The Intricate Web of Life/What Does the Future Hold?

Fundamental Changes Needed

Although some commendable progress has been  made, such efforts have mainly addressed the symptoms rather than causes. According to researchers, at this point man does not have the luxury of ample time.  As Ruth Patrick, of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. contemplated what she termed "the potential biodiversity depletion,"  she concluded that "time is of the essence .  .  . Incisive and urgent action is at a premium." To reverse the trend toward extinction, there needs to be an urgent restructuring of the way man treats this planet and the living things on it.  More than damage control is required.  "The problems of conserving biological diversity  therefore cannot be separated from the larger issues of social . . . development," declares the World Resources Institute.

Achieving such a goal would require nothing less than a fundamental change in human society. The book Caring for the Earth acknowledges that responsible stewardship requires "values, economies and societies different than most that prevail today."

The Bible clearly shows that humans are simply not equipped to bring about such changes.  Jeremiah 10:23 says: "I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." (Proverbs 20:24)   This truth has certainly been made manifest throughout the course of history, and the results of man's ignoring this principle have brought us fact-to-face with the "critical times hard to deal with" that are spoken of at 2 Timothy 3:1-5.  This series of verses also shows us that the critical times are caused by the wrong thinking of people.  Therefore, until people change any solutions to the problems we face are at best temporary.

World-renowned scientist Dr.Jane Goodall observed in an interview that habitat destruction "is often tied up with economic greed and materialism in the developed  world." And botanist Peter Raven, former secretary of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, warned that "ignorance, indifference, poverty, and greed are producing interrelated problems that threaten to radically alter Earth for the worse."  Thus, some of the values that need to change include selfishness, greed, ignorance, shortsightedness, and self-centeredness.

Next time: The Intricate Web of Life/What Does the Future Hold? -The Ultimate Protection of Biodiversity

From the jw.org publications