The Sixth Age of Destruction: A New "Birds & Bees" Talk

E. O. Wilson has served us a new and disturbing perspective on "the birds & the bees" in his book The Creation. And it ain't pretty! Are we really ready to talk about this subject?

Evidently, we top dog mammals are doing more harm than good to the earth. Could this be true? We may be a bigger "meteorite" of destruction to earth than the one that ended the Age of Reptiles. Talk about a God Complex. We certainly have a thing for acting like Shiva.

Wilson says we're in the midst of the Sixth Age of Destruction--there being five big earth catastrophes before us. And who are the destroyers now? You guessed it. We are. We contribute as a relatively small representation of all animals to habitat loss, migration of invasive species, pollution, overpopulation, and overharvesting. By the way, we have nukes that could bring northern hemisphere holocaust in a matter of minutes.

Seems discouraging, to say the least. Are you really ready to talk about this stuff?

E. O. Wilson: Complete the Linnaean Enterprise

Could it be that if we possessed a more thorough knowledge of our biodiversity, we might be more inclined to protect our planet from destructive human activity? A pursuit of all biodiversity would certainly mean more engagement with the planet. Perhaps we would find a species that teaches us how to survive without killing the earth, how to cure ourselves naturally, how to use our flora. Perhaps we could engage 5% of all high school students on a Linnaean Enterprise.

It was in the early 1700s that Carolus Linnaeus started a system of taxonomy, the nomenclature for classifying all life forms. The Swedish botanist engaged the natural world out of a sense of wonder for nature and a deep faith in God. If God created nature, then God's wisdom could be found there.

A quarter of a millennium later, what Linnaeus began did not get finished. For we humans are careless at studying our planet's other species, but we are busy at generating our own human-oriented activity. Now, E. O. Wilson wants us to redirect our attention to the planet and its inhabitants. Wilson is calling for a completion of the Linnaean Enterprise.

Completing the Great Linnaean Enterprise

Wilson says that until recently science used "methods developed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to cover what is likely to be somewhat on the order of 10 percent of the species of organisms. Wilson believes that we "can likely do almost all of the rest of the 90 percent in the next 25 years." What do you think?

Should we contact Wilson and suggest some ideas? Should we start our own amateur taxonomy society?

New Discussion Starting on Thursday

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
by E. O. Wilson, copyright 2006

The Creation ... is the greatest heritage, other than the reasoning mind itself, ever provided to humanity (page 61).

Sections of the book:

I. The Creation
A call for help and an invitation to visit the embattled natural world in the company of a biologist.

II. Decline and Redemption
Blinded by ignorance and self-absorption, humanity is destroying the creation. There is still time to assume the stewardship of the natural world that we owe to future human generations.

III. What Science Has Learned
Arguments for saving the rest of life are drawn from both religion and science. The relevant principles of biology, the key science in this discourse, are explained here.

IV. Teaching the Creation
The only way to save the diversity of life and come to peace with nature is through a widely shared knowledge of biology and what the findings of that science imply for the human condition.

V. Reaching Across
Science and religion are the two most powerful forces of society. Together they can save the creation.

========================================

I look forward to discussing creation. See you tomorrow at 8 a.m. at Thankful Memorial Episcopal Church in St. Elmo.

Snow use ~ I mean, 'S no use ~ trying to meet today

Hey, everybody, the weather outside is frightful, so we won't meet this morning after all. It's icy out there, and police are asking us to stay off the roads. I like what John wrote to us: "Looks like the Last Child in the Woods is now the First Kid in the Snow at my house. I hope you all get out in it today!"

We'll finish discussing Last Child in the Woods next week, so you have time to finish reading it, if you haven't already. In the meantime, enjoy the snow. If you have any children around, it's a great opportunity for them to enjoy nature in the white.