On the Planet – A Review

There’s a general belief that the earth is only inhabitable because it’s in what’s called “the Goldilocks Zone.”

This is the “just-right” distance from the sun and other planets that allows a planet to allow water to exist without instantly boiling or instantly freezing.

Other definitions of the “Goldilocks Zone” include the way the earth spins and the degree it is rotated (which are responsible for seasons) among other things.

I am here to tell you this is short thinking.

While it is true that we need water to survive. That doesn’t mean all life needs water. We define what’s essential to life by our own biases, and we have a pretty firm (and reasonable) bias toward liquid water.

But when single celled organisms developed or found their way to Earth, it was covered in water, and they had to adapt and become beings that thrived in that environment. After all, water is no joke.

Water is the universal solvent; it is able to dissolve just about anything. Water can practically dissolve any organic matter given time, save for the structures creatures and plants create that are “waterproof.” Take humans for example, we need water. We drink it, we bathe in it, we cook with it. So how can it be dangerous? Our bodies and most other bodies are a network of systems formed around a waterproof tube. Skin is somewhat waterproof. Our esophagus and digestive tract are waterproof. Kidneys are waterproof. But that’s about it. We might be 60% water, but if that water got anywhere it wasn’t meant to be, that’d be extremely dangerous. So the fact that we live on a planet full of liquid that could dissolve our insides isn’t exactly a “just right” place for carbon-based life to develop.

What I’m ultimately trying to say is that Earth is not perfect for us, we made ourselves perfect for Earth.

When it comes to “adaptation,” in biology, there is evolutionary adaptation and there is behavioral adaptation. Evolutionary adaptation is when the environment pressures a gene pool and causes a very slow change in a species. Behavioral adaptation is when a species changes either itself or its environment within its lifetime to adapt to its surroundings.

Evolutionary adaptation is when finches developed beaks to break tougher nuts. Behavioral adaptation is when humankind started farming those nuts so they didn’t have to forage for them.

The reason I don’t like the Goldilocks Zone is because it takes for granted that “life found a way” on our planet. Don’t get me wrong, life had to get lucky. If it wasn’t for years of being bombarded with comets and meteors the earth could’ve never formed an atmosphere or cooled enough to support liquid water in the first place.

And then it also discounts how hard it is to live, what with storms, sunburn, and earthquakes always looming, it’s not like all of this is a given. And things are getting worse. Dependence on fossil fuels is making these three issues much worse. But I digress.

So, the planet isn’t the “perfect” thing the Goldilocks Zone suggests, what does that matter? Well. It just goes to show how much work we put into ourselves to make this relationship work. I mean, we (we being the most royal we, referring to all life) are basically the bad boy in a movie that all the boy loving people in the movie look at and go “I can change him.”

And like that boy, we spent eons evolving and shaping ourselves to become what we are today just so we could be right for Earth. And in the process, uh, one of the bad boys went and screwed up the Earth in a way that is going to make being with it harder and harder in the years to come. Just like in the movies!

There is a future in which humans and the Earth can make it work. It’s going to require all of us to see the change we’ve already undergone and go through a fraction more. Otherwise, we’re going to be looking for a different planet we can fix ourselves for.

I think, in the coming years there is going to be a lot of “solutions” that crop up as solutions to climate change. And I think it’s going to take an open mind and a lot of time/money to make a difference.

I’m no expert, but the way I see it, all of us are going to have to do a lot of little things to make a big difference. At least until the corporations and countries that make the big decisions get their act together.

I watched a video and then read an article the other day about one of those small things, a “liquid tree.” If you haven’t seen it, here’s a link to a video about it: https://youtu.be/QUGJPZ1a308

If you don’t want to watch the video that’s fine. Basically, scientists created what’s called a “photobioreactor” and it is not a tree smoothie. It is actually a type of algae that eats carbon and spews out oxygen. It purifies the air and takes up less space than a tree. Basically, they eat pollution. Nice!

Trees are obviously prettier and cooler than an aquarium with no fish and just gunk, but if the future relies on us installing these, pass me the allen wrench.

But the thing is we can’t just put these up everywhere we pollute and call it a day. We also need to compost (like I say in this blog), and recycle, and stop using fossil fuels, and and… the list goes on.

And here, dear reader, is where I usually start to have a panic attack. But a recent epiphany (and what is my big point in this blog) has fixed that for me. While it might be exhausting to list everything we need to do to stop destroying our planet. The list is not inexhaustible. Read: the list of things we need to do is not infinite. Yes Virginia, there is an end.

I’m not a climate scientist or a geoengineer, or whatever we both wish I was. But I know that that list does not go on forever. Which means that, as a species, we can create a to do list and check off each task as we get it done.

And I don’t know why, but that fills me with immense hope that this relationship we have with Earth can go this distance.

I want to end this blog talking about a subject near and dear to my heart. The rhino.

When the rhino looked at adapting to the planet it saw the biological toppings bar at the froyo place and said yes. Horn? Of course. Skin thick enough to stop bullets? Why not. A mouth the shape of a shovel? Kinda strange, but why not.

Rhinos walk silently, love to be pet and brushed, can smell things over half a mile away, and weigh more than your average SUV. They’re also endangered, but we don’t have to be sad today.

Point is. Rhino’s saw the same conditions as humans and even went down the same evolutionary ladder, but they didn’t choose to become polluting maniacs. They’re just sentient lawnmowers who don’t start fights and want to eat grass and roll in some mud. and while I’m not proposing humans do the same thing, I just think we can learn a bit from our big gray friends.

Especially because I have it on good authority that a rhino never jaywalks. At least not purposefully.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this one. I’ve been thinking about the planet a lot and the discussion around fixing our problems really makes me introspective. I want to find more ways to make a difference and so I apologize that I’m using this blog while I peruse for better options. I’ll get back to writing about dumb stuff once I feel personally satisfied. Ha.