Restoring what "natural order?"
By J. Wroblewski
The most recent issue of Scientific American magazine breathlessly revealed to its readers a wonderful new plan for the betterment of the North American environment - bring back the Pleistocene era! The status quo, naturewise, is gauche and covered with human fingerprints, it seems, so why not import large mammals from Africa and such, to replace the mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and the like? The pure natural order shall thus be restored, and the ecochondriacs (as Mark Steyn lovingly refers to them) shall thus be able to sleep easier.
Now like me you are crying, "Wait a sec, bro!" at this point, and demanding a recount. Never mind the obvious inconvenience and even danger that that scheme will subject the locals to (I guess the citizens of the area don't count in the eyes of the Anointed), there is that fundamental of all questions - Why bother? How sane is this grand vision, anyway?
The first point of contention is the notion that in following this animal immigration plan, one is truly restoring natural fauna. The big beasts of the Serengeti are rather distantly related to the long-departed megafauna that the would-be conservationists pine for, and in any other circumstance, would be regarded as hideous "invasive species" by the righteous green warrior. But one arbitrary flip of premise, and suddenly they become the sad furry Diaspora awaiting repatriation to their Promised Land. If this daffy scheme is ever attempted, I'll bet you real coin that the alien nature of these transplants will become clear enough - with the blossoming of all the diseases they will bring with them (a rich mob of anything from parasites to slow viruses, I'm sure) or from the local pathogens that may well smite them.
This has the earmarks of guilty well-fed First World Liberal angst all over it. Somehow, we two legs did a lot of big beasties in, tens of thousands of years ago, and now it's reparations time. Well, the extent of the role of Homo sapiens in the demise of the large mammals is still a matter of dispute, and other natural forces may well have played a part, too. But on first principle, what is this sudden blind worship of the natural past for, anyway? Nature honors no status quo, as can be seen by the dizzying variety of changes in both climate and species populations, in even the blink of an eye in geological time that is the last few tens of thousands of years. At what point do we contemplate a past state of Nature - and proclaim it sacred?
If we are so hot on retro-landscapes, then maybe the animal migration vision is way too tame and unambitious. Surely, if we are the climate-altering-wizards that the "climate change" tub thumpers say we are, maybe we should strive to turn the clock back several tens of thousands of years, and recreate the Ice Age! Why not recreate that lovely ice-bound world? It would provide lovely snapshots for National Geographic spreads. And as for the minor detail of human suffering, we aren't supposed to care about that, remember? But wait, we're doing Gaia's nostalgic bidding already.
Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Earth's atmosphere had much more CO2, didn't it? And some scientists say that the greater level of this gaseous fertilizer for plant life actually made the planet a more fecund and fertile place in terms of total biomass, than is the case today. So, we are really marching forth to restore the Jurassic.
Marvelous - green merit badges all 'round!
Now, of course, my environmental restoration plans as outlined above are pure parody only, but in point of fact, the Pleistocene nostalgia project detailed in Scientific American is the most delicious form of unconscious self-parody, too. What is it with some people, and their desire to impose green weenie hallucinations onto the World as public policy? A major bit of common wisdom that runs our daily lives is the observation that the past is the past, not to be relived, and often, not worth ruminating over. If only those self important "world improvers" would get the drift.
J. Wroblewski
British Columbia, Canada
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