When did the word "dirty" become a dirty word? After all, "dirt" is a word we use to describe soil, which is one of the basic and most crucial substances of our existence. Life grows in dirt, dirt is full of nutrients, and life forms like microbes, essential to our survival.
Western culture seems to have a "big time hate-on" for the natural world though. We think of germs and worms and maggots as being things beneath contempt. Many people would rather burn their dead, than allow these critters to feast on us humans, after all we are at the top of natures hierarchy, right?
Back to reality, we are, as Daniel Quinn points out in his book "Ishmael", not exempt from the natural world, despite the religious texts who lord humans above nature. Our brilliant minds allow us to play with, and manipulate nature, but we are never exempt from the reality of cause and effect, and as a result are tied to a planet that historically has been a source of neglect by our species.
I don't know enough about science to say conclusively that "climate change" is a reality, although I suspect it is, despite the political tug of war currently on this subject, but in the very least, we have a responsibility not only to ourselves, but all life forms, to ensure the health of our ecosystem…Yes, the Earth is remarkably resilient, and will continue on long after we make life unsustainable for our species on this planet. She does not need us to save her, we need to save ourselves from ourselves. Does anyone really want to live in a garbage dump? There will be more "dirt" there than anyone will know what to do with!
-Dirty C.T. December 2010
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