It seems to me that at some point when humankind ‘decided’ to domesticate, create an agricultural society and ensuing industrial revolution that the severance of our close ties to nature were obviously going to cause problems further down the line. Since who-knows-when humankind had to live in close symbiosis with the planet, the species’ very survival depended on this. Seasons had to be predicted, migration patterns of animals needed to be understood and the Earth had to be respected in the hope that it, in turn, would respect us.

This view of symbiosis is prevalent in all ‘indigenous’ cultures. From Native North Americans to Aborigines to Incas to Druids, all respected Nature and indeed reified it as being pivotal to their culture’s existence. However, with the onset of domestication, humankind sought to control Nature, to impose their own ways of doing things on a system which had hitherto itself been in control. Hence, we can see that a battle of wills was to prevail which would ultimately place both parties in jeopardy in much the same way that any war results in damage to both sides. Unfortunately, for us humans who have made it to this particular juncture, we are now suffering the ill effects of these spoils of war, notably Global Warming.

So the solution seems obvious. If it really was the disassociation between Nature and Humankind which has led to the calamities we can now foresee as being just ‘around the corner’ surely all we need to do is ‘reconnect’? Partly I expect this is the goal of the environmental movement, to propose that it is possible to realise the error of our ways and adopt new behaviours which work towards a more ‘sustainable’ future (I seem to remember hearing that in a motto from someone?). In other words, through the application of a large green sticking plaster, we can patch up the planetary wounds and allow the planet to heal itself. Some scientists though go a little further by stating that it is now not possible to find a sticking plaster big enough, that what we actually need to pursue is a ‘damage limitation exercise’ which minimises the effects of our cumulative wrongdoings, from the days of domestication through the agricultural, industrial and now technological revolutions.

It seems unfortunate though that the latest revolution still needs to be so malevolent when it is within our powers to be much more enlightened regarding our planetary host. Maybe it really is the case that this is a bifurcation, a ‘tipping point’? Perhaps, as possibly experienced by the dinosaurs, our species has signed its own death warrant and must now make way for another species which could possibly make a better job of, for example, consciousness than we seem to have managed? Whatever the outcome of the forthcoming calamities maybe we would be wise to ensure, at least, that other species get the chance they so surely deserve?