I found an interesting report that cataclysmic events may have caused species around the world to move or alter their habits in ways that changes either their habitats or themselves. My generation believed that species were immutable but we have learned that all life changes and sometimes changes radically so that we can never go back to the way life was again. You can get into trouble by saying what I am about to say; I found striking similarities between behavior of say, starfish, and humans in their responses to external pressures.

Starfish populations in certain localities where global warming has intruded in a local habitat have declined.  That means that starfish have died off, are no longer reproducing themselves or have moved away because the neighborhood had gotten bad.  This species is one of many that we humans believe have been ADVERSELY affected by temperature rises around the world.  El Nino has been blamed, perhaps justifiably, but he is more a symptom rather than a cause.  Toxic gas emissions have been blamed and human waste carelessly dumped into rivers and oceans are surely part of the problem.  It is certainly true that aside from natural cataclysms such as weather, volcanoes or meteors our problems have been caused by ourselves – by simple multiplication and proliferation of our species over the face of the globe.  We know we have caused the extinction of many species in the past and by our actions are in the process of causing problems among the many populations of living things that, like starfish, show modifications that were not there a short while ago.

It is also quite true that we have made a mess by our hunger and greed for wealth through exploitation of our dwindling natural resources.  We deplete these resources and will soon have no more gas, oil and minerals because they are not renewable. The sun pours power on our heads every day.  The tides go in an out and are willing to produce electricity.  The winds are there for our use but we only fear them when they accompany storms.

The differences we note from yesterday in times of plenty to times of scarcity are quite striking.  I find there are striking similarities between what is happening in nature and the human response to change in comfort situations.  For example, compare the poor lonely starfish whose companions either move away to a cooler environment with neighbors of mine who found they needed parking spaces where there were none.  They complained a lot but found that in order to park their numerous cars they had to move away.

We have heard about noise pollution and only note it surrounds us ubiquitously only because the decibel level has slowly increased over time.  More people, more vehicles, more radios and TVs demonstrate our need to shout in order to be heard and what we hear is often garbled because of competing multiple communications going on through telephones, cell phones and other wireless devices.

I point to the raising of voices where human chatter goes on in public places and the ever-present cell phone conversation that can be heard over the buzz. This is not merely a problem for hearing compromised persons like me.

Frogs, the aforementioned starfish, birds and other creatures we call endangered species have all changed in response to changes in nature, habitat or food supply.  These are all interrelated. These are changes brought about by our ancestors and now by us. Our appearance in history has disrupted the peace and quality of life of our fellow creatures and eventually we will awake to irreparable harm we have done to our own race. There are striking similarities between the lowly starfish and the exalted human – we move away from neighborhoods that no longer can sustain life.