Contemporary civilization is important, but irrelevant

Contemporary civilisation seems important, and it is, but in geological terms it is absolutely irrelevant.

David R. Montgomery's
 book, "Dirt: The Erosion of
 Civilizations".

Earth is thought to be more than 13 billion years old and the species that eventually became mankind has been plodding about the planet for a comparably insignificant 200 000 years.

Modern humans first originated in Africa and reached what is described as “full behavioural modernity” about 50 000 years ago.

The arrival of modernity and man’s emergence as the pre-eminent species is cause for celebration, but a moment of joy that needs to be suffused with humility and certain caution.

That modernity has brought with it an understanding, coupled with it the associated skills to exploit all other species and the planet itself that has given us an undisputed top spot on the food chain.

As our understanding of how to feed ourselves has burgeoned, so have our numbers and despite the odd historical hiccough, more than seven billion sit down at the table, metaphorically, every day and 2050 we will need another two billion settings at the table.

Even a cursory examination of history will show that civilizations prospered when the soil on which they lived was cared for and allowed to recover between bouts of use for food production.

Back in 1675 John Evelyn presented a “Discourse on Earth, Mould and Soil” to England’s Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge in which he encouraged members to descend from contemplating heavenly bodies and focus instead on the earth beneath their feet.

Writing in “Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations”, David R. Montgomery said that Evelyn implored Royal Society members to consider both how the soil was formed and how the nation’s long-term prosperity depended on improving the kingdom’s dirt.

Our reliance on dirt is clearly evident for students of history for when civilizations were founded on rich, productive soil their numbers grew rapidly, but when the nutrients were leached and the soil’s fertility subsequently collapsed, so did the population.

Examples of those scenarios and their resultant outcomes abound and in contemporary times they have only been avoided by the use of man-made fertilizers using a finite resource of which the end is in sight.

It is one thing to understand more about what we need to do to ensure we can successfully feed our billions, but equally urgent is the need to slow down, or maybe even reverse, the exponential growth of human numbers.

Coercion to control our numbers is both immoral and unjust, but education, particularly of women, will significantly lower birth rates to reduce demands on food stocks and, importantly, slow consumption of goods only available because of finite resources.

Humanity’s brief moment in the sun can only be extended and enriched if we address our numbers.

by Robert McLean.