Mother Nature is one tough cookie. It is one element often overlooked in the current debate on climate change. We all seem so concerned with ‘saving the planet’ and ‘preserving our world for future generations’, that we forget how resilient this very planet might be.
The Earth Will Survive
In our eagerness to ensure her survival, we somehow convinced ourselves that we are the one thing keeping the planet going. Unfortunately, it is more likely that we need Earth a great deal more than she needs us.
Let’s face it, we cannot credit the continued existence of our planet on our valiant efforts to keep her healthy and well. In fact, if we would have accidentally destroyed (parts of) her in the process if it weren’t for a bizarre combination of luck and resilience. Similarly, movies like The Day After Tomorrow have adequately picked up on another not-so-far-from-the-truth sentiment: the planet is actually trying to get rid of us, in a perfectly acceptable example of evolution and survival of the fittest.
What is the biggest threat to humanity today?
The Cambridge Project at Cambridge University states that the ‘greatest threats’ to the human species are man-made; they are artificial intelligence, global warming, nuclear war, and rogue biotechnology.
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Nature has always recovered remarkably well after being hit hard. Survive and adapt seems to be her motto. Even the events that caused the dinosaurs and all living things on earth to go extinct did not alter her to the point of absolute destruction. Instead, nature picked up the pieces and glued them back together, bouncing back slowly by re-creating life and adapting to altered circumstances.
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Nuclear Disasters: Earth Will Survive, Chernobyl As A Wildlife Refuge
Take Chernobyl. An example of one of the worst things that could happen to any world - nuclear impact. Yet when looking at pictures from the exclusion zone, the only thing that can be said is that nature sure seems to be thriving in the absence of human activity. It has only been thirty-some years, making it remarkable how fast nature seems to have bounced back. After a short ten years, surveys demonstrated the existence of nearly identical ecosystems within and outside of the exclusion zone. The animals and plants seemingly adjusted to the radiation levels, quickly adapting to the changing circumstances.
When was the last global catastrophe?
The most recent and arguably best-known, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago (Ma), was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant species in a geologically short period of time.
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It has spurred research that has since shown that the amount of radiation required to actually damage or alter animal or plant reproduction is quite large - larger than the amount emitted by the Chernobyl disaster. Quite remarkable, considering the ill-effects it has conclusively shown on human beings. The forests in the area have recovered fast and are now thriving with wildlife, while lakes and other bodies of water are filled with healthy fish and insects. Towns have been taken back by nature, leading to surreal post-apocalyptic images of buildings overrun by plants.
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Thriving Nature After Nuclear Disaster: The earth Will Survive
Of course, there are voices claiming that it isn’t all as rosy as some have made it out to be. That the animals are in fact suffering from genetic alterations that will ultimately lead to their demise. Yet the numbers seem to work against them, with the ecosystem within the fallout zone appearing way more robust than most would think. Being hailed as a ‘wildlife heaven’ and an ‘animal refuge’, nature is decidedly thriving.
Will the world population decline?
The UN as of 2017 predicts a decline of global population growth rate from +1.0% in 2020 to +0.5% in 2050 and to +0.1% in 2100. Randers' 'most likely scenario' predicts a peak in the world population in the early 2040s at about 8.1 billion people, followed by decline.
The same could be said for Fukushima, a similarly deserted post-nuclear disaster zone. Even less than a decade after the events that drastically changed the fate of the area, it can be seen how nature thrives. Beautiful forests and grasslands have taken over and have transformed the place, making it seem almost surreal in its pristine beauty.
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Wildfires, Drought And Floods: Nature Regulates Itself
Nuclear accidents are not the only way in which we accidentally gravely harmed our planet. Other careless forms of behaviour and reckless use of land have teamed up with climate change to present us with a range of challenging natural disasters. Over the past few years, the most notable ones have been wildfires, droughts and floods.
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We only just recovered from the devastating wildfires in California in the summer of 2018, when something started to burn Down Under. Both events have in common that they combined extreme weather and droughts with human-caused whoopsies. Burning cigarettes being thrown on dry leaves, farmers burning some of their waste, or arsonists deliberately starting bush fires - they have all led to the disastrous fires that destroyed millions of acres of land and ruthlessly killed ecosystems and its inhabitants.
What was the worst earthquake in history?
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake (Spanish: Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (Gran terremoto de Chile) on 22 May 1960 is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4–9.6 on the moment magnitude scale.
Often, the land was already excessively dry from prolonged droughts, which can be blamed on global warming. Similarly, now that vegetation has been burned to the ground, people living in affected areas fear floods. The ground is ‘dead’, thus no longer able to absorb water like it used to, giving free rein to water flows once the rain starts.
Earth Will Survive: Nature Comes Back Stronger
These fires seem like a surefire way of wiping out nature (pun fully intended). Yet once again, most will be surprised to find that nature, in a rather cruel twist, will eventually benefit from these disasters. For once, it will allow for a ‘reboot’ of areas that were made vulnerable by overpopulation (of both animals and humans) or artificial land use. Secondly, there is a reason why many farmers burned their land to the ground before using it: it is a proven way of fertilising the lands.
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Wildfires are actually a natural occurrence, as they clear the forest floor of dead litter. This allows important nutrients to make their way back into the soil, encouraging new vegetation to grow. There are even some plants that require the fire in order to reproduce: seeds in some pinecones, for instance, are sealed with some kind of resin that melts in a fire.
What causes destruction of nature?
Habitat destruction by human activity is mainly for the purpose of harvesting natural resources for industrial production and urbanization. Clearing habitats for agriculture is the principal cause of habitat destruction. Other important causes of habitat destruction include mining, logging, trawling, and urban sprawl.
There is a caveat, though. There always is. If the fire burns too long and becomes too intense, they will damage the ecosystem beyond repair. This is something that is exclusively caused by human actions, as nature will stop fires once they served their purpose. This means that fires - as well as radiation and pretty much all other damage that we have done to our planet - will only, and only, irreparably impact ecosystems beyond a certain point.
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Threshold For Irreparable Damage Is High
And even those thresholds, including those ones stipulating the maximum rise in sea level or degrees Celsius allowed if we are to avert the worst consequences of global warming, are more for our sake than for nature’s. We might not survive in the new ecosystem, but fact is that new ecosystems will be created, adapting to the changed circumstances.
Nature has a funny way of bouncing back. It’s just the question whether we will be in it.
Before you go!
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