Denis Grossen
Sartell
An ecological catastrophe is being created right now just because the human race still refuses to accept that it is not completely in charge of the Earth and that we are not eternal but rather the most dangerous species on this planet.
The Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 is shipping around the world in containers filled with dry ice. Dry ice is frozen CO2 and as it provides the necessary cooling effect to maintain a required temperature, it converts back into gaseous CO2. According to available information, Pfizer has taken no measures at any stage of the distribution process to eliminate or minimize emissions of CO2, one of the principal culprits of climate change. The CO2 gas required to manufacture the dry ice is not removed from the atmosphere either to create a carbon neutral process.
We, as a species, are responsible for the most destruction of other species and our environment. Above all, we have demonstrated our unwillingness and incapacity to control our population growth. In 2000, the world population was 6.115 billion and today it is 7.8 billion. A deadly virus is but one of the very few defenses available to Mother Nature to bring our unruly species back to reality. Homo sapiens are not immortal, and we will not escape to Mars or any other planet despite the fantasy of some billionaires.
Even 100 million deaths from this virus worldwide would not make a dent in our population.
Accepting our mortality and embracing natural selection as the way Mother Earth can equitably defend Herself against our abuses is the only way to ensure our long-term survival together with the survival of our planet. It is our last chance to abandon our arrogant attitude that we master life and death because of the progress of western medicine. Humility and responsibility toward all other species and our environment are the only way forward.
Our desperate quest for a vaccine against COVID-19 has only added to our alarming incompetence. To extend the life of millions of people by a few years, we are prepared to inflict terminal damage to the Earth.
Viruses and bacteria populated the world long before homo sapiens emerged to become the dominant species, and viruses and bacteria will survive us all. Accepting our limitations would be a good start in ensuring our survival.
