Interesting discussion and points made. Being an ecologist, some of what I do is geared towards reversing the impact of human activities (on dryland soils in Ethiopia in particular) for the betterment of people and of nature in that part of the world. So I'm of the view we could be doing more to act as stewards of life on this planet, and this attitude would be doing more to safeguard our future as well as that of other life forms.
Yes everything in the universe is ultimately broken down, but human inventions such as plastics may exist outside of this cycle for millions of years. So while some of human waste is broken down and recycled on a relevant human time scale, this does not apply to all of it by any extent.
I think we humans have a moral duty to preserve the life on this planet. Thus far, this is the only planet we know of that harbours life. And that makes this life incredibly precious. Also, for every single species we lose, we lose a little more ecological stability. So merely for purely selfish human orientated reasons, preserving other life is really in our best interests.
When I was younger I used to get a bit down on what humans were/are doing to the planet. But as I've grown up my views have changed a bit. Despite our short comings, with our intelligence far exceeding our wisdom, and our destructive nature, we really are something very special. Of all the species we are aware of, we are the only species that knows something of its place in the universe, the only one to have a fairly good grasp on where we came from, how we got here and where we might be headed. As Carl Sagan said, "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself." So I see us as both incredibly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and highly significant at the same time. I think given our nature of consciousness and self-awareness, we have a duty to survive, and if we want to guarantee a pleasant long term future, we really need to take better care of the Earth, as well as each other.
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Spaceship Earth.jpg
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