From the outset, let’s be clear, nature has one over-arching rule/message: evolve or die.  Whatever else is in play on this wonderful planet, in its streams and lakes, its mountains and meadows, the result of failure to adapt is, inexorably, death.  The family trees of countless species have been pruned at a point where change, whether in the form of new competitors or transformation of the surroundings, came too rapidly or too overwhelmingly for previously successful organisms to cope.  Nature is an ongoing experiment, and mammals are the latest to come up against the objective conclusion of their trial: adjust or perish.

Man is merely the pinnacle of sentience (at least from our biased perspective) and not the whole ball of wax.  All organisms on the earth today are the most ‘advanced’ of their species from bacteria, to ferns, to octopi, to alligators, to humans.  Yet it is we humans who have brought life itself (which may merely be another ‘experiment’) to the brink of annihilation.  We have been the agents of a change in climate that threatens not only our own future but the future of the majority of the biosphere.  But we have only acted in accordance with our nature because how could we do otherwise?  Nothing comes from nothing.

So how do we evolve?  Since we are limited in how to evolve physically in a much too short period of time, we have to evolve socially.  This has been happening in a move toward a more progressive society in much of the first world.  Driven by the urban populations of countries throughout Europe and North America, the idea of cooperation, sharing, and the common good has become a unifying vision among our progressive cores.  The message of tolerance and compassion currently being drowned out by the fear and hatred of traditionalists, marks a step forward in the evolution of social consciousness, but will it be enough and will it be in time?

I don’t think so.

If current climate predictions are to be believed (rather than being discounted as alarmism and fake news) then we have already passed the point of no return.  All the environmental laws and treaties and accords have/will come too late to avert the climatic apocalypse that awaits in the not too distant future.  We can no longer make the world a healthy place for life no matter how many resources we pour into the effort.  “The Moving Finger writes and, having writ, moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.”

Does that mean we throw in the towel?  As is the case with incurable diseases, we may not be able to thwart the final outcome but we can extend the life of the patient.  The mammal experiment has failed (or succeeded, depending on the original hypothesis).  Perhaps humanity/huwomanity has been the agent/catalyst of proving life to be an imperfection in the cosmic harmony of the inanimate.  But in our remaining decades or even centuries, I hope we continue to evolve to what we could have been. I hope we move beyond the confines of greed and self interest to usher in a swan song that only we will ever hear.

Standing in our way is conservatism, as it has always stood in the way of progress and human aspirations for a better world.  With its anchors of tradition, religion, and materialism, the right wing has always acted as a retarding influence on social evolution.  Conservatism killed its own Christ, enslaved half of the world, and stifled the emerging humanity of much of the world.  It WAS the Inquisition, the Famines, and the Concentration Camps.  It IS Guantanamo, the American Government, Saudi Arabia, Russia and strongman regimes around the world - from Turkey to the Philippines, to North Korea.  It is the down-turned mouth of old men and old women whose smiles have been inverted by a lifetime of discrimination, fear, jealousy, and hatred.

Fear masquerading as hope and hatred masquerading as love are also the underpinnings of the right wing's main ideological weapon: religion.  Organized religion has capitalized on the fear of death that is the hallmark of egotism and has preached unity while promoting divisiveness.  In promising a life after death (or eternal torture for unbelievers), the various churches have sold their followers an illusion far greater than the snake oil of yore: the promise of eternal life.  At the same time, they have launched holy wars and propaganda attacks against their competitors that put Goebbels to shame.  We are all one - as long as we can come to some understanding that YOU are joining US rather than vise versa. 

We have a choice, it seems, to either cling doggedly to traditions and gods and hatreds that no longer serve us and the world, or to show that nature was on the right track but just ran out of time.