A voice crying in the wilderness. Digital photo collage (sketch), 2016. Kelly Heaton
Human population is skyrocketing along with our impact on planet earth: smog, loss of natural habitat, loss of diversity, global spread of invasive pests, deforestation, exploitation of natural resources, landfills, toxic waste, garbage in the ocean, death of coral reefs, pesticides everywhere, crowded cities, escalating competition for resources, drought, soil erosion, ... the list goes on. Because our numbers are so many, even small or unintended actions add up to a big problem: eating seafood or beef, burning wood or coal, drinking bottled water, disposable packaging, pissing medication into the water supply, driving a car, and so on. A manmade solution to population growth is not obvious, which is to say, no ethical solution has materialized. It appears that we are on a collision-course with nature's solution to excessive population: death by bottleneck. Surely there is an alternative. Surely we can all agree to be a little more reasonable, if that means to save our kind? Or are our natural instincts to reproduce, and to compete for resources, so strong that we cannot save ourselves?