There’s a growing concern about the future of our planet, or at least the planet we’ve known so far. Industrialism is rapidly accelerating and our dependence on the system that destroys natural places is more evident now than ever before. In the age of the Anthropocene, human beings are responsible for the destruction of habitats around the globe. We are manifesting the sixth mass extinction. Many of the species we’ve come to love since our safari-themed nursery rooms may not be around for the next generation.
While this is concerning to those who have sustained a special connection to the land, it’s less concerning to the industrialists, the men and women at the top of our social hierarchy. They are concerned with the future and getting us there. Perhaps this is for our own good. Perhaps there’s a lot we don’t know, and for good reason. Regardless, wherever humanity is going, however great the industrial revolution will blossom, we must not forget our roots.
We are human beings of planet earth. We have been sustained by the earth since before We (the royal we–life itself) existed. And the earth has been created and sustained by the cosmos. We have a role to play in maintaining the natural world, the unseen but ever present interstellar forces through and by which we’ve arrived at today. This is the land that holds our ancestors, the land where our dead have been buried and transformed since We left the ocean. This is the water that gives life, flowing from springs of life eternal. Without the earth, we would not get to play “space.”
There’s a new industry emerging, one that will compliment the industrial revolution as it progresses indefinitely forward. This industry will keep humanity’s feet touching the ground, ever aware of the world we’ve come from before we venture into worlds unknown. For now, we’ll call this new industry Ecosystem Conservation. There have been conservation projects since the dawn of man, though the scale has tipped towards resource accumulation in favor of environmental restoration. This is about to change.
In the past 100 years, conservation jobs have been saved for the government, the public sector. The private sector has broken through with an abundance of nature-inspired media. From Sit David Attenborough to National Geographic, we have educated the world about the world, the source of our existence. But the confinement of nature-restoration to the public sector is about to be turned on its head.
“It is my belief that the next 1,000 unicorns—companies that have a market valuation over a billion dollars—won’t be a search engine, won’t be a media company, they’ll be businesses developing green hydrogen, green agriculture, green steel, and green cement.”
Larry Fink, CEO and chairman of BlackRock. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with ~$9.46 trillion USD in assets under management. (Quote I’m Pondering from Tim Ferris’s 5-Bullet Friday newsletter, issue 1/14/22)
Our planet is warming, natural disasters are worsening, and humans are left arguing about why and how bad. In 5 years, there will be no more debate. In 10 years, the first companies will have made strides in profitably restoring natural landscapes and aquatic ecosystems. Then, once we see tangible results, we’ll start investing in earth-saving solutions to these age-old problems. In 25 years, we will start thinking about how to modulate the climate to our–and nature’s–benefit on a global scale. We will become agents in the sustainability of our entire planet on the cosmic scale, but only if we learn how to work together.
The field of Eco Conservation is about to explode. I want to be there when it does, hard hat at the ready.