December 13, 2015

Algae & Saving the Planet Redux: Carlin and Ghostsniper

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles … hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages … And we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn’t going anywhere. WE are! ....We’re going away. Pack your shit, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Maybe a little Styrofoam … The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. George Carlin: “We’re so self-important.”

"Almost exactly 9 years ago me and one other guy built with our own hands the very building I am sitting in right now. To do this meant to first clear about 60'x60' of heavily wooded land. After clearing and grading there was not a blade of grass left standing.

"Now, 9 years later, the building is showing a little wear and tear and there are 30' tall sycamore, tulipwood, and a few other types of trees on 3 sides of it that weren't there before and nobody planted them there.

"How did they get there?

"If you look close at the white lap siding on the north side of the building you will see a slight greenish hue, what is that? It is algae that I didn't clean off this summer like I normally do ever summer. If I never clean that algae off it will continue to accumulate and eventually the siding will succumb to it. The algae will consume the siding and everything it encounters. It's what algae does.

"In time those 30' trees will grow to be 80' tall and then die and some will fall on this building unless they are maintained some how. If they fall on the building it will continue to succumb to natures journey. Just like everything else does.

"All human activity on earth is merely a very thin film on the surface with almost no impact over the whole.

"People have difficulty grasping this concept because of their inability to weigh the scale of the thing as it is compared to the puny nothingness that occupies most of their daily worthless lives.

"All things will pass eventually except the earth, it is here for good and always will be here, doing what it has done for billions of years.

"That's it's purpose, it's reason for being. It is what it is, as they say.

"It is nothing but bare arrogant narcissism for anyone to believe they will have any effect at all on anything to do with this enormous and unbelievably old earth.

"It just ain't gonna happen.

"No matter what humans do to this earth, within that thin surface film, can be considered just moving the furniture around in the living room as it has no effect on the larger picture. Or maybe even just wiping the dust off the end tables in the living room. It won't change the whole neighborhood let along the city, country, or gasp, the earth itself.

"When you see people like Gates and Branson go on and on with their silliness consider the scale and then laugh loudly and openly in their direction then go on about your merry way safe in the knowledge that the earth you have always known will always be right where it always has been and always will be.

"In the end the earth will be here, but the humans may not as they may get wiped off that siding with the algae, as they deserve."

Posted by: ghostsniper The Top 40: Bill Gates and Richard Branson

Posted by gerardvanderleun at December 13, 2015 1:05 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Very nice comment!

"All human activity on earth is merely a very thin film on the surface with almost no impact over the whole.

"People have difficulty grasping this concept because of their inability to weigh the scale of the thing as it is compared to the puny nothingness that occupies most of their daily worthless lives.

"All things will pass eventually except the earth, it is here for good and always will be here, doing what it has done for billions of years."

The next time somebody tells you we are running out of almost anything, ask them to tell you if they know what the diameter of the earth is.

It is 8,000 miles.

Then ask them if they know how deep the deepest working mines in the world are.

The top two are about 2.5 and 2 miles deep.

If you add up two of the deepest mine that has ever been mined, one at each end of the earth's diameter, you have about 7,995 miles to go.

We have barely scratched the surface.

There is a lot more of everything than most people can even imagine.

Posted by: Punditarian at December 13, 2015 2:53 PM

Great work, Ghost.

Bikini was teeming with life ten years after it was nuked with an enormous hydrogen bomb.

Posted by: james wilson at December 13, 2015 5:10 PM

Kudos, Ghost. Well and truly said.

JWM

Posted by: jwm at December 13, 2015 7:38 PM

I'm constantly amazed here in Minnesota by how fast nature can reclaim a piece of land. Even in the city, one has to devote time and effort to keep back the forces attacking one's house every year.

George Carlin was a dick. Of course, even a dick is right now and then, like a stopped clock.

Posted by: Gordon at December 14, 2015 6:46 AM

I read some time ago that if the earth were shrunk in size to the size of a billiard ball, it would be smoother. The Himalaya mountains would not be discernible as any sort of blemish on the 'shine'. The deepest ocean canyons would not be visible.
We are like the ant climbing the leg of an elephant with bad intentions... a joke as far as doing anything to Earth.
If we influence the "Climate" so much, why do we still have monsoons and droughts? Floods and avalanches? We are as passing gas in a hurricane, un-noticed.
Those concerned about 'fossil fuels' should consider the natural 'pollution' on the coast of California near Santa Barbara. More annually than a significant number of 'human caused' spills.(don't remember the details, but Mother Nature is messy...)
Controlling forest fires leads to ... worse forest fires. Controlling predator animals in a 'National Park' leads to unintended consequence deer and other herbivores starving and gleaning all growth, mudslides, and whatever else can be arragned. "Managing" the forests and wildlife is a oxymoron. Too many variables.
Somebody has too large an ego.
tom

Posted by: tomw at December 14, 2015 10:18 AM

Very good perspective from Ghostsniper to analyze and digest. Yes, we are very insignificant.

Posted by: Snakepit Kansas at December 14, 2015 10:42 AM

Well spoken, gs. We are responsible for what we do with our existence.

Some say we have evolved from some primal slime and some say we've devolved from some thing divine.
Whatever, we are some grand strangeness that was not heretofore -- some combination of kindness, gratitude, yearning, altruism, selflessness, sentience, and search for meaning.

In this universe, we are the ones who appreciate.
Good enough for now if we get on with proving it.

Posted by: Howard Nelson at December 14, 2015 11:49 AM