School Essay (age 17)

Science, Technology and a Limited Planet
G. Myburgh

In a topic of this nature, it is essential, I believe, to be objective. Writing as an individual human being, it is inevitable that one will be influenced by personal sentiment and the sentiment of others. This often blinds one from reality. We, as humans, were born into a modern technological world and we therefore, having never known it any other way, take the world as it is for granted. As a result, the true significance and seriousness of our situation is often not appreciated. It is far better to approach the subject as an outsider, free of all sentiment, looking down onto the world and human race from afar.

To see today’s technological world in the right perspective, it is essential to reconstruct what the world was like before. We know that man, whatever anyone may like to believe, had very humble origins. Homo sapiens evolved like all other plants and animals from simple organisms. This process took countless millions of years and he appeared in his present form only 2 million years ago. In early times, he was totally dependent on nature for his survival. He was, in fact, part of nature, just one of numerous species struggling to survive, that fitted into the world’s ecology. Nature was in perfect balance and all the world’s resources were constantly recycled so that nothing was ever lost. Then man gradually began to develop an awareness of his own self and an intelligence, greater than any other animal. As a result, he became very successful as a species and his numbers grew.

Then man reached a stage where he became ashamed of his origins. He refused to accept that he was just another species of animal and he chose to forget his part in nature. He covered his body, the body that nature had given him, with clothes and what is more, reminded him of his humble origins, such as sex and excretion, he became ashamed of. He eventually came to believe that he was totally above nature, convincing himself that the world had been created by a divine being and that, he himself had been placed on it with a special purpose. In other words, the earth and all that was on it, had been made specifically for him and his pleasure. He could do what he wanted with it. It was thus, that he began to plunder the earth’s resources, choosing to ignore all the natural laws that had dictated to him and all other species on the planet for so long.

And so came the era of science and technology. Man discovered immense new sources of power and he invented engines, electricity, machines, tools and numerous other things. Spurred on by his success, he became obsessed with his inventions and strove to discover more and more. Huge factories and industries came into being and man needed natural resources to feed his ambitions. These he plundered from the earth, snatching away vast quantities of coal, oil and timber. He took more and more but never bothered to put anything back and resources which had seemed limitless, rapidly dwindled. All natural laws he ignored and the delicate balances of nature, balances which had existed for millions of years, were shattered. But man did not see it. His obsession blinded him and drove him on. As he became more and more successful, he became more convinced of his superiority over all other species.

Man began to achieve his wildest dreams. He gained the power of flight and even managed to walk on the moon. He invented new warfare weapons, weapons which could destroy whole populations. He discovered medicine which could prolong human life so that everyone had the chance to suffer the indignities of old age – and man clapped his hands in glee and said proudly that he was bettering the quality of life, and as he said it, the world’s population soared and poverty, suffering and hunger increased to staggering proportions. As the population grew, man’s cities spread out; huge grotesque worlds of concrete and steel which devoured everything in its path, including natural ecosystems which had taken millions of years to develop. Pollution levels also rose as man pumped deadly chemicals into the atmosphere, soiled the rivers with his filth and the sea with his oil.

Then some individuals opened their eyes. They saw how man was ignoring all natural laws, how he was destroying the balances of nature which had to be maintained for the survival of all species. They saw how he was devouring the earth’s precious resources and how his population was rising – and they realized that he was approaching disaster. They cried out in warning and asked him to consider the future, if not for himself, then for his children – but he was too concerned with his own ambitions. Many did in fact, express concern, but they allowed themselves to forget and they did nothing. Some also believed that it was not their problem and that when man did pay the consequences for his actions, they would be in the safety of their graves. Many simply did not appreciate the seriousness of the situation and others still, believed that after the world had been so badly misused as to be rendered inhabitable, a supreme, loving God would step in to save them from all peril.

In conclusion, we are compelled to ask the question, “What is the solution?” That we cannot say however we can step in the right direction. First we have to realize that, as humans, we are solely responsible for our problems and it is ultimately we who must pay the consequences. We also have to stop denying that anything is wrong with our planet. Unless we acknowledge that the problem exists, we cannot solve it. We must also curb our arrogance and cease feeling superior to nature. There is no denying we are part of it and it is in this field that our main responsibilities lie. Responsibilities which we have shirked for far too long. Ignoring nature’s basic and logical principles and laws is, I believe, our ultimate failure. We must conserve what we have, not just for our children but also for the human race as a whole and for all the other species which share our limited planet.