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I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but I'd like to know why human interaction with the environment if it is exploitative is considered 'unnatural', even though we as a species evolved through a natural process on this planet. Fair enough we seem to be contributing to changes at a faster rate than any other species could do or has done in the past. As far as calling this environmental vandalism or destructive, irresponsible and 'bad' ... I'm not convinced. It is not good for our way of living, that's seems pretty clear, if we want to preserve how we live then we need to change our exploitation of the planet. However if we were looking at a species of ant that was going about it's business but in the process destroying it's habitat because it had no 'natural' enemies and grew beyond the limits of it's environment to support itself, it would eventually die out or be culled back severely by 'natural' selection and adaptation to changes it contributed to in the environment or it would simply become extinct.
Extinction is the normal trend for most all species that ever existed on this planet at one time or another. Whether that extinction was caused by itself, competition with another species or some 'natural' disaster is a mute point. We as a species seem pretty bent on changing things, and are very aggressively destructive in killing ourselves and dominating every other species on the planet and killing them off as well. As far as a natural process of change and evolution on the planet - the current climate changes are nothing different from what has happened countless times in the past over millions of years since 'life' first appeared on this planet. If you want to look at 4 billion years of history the most dominant state of this planet is a poisonous atmosphere of deadly gases to most all current life that exists, a very hot, dry place with a thick atmosphere and very little water or oxygen to sustain life. From this perspective the current state of the planet and how it has existed for the past 300 million years or so could actually be considered 'unnatural', certainly a lot different to how it was for the previous 90% of it's existence.
I'll probably be crucified here, but for all the hype about global warming, climate change and the 'death of the planet' I can't see how this is any different from what has been happening on this planet throughout it's entire history ... change. I agree that it's probably going to change dramatically how we will live on it, and we may even be unsuited to adapt to it from an evolutionary point of view and possibly become extinct along with most everything else and it may even be largely 'our fault' as to the pace of change. Just because we happen to be sentient beings with intelligence and understanding and can reason things out does not give us some 'get out of jail free' card in avoiding extinction in the longer term. If the environment changes dramatically enough for us not to be able to live here or we can not make significant change quick enough to sustain a livable planet for life as we know it, then we will inevitably go the way of the dodo. We can spend the next several decades blaming this and that, those people over there and ourselves if we like but change will come regardless of what causes it, and how fast it happens. Because we are intelligent enough to do something to slow the process of change, we should get on with it and do it - i.e. do the very thing that's a naughty and change the 'natural' process of change occurring in the environment that is happening now - as if the 'natural' change that is occurring is not natural because we, a natural species on the planet, have realised perhaps we contributed to it in a big way. As far as I can see it's all natural and part of the inevitability of change - even if we do kill ourselves and everything on the planet. Perhaps that's 'mother nature's' way of saying this type of sentient being (us) just wasn't quite right so let's start again, maybe another rein of 75 million years of dinosaurs ... they seem to have done something that lasted a long time, longer than we think we might be here anyway.
I'm talking bigger picture stuff here, so before people start responding with arguments about murder being a natural thing for a human to do so it must be right stuff, I'm not talking about right or wrong and putting a value judgment on this issue. I'm talking about us as a species on this planet considering ourselves not part of the natural evolutionary change that is indicative of this universe we know, when the Sun blows up in about four billion years or so and completely destroys this planet and everything on it, I'm wondering if we will still be around and saying "gee, we stuffed that up".
Note: I'm not staying we should just sit around and do nothing it's all going to change. I think we should do as much as we can to preserve what we would all like to have ... a livable planet that supports us all ... for as long as we can sustain it. Arguing over the pace of change being our fault and that we have been very naughty is only occurring because we consider ourselves as bad for environmental change as if our being here is unnatural. I'm not staying exploitation of the planet is OK because it's natural, just that that's what we as a species have naturally evolved to do. It's what we have done and continue to do, the question is how long will we continue to do it, my guess is for a long as we can until we are absolutely forced to change, adapt or become extinct. Unless collectively we as a species can come to grips with working together to for stall our extinction for as long a possible. The planet is no longer bigger enough not to notice to pee in the pool.
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