I left a potato on the kitchen windowsill for over 3 months. I had been getting ready to bake it when I noticed a single green sprout emerging from an eye. I wondered what would happen if I let it sit for a while.
A couple of weeks later there were more sprouts, but nothing dramatic. I could have baked it even then. But I waited to see what would happen next. It became a project, to allow this lowly tuber to fill whatever its destiny might be.
More sprouts appeared and small trees began to form. The potato began to show wrinkles as the sprouts consumed it in their struggle to live. I realized that, like every seed, the germ of life was supplied with all it needed to get a foothold and evolve into its own self. Just as eggs provide nourishment to the embryo sheltered inside.
I had broken the natural cycle. The sprouts, deprived of soil, had nowhere to go. They were trapped on a disappearing egg.
This got me thinking about our home, Earth, our egg. It is rich in nutrients, minerals, and other vital components that allow us to grow and thrive. It is a giant egg that appears infinite. But it isn’t. There are limits, and, like the potato sprouts, we have been hollowing out our resources without a destination where we can grow. or continue the cycle of life.
Unlike the potato, which has no self-awareness or ability to alter its fate, we humans do. We can imagine the future by observing the past and present then visualize scenarios of what could happen. We can be wise, when we want to be. We can build the knowledge that we need to build the tools we can use to shape our future.
We can clearly see our resources being depleted and turned into poisons. Our Earth is shrinking, withering. Yet, we still refuse to act. We resist looking into the Probable and constructing the Could Be.
Amazing technologies can help us stop some of our parasitic consumption. Yet technology can also be dangerous, it can offer the illusion of quick solutions with little cost to ourselves.
Building spaceships to go to the Moon and Mars is an impressive and worthwhile endeavor. However, only the wealthiest will be able to use these lifeboats. But that doesn’t stop the rest of us from getting the Power Ball delusion. Somehow, we will win the lottery and get a coveted seat on ride out of town. It is a fantasy that can be manipulated to take our eyes off of the truth and acting to save ourselves by saving our Earth.
We don’t realize that we are the vampires and that we need to change our behavior. Otherwise, we continue to create an ever-growing sinkhole beneath that eventually swallows the thin crust above it and we tumble in.
Life is tenacious. It is resilient, able to grow from the ashes. Still there are limits to what Life can do. The potato on my windowsill will run out of its bounty, the sprouts will die and whatever remains will rot into its constituent elements; Lifeless.
We have little time to save our potato, our egg. Already some of us are withering. Decay spreads unchecked.
We can be wise when we want to be. We can accept our part in this dead-end journey and create the scenarios that lead us to a better future. Just as we have visualized a dystopian future, we can imagine one that is verdant and teaming with Life. Not an Eden, but a better place to live in than were we are now.