I’ve enjoyed this thread, especially the discussion
today. A lot of this is right up my alley. At this moment my
computer monitor is displaying a slice of seismic data, allowing me to
literally look into the past. I see constant cycles of change, vast
tracts of time passing in the blink of an eye. What I also see are
interdependent systems, the rising and falling of sea levels, evidence of
global warming and cooling on a massive scale. In my backyard here in Texas
there is absolute evidence of the life that lived on this same spot 100 million
years ago.
Those fossils remind me of a small creature that evolved on
the North American continent. Without a warming cycle that favored low
growing plants and the development of a new plant, this creature might never
have evolved into the one we are enjoying today in the sport of distance
riding. Horses and grasses evolved together. When environmental
pressures became too great on this continent, what was left of the pre-equine species
moved to the Eurasian continent and developed further into a beast that was manageable
for early humans, first as a source of food, later as a tool for the evolution
of civilization.
While we do affect the planet to an extent, when we’re
gone, life will continue on in whatever manner it may. I recognize that
we are a force of change/evolution and while I very much don’t wish to
see species die off due to our influence, in my geological mind I can’t
help but wonder – what’s next?
