatever we feel is valid and reasonable for us at that time. Neither we nor anyone else has the right to tell us we ‘shouldn’t’ be feeling the way we do.

Tolerance of difficult feelings or situations does not mean we have to passively accept whatever it is we feel. We do not have the right to ask someone else to change something to make us more comfortable. But, we do have the choice to change our situation or ourselves. Only through being genuinely tolerant of where we are and who we are can we really recognise that we have the power to change ourselves or our attitudes. It may not be acceptable to change a situation, but it is always possible to change our attitude and relationship with the situation.

The really nice part is that through doing this for ourselves, while also being genuinely tolerant of the people around us, they too can learn to tolerate themselves and discover their own choices in life.

The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves. Eric Hoffer: