Last train to Glasgow
Glasgow Central is 343 miles (553km) from London Euston. A typical train journey will take 5 hours and 9 minutes. But if we take London Euston to be the start and a lifeless planet, where do you think human beings start appearing in the process of biological evolution and climate change? Let's find out.
Single cell organisms start appearing around Nuneaton in Warwickshire, some 100 miles (160.9km) from London Euston, just before hot gases.
Complex cells start appearing after Lancaster, some 207 miles (333km) from London Euston. We're deep in the North of England and past Stafford, Crewe, Warrington, Wigan and Preston. We're further north than both Liverpool and Manchester.
Photosynthesis - the ability to convert light into chemical energy - occurs around Oxenholme Lake District, some 220 miles (354km) from London Euston.
Single cell reproduction takes place around Carlisle, some 260 miles (418km) from London Euston. Complex cell reproduction takes place around Lockerbie in Scotland some 282 miles (453km) from London Euston.
Fish start appearing around Motherwell some 334 miles (539km) from London Euston and come to land at Bellshill, just after Motherwell. We're now getting close to Glasgow and part of the local rail network around Glasgow.
Dinosaurs start appearing after Cambuslang station in Glasgow, shortly after we have crossed the River Clyde which runs through Glasgow. We're well into the built up area of Glasgow and not far from Glasgow Central station. Just to give you some idea.
Mammals start appearing about a mile or so from Glasgow Central station.
Human beings start appearing on this planet around the same time we enter Glasgow Central station, around the end of the platform ramp.
Human language and culture starts evolving about halfway down the platform. Human civilization starts around the front of the now stationary train. The Industrial Revolution doesn't start until you've past the ticket barrier.
The means that relative to the entire process of biological evolution and climate change on this planet, or entire journey from London Euston to Glasgow Central, the entire course of human history is no more than a short stretch of railway platform.
Human beings are not important to planet Earth
It's important to understand that while life and living existence, and the ability to sustain both is a chief characteristic of planet Earth, it's not a given and the balance between climate change and biological evolution is incredibly fragile. There have been several mass extinction events. Even the extinction of a particular species impacts on the evolution of other species. If, for example, all earthworms died out and became extinct, then all life on this planet would die out within a year or two. If all insects died out we would have maybe a further four or five years. If all fish died out, maybe we would have a decade left.
If however all human beings died out and became extinct, then without any shadow of a doubt this planet would recover, heal, and eventually thrive.
The central issue here is that human beings are evolving and reproducing at a rate which the planet cannot sustain. The planet can only sustain enough natural resources for maybe 10-12 billion human beings to live a developed lifestyle. Currently there are 8 billion human beings on this planet. In 2030 there will be an estimated 9.6 billion human beings. By the end of the century in 2100 it's estimated there will be 10.9 billion human beings living on this planet.
This is close to 10 billion human beings on this planet working collectively to destroy natural habitats and transform natural resources into toxic waste. For what? For just nine developed nations to manage all the natural resources on this planet for the conceptual, imaginary wealth of maybe two or three dozen families. For this since the 1970's some 75% of all species have been wiped out and rendered extinct. More than likely by 2030 all marine life in the oceans will become extinct. All for the sake of perpetual economic growth, rising GDP and record corporate profits.
What if we're a global pandemic away from extinction?
There's a time in your life when you come face to face with death. You realize that life is a great deal more fragile than you think it is, and often this comes after a realization that the consequences of your lifestyle are going to result in your death.
I had this moment towards the end of 2014 when I was rushed to the A and E department of St Thomas's Hospital in London unable to breathe. The ambulance crew and paramedics were brilliant, as were the staff at St Thomas's Hospital. I have COPD. At the time I was a heavy smoker having smoked heavily from the age of 16. After spending about an hour on a nebuliser and being able to breathe but with chest pains from my exertions, the doctor came to me and told me that I had borderline pneumonia. Back in 1997 I cheated clinical death from double pneumonia, spending several weeks on a life support machine.
The doctor at St Thomas's did not say anything more. No unsolicited lifestyle advice. No moralizing. Nothing. He didn't need to. I knew the game was up. The next morning I took the nuclear option. I quit smoking, bought a couple of e-cigarettes. and have been vaping ever since. I've spent my whole life living on the edge. Amphetamines, speed, alcohol, food, I have beaten several addictions in my life. The consensus of medical opinion when I was in my 20's was that I would not live to see 40. I'm the biggest serial abuser of my own physical body and I write this to emphasize the fact that there comes a point in life where you stop taking foolish risks and unnecessary chances and you make a serious commitment to playing it safe. You wise up, get smart, and appreciate the fact that you're still alive.
During the recent COVID pandemic I was hoping that we would collectively wise up and get smart. I'm aware that 200,000 people have died from COVID, but that saying we have been extremely lucky. There has been a shift in human consciousness, particularly with regard to working from home but sadly we're returning to pre-COVID normal and the 'business as usual' mindset and groupthink. While COVID vaccines are a good thing, they're not enough. We need a massive dose of Wake The Fuck Up and another vaccine rollout against political stupidity.
Consider that the next global pandemic, and trust me, there will be more coming, might not be as kind or forgiving. There might not be time to develop a vaccine. The next global pandemic might be the Asteroid Meets Dinosaur event and the human being will no longer be a part of this planet's ecosystem.
I just want to point out this possibility.
The bullshit Net Zero and Climate Change Agenda
In terms of climate change and environmental issues I'm something of an outlier. I get accused of being a climate change denier, which I'm not. Arbitrary political targets such as Net Zero and reduction of consumption are meaningless and do not address any of our environmental issues. The carbon footprint of the typical London household made up of people who do not drive is already zero or close to zero. The current political Climate Change Agenda is anti-aspirational and sees the typical human being as an economic unit which is to be profitable.
This raises the question of how we want to die or be exterminated. Currently on the surface of this planet human beings are not part of the natural ecosystem simply because we have set ourselves up as an irritant, or if you prefer a parasite. We are neither useful nor beneficial to the planetary ecosystem. We are competitive, hostile and exploitative not just to the planet but also to other species and each other. So what is it going to be? Do we exterminate each other in a mutual massacre of political scapegoats? Or do we let things progress naturally and end up being wiped out by potentially the next global pandemic? However which way you choose to look at this our current social, political, economic and cultural trajectory is not sustainable.
I used to have a physics teacher called Mr Phillips who was fond of saying, "If all else fails, read the instruction manual."
In the natural world no major credit cards are accepted. Gross Domestic Product and economic growth is meaningless. Corporate profit doesn't mean anything. Money has zero value in the natural world. Your social status and position is irrelevant. Am I getting through here?
I refuse to accept that human beings or the human species is a lost cause. This is defeatism. Not sure about you, but I am not a defeatist. Out of all the millions of different species which have ever existed on this planet, we human beings are the best equipped and the most able to survive on this planet. We have the intelligence, we have an unrivalled capacity for processing consciousness, we can be brilliantly creative, we are capable of kindness, empathy, compassion, and the whole spectrum of love.
We also have the technology, the resources, the space, the scientific know how, and the mystical awareness to create a natural and human paradise. The only two things standing in our way are our own ignorance and the conscious choices we make, every single day, towards the planet, other species, and each other. Climate change is not the issue here.
Human beings are the issue here.
"There is fiction in the space between,
Tracy Chapman, "Telling Stories"
You and reality,
You will do and say anything,
To make your everyday life seem less mundane,
There is fiction in the space,
Between you and me...."