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Let him who would move the worldfirst move himself Socrates Man has been endowed with reason and the power to create, so that he could add his own to what was given to him. But so far he has acted little as a creator, but only as a destroyer. He razes forests, dries up rivers, extinguishes flora and wildlife, He alters the climate and makes the earth grow deeper every day. Anton Chekhov |
In the absence of urgent measures for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, scientists predict in a few years global warming will outdo the threshold of no return with catastrophic effects on climate and, consequently, on our life.
Nowadays we are already experiencing the climate conditions of the future and we are facing catastrophic scenarios such as melting of glaciers and progressive disappearance of coral reefs.
If we want to believe in future, we must not deny that global warming and its devastating side effects are not only present and real, but also put future generations and our own health and safety at risk.
Unfortunately, we are slowly getting used to climate change effects, such as torrid summers and too mild winters, as well as to plastic infested sea, melting glaciers, deforestations, desertifications, and disappearance of some animal and plant species.
Read more: Silent killers: pathophysiology of climate change
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“Biophilia” (from the Greek, “love for life”) is the innate life and survival instinct, which resides in the genes of all human beings, it is a biological function that leads to having an interest in all forms of life, to feeling part of nature, protecting its biodiversity and then aspiring to build a relationship with it. Biophilia is the search of an ecological habitat where one can live happily in contact with nature and animals.
To invoke biophilia means to combat apathy, human lack of ecological awareness (often of cultural origin) and indifference to the destruction of our own Habitat. We need to reconnect with our internal resilience, in order to be able to stand before the marvellous spectacle of Gaia’s wilderness, whose spirituality is described in a beautifully humble way by St. Francis of Assisi and by the documentary on Taut’Batoo’ tribe, a population that lives in an isle of Philippines and that is a living demonstration that human nature isn’t violent.
We also should not forget that Gaia’s traces are fixed in human genome, as we are all born and grew up in its womb, both from a phylogenetic point of view as a biological species and from an ontogenetic perspective as individuals, so that we are genetically predisposed to learn from the experiences we have had with Gaia.
“Learning by experience” means give meaning to our life in relationship to others life.
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Nature is a biological archetype of resilience; yet, it is unfortunately intoxicated by the Anthropocene, which is not just a theory or an opinion, but rather a dangerous, globalized reality.
The concept of Anthropocene was first elaborated by Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize in Atmospheric Chemistry in 2000. The word comes from the Greek Anthropos (man) and Kainos (new).
Anthropocene means “anthropic”. It refers to the current era of the evolutionary history of the Earth, characterized by the transformative impact on the entire planet system caused by human activities. Such activities have contaminated the planet through Global Warming, with the chemical and biological alterations of ecosystems and the two “human pandemics”: global corruption and hybris, the disease of power which we have defined as moral insanity. Anthropocene also results in biological and social diseases as great demographic growth, urbanization, overbuilding and deforestation.
Interdisciplinary scholars are studying the Anthropocene and evaluating the meaning of human activities, their impact and the damage caused to the environmental ecosystem. Studies show that planet has reached its natural limit; men are not a simple participant, but have become a dominating and destructive force for the planet.