It is a common meme these days that humans are busy bringing about their
own extinction. This is usually imagined to take the form of mass death
resulting from the effects of climate change including food shortages,
and/or from the rapid decline in the availability of fossil fuels, and/or
from a worldwide pandemic caused by a microbe as lethal as the Ebola
virus.
But what if our path to extinction is really taking the form of damage to
human fertility of the type described by a new report that links the
dramatic decline in male sperm count directly to pesticides? What if
human society collapses for lack of new humans? The plants and animals
might rejoice if they can do such a thing. But the human project would
come to an end.
And that speaks to the central issue for humankind. Is the human project
worth saving? And, if it is, are we as a global society willing to do what
it takes to save it? On current form one would expect that the answer is
no. But in order to change the answer to yes, the "yes" forces would have
to proffer some very compelling arguments to get the world's chemical
companies to give up on synthetic pesticides. I can imagine arguments that
include reference to the literary, musical, architectural, artistic,
philosophical and scientific achievements of humans. But these would
likely fall on deaf ears unless the scientific achievements are allowed to
include the continued dispersal of pesticides into the air, water and soil
across the globe.
I am reminded of an
old New Yorker cartoon with the following caption: "Yes,
the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a
lot of value for shareholders." That, dear readers, summarizes why a
scenario out of the film "Children
of Men"—which seemed so far-fetched when it was released in
2006—is coming soon to a planet near you. It's worth noting that the film
purports to take place in 2027.
I have previously written about
the dramatic collapse of sperm counts across the world. If current
trends continue, sperm counts will reach zero by 2045. (That's NOT a
typo.) Are those trends continuing? The answer is no, they
are getting even worse! That means sperm counts worldwide may reach
the zero mark even earlier.
Of course, all of this is being completely ignored by governments and
major institutions because it is far too inconvenient if true. That seems
to be the modus operandi of the ruling elites. Where there is some effort
to address critical environmental and public health problems, they are
almost all focused on technical fixes rather than the wholesale
reorganization of human society on a sustainable basis.
The Thanksgiving holiday is coming up this week in the United
States. It is customary for people to say what it is that they are
thankful for. I think parents may want to consider giving thanks for their
children before the ability to become parents is extinguished by the
chemical industry and other malefactors who are busy creating "shareholder
value."
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kurt Cobb is a freelance writer and communications consultant who writes frequently about energy and environment. His work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Resilience, Common Dreams, Naked Capitalism, Le Monde Diplomatique, Oilprice.com, OilVoice, TalkMarkets, Investing.com, Business Insider and many other places. He is the author of an oil-themed novel entitled Prelude and has a widely followed blog called Resource Insights. He can be contacted at kurtcobb2001@yahoo.com.
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