Leaving a good thing is a mighty difficult thing to do. After a full day of rest, lively conversation, and the intensive consumption of delicious food, riding away from the Baker house was like putting down a half-eaten bowl of vanilla ice-cream with rhubarb sauce. It’s just not done. But all good things must end they say, and as I settled into the saddle and felt the early-afternoon sun warm my cheeks, I looked towards a 35 mile day with clear skies and relatively inconsistent headwinds.Along the way to our final destination of Dupuyer, we stopped by the tiny town of Bynum to lunch on the grass by the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center. Munching on our usual lunch items (peanut butter in abundance), we were surprised by an impromptu lecture by Paleontologist David Trexler, who works at the dinosaur center and is currently nearing the completion of a book on climate change. Mr. Trexler explained to us how he is trying to bring to light the importance of looking at the Earth’s climate much further back in time than scientists are currently doing. He also expressed the importance of relating this data to current climate change and understanding how climate change millions of years ago may have wiped out the dinosaurs.Some of Mr. Trexler’s comments sparked a discussion amongst the group about how climate change may be the end of human civilization. People living on Earth could end up going extinct, just as many species have done before us. To some, this may seem like a grim outlook, but I see it as a fascinating prospect. Isn’t it amazing to ponder the possibility of zero human existence on planet earth? What would our world look like? If you’ve been influenced by some deep ecology philosophy like I have, you’ll understand that the planet will happily persist without us. And I think that’s amazing.
I also see the possibility of climate-change induced human extinction as sort of comforting. My rational is that global climate change is too large of an issue for any one person to solve (I believe it’s been termed “mind-numbing” by several people on this course). Even if it is solvable, some people speculate that we may have already crossed an irreversible threshold. I think we forget that a lot of the time, and end up feeling apathetic about climate change instead of actually doing anything constructive about it. No one is particularly motivated by doomsday predictions, we’re just frightened by it, and then so desensitized, that hearing that all Glacier National Park’s glaciers will melt away in about the next twenty years doesn’t really faze us. So, what I’ve chosen to do, is accept that the worst might happen. The climate of our planet may change so drastically that humans are no longer able to live here. Understanding my mortality, and the mortality of civilization gives me the power to focus on making the time I do have on this planet as healthy and productive as possible for me and everyone else. I may not be able to save the human race from catastrophic climate change, but I may be able to promote the consumption of local foods, the use of CFLs, plant a tree, ride my bike across Montana to educate myself about climate change and energy issues in America, feed a homeless person, or protest the war in Iraq. Knowing that I can effect change, even if it is temporary, is empowering.I’m not afraid to do something about climate change. Are you?–Leora Stein, Whitman College
BRAVO. Leora!!!!!!!