The Evolution of Humanity

Human beings, like all creatures, have been evolving, changing to meet the needs of their environment, and occasionally improving, for a very long time.  Such changes occur over countless generations; A couple hundred years is nowhere near long enough for evolution to make any significant genetic changes in a species or its races.  External/nurture factors can do so. We’ve noted, for example, that people are growing up to be taller now than they were a hundred years ago, presumably owing to better nutrition.  But that is not genetic evolution.  Genetically speaking, we’re pretty much the same as we were in 1776.  And yet humanity seems radically different.

There’s another sort of evolving, sociological transition, which can and does occur in just decades.   For example, within the past 60 years, smoking tobacco has gone from being “cool” to being anathema in mainstream American culture.  (Smoking continues to be far more acceptable and prevalent in health-conscious Europe.  Go figure.)  In that same timeframe, we’ve gone from treating black people as second class citizens, to electing a black man President.  Gay people have gone from hiding in dark alleyways to being openly accepted in the U.S. military.  Indeed, Bob Dylan, the times, they are a’changin’.

What’s next for us?  Will it happen in the 2012 that is now upon us?  What’s next for us is huge, enormous, monumental.  But in this case, it’s not just a matter of a shift in perspective in any one society.  This time, it is going to affect humanity all of mankind, on a planetary basis.  How do I know?  Because it has to.  We have no choice.  We will either evolve, or we will quite literally die.

At the most foundational level, mankind has long held the belief that his domination over the other the living beings on the planet is a God-given right.  It is that mistaken concept which has brought the planet’s oceans from brimming over with abundance to a very real and imminent threat of total annihilation in just a little over a century.  As of this date, humans have brought the oceans’ populations of fish down by NINETY PERCENT during that same past 100 years.  Credible expert opinion gives the planet’s oceans just 40 more years before they are utterly void of life.  Yet commercial fisheries continue to strip the ocean of her last remaining profits.  It is an undisputed fact that if the oceans die, we die too.  As of this date, March 14, 2012, it appears that the oceans would still be able to recover, if we were to halt our impacts immediately.  Make no mistake, though.  Our new-found superpowers are destroying this planet so rapidly that our species may not survive to see the dawn of the 22nd century.  And so, you see, we literally have no choice.  We MUST adapt, evolve socially, or we will die… and take out the rest of the planet with us as we commit suicide.

What can we do?  What must we do?  What must we change?  What must we do differently?  How do we stop this?

The answer is found in that one sublime difference of perspective.  We must realize that our purpose, our job and responsibility is that of STEWARDSHIP, not dominion.  We must recognize that the other living beings are not ours to do with as we please.  We must evolve to know that our fellow Earthlings are not unclaimed chattel, whether domestically raised or wild.  In doing so, in making that shift, that evolution, we will indeed become Homo Sapiens — the wise ones.  Whether domestic or wild, the creatures exist for their own purposes, think their own thoughts.  They are not ours to take from their families and natural environments, nor to imprison for our entertainment, nor to kill for food or profit.

What will we eat then?  We will eat what we have eaten since the time before history began: Everything else.  It is an inconvenient truth (for those who raise and sell animal flesh) that humans do not need animal flesh to survive, nor do we need it to be healthy.   Quite the contrary, in nearly all cases, we are far better off without ingesting meat.

With 7 billion people on the planet today, and that number rising literally as you read this, we have no choice.  Neither our species nor our planet can sustain the farming that is necessary to raise and feed the sheer volume of animals we are slaughtering for their flesh.  Over ONE HUNDRED  THOUSAND cattle are slaughtered each and every day in the U.S. alone, far more pigs, and exponentially more chickens (15,000 per minute) to support our unhealthy addiction to meat.  The oceans are already depleted of fish.  The Passenger Pigeon was hunted to extinction at the beginning of the last century, as we began our transition to superpower.  We are out of options.  We have no choice but to go vegan to survive.

What happens next?  Already, vegetarian and vegan eaters are on a very fast rise.  The evolution is under way.  But will it happen fast enough?  This is not hyperbole: The earth is on a headfirst dive towards annihilation, and nothing less is going to stop that stoop into the abyss.  We must stand up against those who still see other living beings as something to kill, trap or enslave as they like.

Humans have grown so arrogant, so full of hubris, that we accept most any validation, no matter how vapid or erroneous the excuse, to justify continuing our selfish actions.  Since that perspective is so toxic to us, we must eschew it entirely.  No longer can the tortures and killings be ignored.  We must stand up with a loud, clear voice and police ourselves, telling all who would kill or enslave fellow beings for any reason that their actions are reprehensible, archaic, superstitious, and will not be tolerated.  No, it is neither acceptable nor sustainable to to feed grain to animals so that we can eat them.  It is time to cut out the middle-man and eat the plants ourselves.  THAT is sustainable.

It is also not okay to continue to breed ourselves as if we were a prey species.  Seven billion people is already overpopulated.  No matter how much we may value our own opinion of ourselves, few couples can justify replacing themselves.   Since there is no World Order/Government, it is incumbent upon ourselves to have no more than one child.  Not all people will observe this, which makes it all the more important that those of us who know better do everything we can to stave off the rising population.  “Yes, but not in my back yard” is not an acceptable caveat.  The solar panels, wind generators, tide generators, decreased reproduction and vegan eating are necessary, prescribed, and the duty of us all.   We all must evolve to survive.

It would be easily to misunderstand the concept, to think that if we do so, the genes that survive will be those of the people who refused to evolve. This is a fallacy for the simple reason that those who refuse to evolve in their own back yard will be the first to starve to death, leaving the evolved humans free to return to a sane pattern of growth once the crisis is over.  So, you see, the evolved humans are those who will survive.  Thus the evolution of homo sapiens is the only thing that will allow for his survival.  Those genes which cannot or will not do so most certainly will not survive.

Here is the timeline for our survival: First, we voluntarily limit ourselves to one well-raised child per couple per lifetime.  Concurrently, we recognize the inherent right of all living beings to life and liberty, and embrace vegan eating.  By this, the population slowly begins to decline, eventually returning to sustainable numbers.   Meanwhile, factory farming of meat and commercial fishing are phased out by the lack of demand.  This gives the planet the break needed to recover.

Many of the vegans will realize the satisfaction and better health found in a life which is connected to the earth, and begin all manner of growing organically, at home.  Some will use window boxes as gardens.  Some will build small hothouses.  Others will turn to hydrophonics.  Growing seasons will be extended.  Wellness will be regained by those changes, while the medical technologies which sustained longer lives despite the chemical toxicity in our foods continues to advance.  We can realistically expect lifespans and quality of life to improve as a result of these changes.  Others will come to realize the values and promise of evolving as well, and soon much of the planet will evolve, 99th Monkey style.  As we remove the pressures of pollution and harvest from nature, the planet will begin to recover.  If we act now, the damage done by the past 100+ years of indifference towards our decadence will be reversed, and mankind will finally be able to welcome a new prosperity for the entire planet, finally acting as the stewards we should have been all along.

Does this sound like a religion?  If it does, then so be it.  There is no prescription for killing, torture or death within it.  There are only life and prosperity, as we cherish all beings and take our true place alongside (not over) our fellow Earthlings.