As the Northern climes warm, our species may soon be
vulnerable to ancient—even beyond ancient— bacteria and viruses. We are
familiar with pathogens to which our species has some immunity, built up from
repeated prior contact. As a species, we could lose everything from illnesses
in which the modern human body has no experience and thus no built-up defenses.
Researches have encountered complex ancient viruses in the
melting permafrost of Siberia. Bacteria and viruses can lie dormant in
permafrost until they are reactivated by warming. Scientists have discovered
intact Spanish flu viruses in corpses buried in 1918 in the Alaskan tundra. In
2016 in Siberia, 100 people and 2,300 reindeer were infected with anthrax that
scientist believe had been trapped in a frozen reindeer carcass that thawed
during the particularly hot summer. Unfortunately, permafrost “appears to the
among the systems most vulnerable to global warming,” according to researchers
in the journal Nature Climate Change.[1]
Global warming in turn is vulnerable to the human production of carbon dioxide,
such as from our increasing use of fossil fuels since the industrial
revolution. Behind the economics of use or consumption is the exponential
increase in the population of our species. As biological beings, we must
consume. Generally speaking, the more humans around, the higher the total
consumption. Distribution of resources obviously makes a difference—some people
get to consume disproportionately more than others can. Even so, the staggering
number of over 7 billion people must involve a considerable amount of
consumption.
The extraordinary jump in human population is occurring in a very short period of time. How could there not be huge, unforeseen reverberations?
The upshot is that Nature has its own measures to correct a
species’ failure to control its numbers on a planet of finite resources. As
great as the human mind is, we have trouble anticipating the secondary systems
that are set in motion. Put another way, the astonishing number of 7 billion
can be expected to have repercussions that get beyond our ability to
anticipate, let alone manage. As permafrost that has been frozen for millennia
(also a big number) melts and the methane and bacteria and viruses that have
been trapped escape, we face a huge blindside. As systems effect systems effect
systems, we can easily get ahead of ourselves.
[1]
Mary Papenfuss, “As
Ice Melts, Dangerous Diseases From The Past Could Rise Again,” The
Huffington Post, May 5, 2017.
