Shake Them Off!

There's 8.5 billion of them now. Just a mere second ago (a century by their measure) there was 2 billion of them, and now it's 8.5. Some of their brightest minds think they will peak out at 10 billion and start decreasing in numbers. I know better.

Their Industrial Revolution brought them a lot of comfort but a lot of grief for me and smaller creatures: hundreds and thousands of species disappear every year, whole forests are covered in soot from their burning of oil and gas and there's a huge garbage patch in the Pacific that they have no idea how to manage.

They create all sorts of catastrophes by themselves: pollution, chemical spills, massive wildfires they start by accident, land erosion resulting into deserts, diverting rivers for their agriculture that results in wastelands, and even disasters caused by nuclear - the kind of technology they developed like a big new shining toy they cannot fully control.

Nothing seems to be getting at them: earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and tsunamis only affect some of them and most of the times they rebuild quickly, pushing the debris into the ocean or into what they call "landfills." To "manage" the landfills, they either burn the waste or bury it under a thick layer of cement, creating what looks like clogged pores on their faces, but on a much larger scale.

They now live longer, too. Even a second ago their average lifespan was about 45-50 years, and now they are pushing to 100. It's not only because they have much more comfortable and less labor-intensive life but also because their health care is getting better. They are innovative in finding ways to prolong their lifespan and even hope to achieve immortality within a second. That will be a complete disaster, if they never die.

They think they are the smartest creatures that ever existed. Dolphins and whales would disagree but who'd listen to them? They call animals that "invade" their spaces, making their life uncomfortable and living off their resources, "parasites." What they don't realize is that they are the biggest parasitic species on the body they call "their only home."

On top of all, they continue killing each other in wars. Sometimes these wars involve just the two tribes that lived side by side for centuries and then suddenly started claiming each other's lands or resources. But often the conflict can go beyond just the two tribes and involve many, including within one geographic region. They call them "civil wars" like there's anything civil about that type of infighting. The worst are the large scale mass killings they call "world wars" that claim millions of lives. But then again, what's millions when there are billions of them now?

If only they learned to live in peace. Living life is not a zero-sum game, they don't have to take something away from someone to live a good life. In fact, they make a lot more progress when they cooperate, collaborate and share resources and take care of those who can't take care of themselves. You'd think they'd learn that lesson from their entire short history and endless wars. And yet, it is what they refer to as the 21st century now, and they are still warring in different lands, killing each other in hundreds of thousands. Escalating to de-escalate, as the most belligerent of them describe it.

I am so tired of their shenanigans.

That was The Earth's last monologue before the most recent extinction event of 2028. The Earth tilted just by a mere 2 degree angle, dramatically changing the climate patterns. Only 500 million humans survived.