Domesticating the nature, by Ramesh Shrestha

We are the finest product of natural selection. 

But we are also the most dangerous and destructive product of nature. 

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We, the human beings evolved from a hominid family of primates which includes the great apes, diverging from other mammals about 85 million years ago. After intense natural selection processes over the millennia, anatomically similar to today’s humans appeared about 300,000 years ago. We are the best product of natural selection processes with perfect anatomy for diverse jobs and the ultimate brain and nervous system in the animal kingdom with the finest motor and cognitive skills. We are the premium product of nature!

As we evolved, we adjusted with nature. Nature provided us the best opportunities to survive with necessary skills, food and shelter, starting with caves. Humans learned to domesticate rice and wheat in Central Asia as they chose a sedentary life some 15,000 years ago. This was followed by domestication of dogs, followed by livestock for food as humans transitioned from nomadic to pastoral way of life and finally settled down some 10,000 years ago.

But destructive
Now in the 21st century we have become the most accomplished creature on earth, capable of annihilating the mother nature that created and supported us throughout our physical and cognitive development. We have arrived at a stage where we have domesticated nature in its entirety and breaking it bit by bit. The tools and processes developed by the scientists with the best skills for our comfort have become the greatest threats to mother nature. We are justifying this all in the name of development. We have not only subjugated nature but we are on the verge of killing nature, which created us, fed us and sheltered us. Is it really development?

The first thing we learn in school that ‘man’ is a social animal has become a myth, just a fiction. We are demolishing our societies, dissolving kinships and killing culture. These are the value systems that kept us together for centuries. It is not development. The dynamism of development now seems more like self-annihilation. In our evolutionary history we were not so bad until recently. We fought among ourselves like any other animals in animal kingdoms for territorial gains and for social gains. By and large we were able to maintain social cohesion. But now we are fighting with nature.

Something dramatic happened starting in the 20th century. In our development quest everything glitters and all seems to be for our betterment but in the long run whatever humans touch ends in ashes. We are extracting everything that is underneath the surface and, in the process, we produce excessive amounts of wastage. We produce insurmountable amounts of chemical sludges and poisonous gases that contaminate the air we breathe, soils where we grow foods and waterways which supply us drinking water. As we expand our settlements, we are encroaching forests that shelter wildlife. We are responsible for the extinction of thousands of species of plants, animals and marine lives but we continue to talk about environmental protection. We really have forked tongues, like a snake!

Does nature have rights?
The idea of linear economic growth and technological boom without a ceiling is turning a beautiful dream to a nightmare with everyone’s full knowledge; on everyone’s watch. We are riding a slow-moving train to the apocalypse but leaders are busy trading insults and demonstrating their hollow pride. When will they wake up? We are emptying natural resources – oil, gas, minerals, fresh water – with over extraction and over consumption. Nature is unable to recycle the volume of waste we create. We are killing plants, insects and animals by incinerating their habitats.

There are no lawyers to represent nature. We talk of human rights. We talk of animal rights. Does nature have rights? The voices of the minority of scientists who want to save nature from the brink are lost in the noises of industries and billionaires’ cash vending machines. Humans are sometimes called Masters of Nature. In reality we have become the Monsters of Nature.

Talking but not walking
Few scientists and activists have been warning us for decades on our destructive behaviours, be it unjustifiable wars or climate crisis. Our politicians, who have the authority to walk the talk, have been lecturing us on sustainable development for decades – just talking but not walking. There are groups of overly optimistic people believing that technology will solve all our human problems. They all know it will not but they continue to fool us unabated. They are simply creating smoke screens and continue to amass wealth earned by destroying nature.

They continue to preach to us on how to live a sustainable life. The leaders of our generation are keeping the young generation busy with hyper-social media which is full of entertainment and unachievable dreams devoid of reality. This is the cohort who are supposed to lead the future economies. The media has become an abomination of the human race. We are virtually killing the young generation in the name of freedom, rights and individual choice. There is no more chain of command. Everyone is in their own bubble created by the media. We are infecting the young generation with an illness induced by fake media for which there is no cure.

Crime the majority did not commit

The majority of the world population are not responsible for this crisis. It is probably the top ten per cent of the world population who are dragging the entire world into the abysses. Majority of the world population is paying for the crime they did not commit. Yet, they have to listen day in day out, the idea of sustainable development and also contribute to the market economies which is essential to enrich the coffers of the billionaires, the billionaires who assemble annually in Davos! How fair is that?

Whatever you read (if you did) here is nothing new, it is just a repetition in frustration!