Cynical optimism: A text on climate change

~fikamedhasse

I am not scared of or for the future. Climate change is at a point where this planet will be forever altered. Species have gone extinct, islands have disappeared and both animals and people are forced to flee their homes. We as a species have caused a lot of suffering on this planet, and there is no end in sight. Eventually we will eradicate ourselves, along with a multitude of species. But what comes after?

We as humans are just one of millions of species on this planet, who have happened to get a bit too smart for our own good. We have caused suffering, but it is nowhere near unprecedented. What makes our little extinction project different from what happened 65 million years ago in Mexico? Species go extinct all the time. Sure, we are a contributing factor, but life will outlive us. The Earth will recover eventually. We might not be here to see it, and we really have no one to blame but ourselves. When we are gone, life will be able to recover and flourish just like it has after several previous catastrophes and extinctions. How long after we are gone will New York return to being a forest? 200 years? 2000? 20000? The timescale is a fraction of a second compared to how long and hardy life is. We have existed for a minuscule amount of time compared to life here, and we are making good progress on eradicating ourselves. We are but a small blight on an otherwise unbothered earth.

I want to make it clear this does not negate or deny the ethical responsibility we as humans have to mitigate the impact and suffering we are causing and have caused. We are humans, and from a human perspective, rather than the previously presented geological perspective, the suffering and extinction we're causing is real and significant, even if it's not unprecedented in deep time. We are after all the only species capable of contemplating our own impact and potentially mitigating it.

I know it's an overly cynical take. But it helps me sleep, I guess.