I stumbled on a stunning quote recently from the Nobel Prize winning virologist Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet. Macfarlane was born at the end of the century before last – and that part is important.
It is easy to assume that concerns about man’s crass behaviour generally and the abuse of the planet specifically are recent – or at least emerging strongly towards the end of the 20th century. In fact scientists and environmentalists (and generally intelligent folk with humanity’s best interests at heart plus writers, artists etc.,) have been telling us for far longer. But few have said it more eloquently or succinctly than Macfarlane Burnet in Dominant Mammal published in 1970 when he was 71 and had the whole of his scientific understanding and life experiences to draw on, spanning the 19th and 20th century but speaking to us in extraordinarily prescient tones in the 21st century -
“A
viable and humanly tolerable world – a stable human ecosystem for the earth –
is conceptually, ecologically and socially possible, but it will not be reached
unless men and women of vision, purpose and intelligence can devise ways of
controlling, modifying and redirecting those patterns of behaviour that were
consolidated in the course of human evolution and which have brought us to the
brink of chaos’
According to The Guardian last weekend - ex-PM David Cameron’s
decision when in coalition with that other wanker ‘cojones’ Clegg (now heading
up Fb – sorry- metaverse!) to cut “green crap” (turning away from investing in
green energy) now costs each household in England around £150. But that is
small beer to what it will cost is very soon. And around the globe, not paying
enough attention to ‘green crap’ is costing many their livelihoods and their
lives.
Before long, it wont just be the poorer parts of the globe and the mainly southern hemisphere that will be wishing someone in power had paid attention to the likes of Macfarlane.
*
In my own small way I’ll add my voice to this hugely
important issue – again -by directing you to my dystopian novella – science
fiction not science fact but promoting the same message and outlining the end
results if we continue to ignore reality. Check out Zero One Zero Two
On a lighter note – and we all need one right now –
my 'darkly humorous' weird romance novel The Companion Contract will be on offer (the e-version) from midnight
tonight PST 22nd March and 8am GMT March 23rd Check out
the FREE chapter by clicking here goodreads