Wildlife is Leading the Way

In the days after the total eclipse of the sun, many will reflect on the majesty of our solar system and how we fit in it. Our earth is an incredible part of that system and worth discovering how to make it a better place to thrive, not just survive.

Our wildlife is leading the way as they evolve and adapt. Last summer I watched a remarkable series about wildlife around the world adapting quickly to increasing temperatures according to Evolution Earth, an Amazon Prime video series released in 2023 and now on PBS. Maybe we should pay attention.

The thing is that wildlife has the instinct to survive and they are adapting right now. It was found that the zebra finch has the capability to show other wildlife and humans where they can find water. These birds have also been producing smaller babies by calling to their unborn chicks with a completely different song. That song turned out to be the reason zebra finches make smaller babies and can adapt to the increase in heat. They're figuring it out.

Ants in the Sahara Desert can withstand greater temperatures because their evolved silver backs deflect the sun's rays. Chimps are now defending cave territory to keep cool from the midday sun despite their instinct to avoid them for millions of years because they lacked escape routes. Why can wildlife get right down to the business of adapting and surviving and why do we resist it?

Earthen houses would keep us cool, right? There are earth ships in New Mexico that are self-sustainable and a community of 12 rammed earth dwellings in Australia. The earth ships have thermal/solar heating and cooling, solar and wind electricity, water harvesting, contained sewage treatment, and food production. Did you know there's an earth ship right here on Vancouver Island?

It begs the question, what in the world are we North Americans doing to adapt right now on a planet that's heating up? Maybe we aren't as smart as the animals are. If we're concerned at all about climate change events, it seems we can't agree on what to do next. Change is needed now but, while animals just do what they need to do or die, humans set up inquiries, at least that's what Canadians do, before solutions that benefit all can be found, agreed upon and implemented. The results? We can't agree on anything. Our challenge is to get beyond polarization. Left and right are not going to agree and a dictatorship or autocratic leader is not the answer either! Neither do I.

While we're thinking and arguing about it, our earth and wildlife is leading the way, literally. In the world's grasslands, positive changes are taking place. In the Serengeti, the plains of Patagonia and the North American Grasslands, keystone animals like wildebeests, guanaco, and buffalo are changing the land. Apparently, wherever wildebeests roamed in the Serengeti, the land grew grass where there was none. It happened because a certain dung beetle I've already talked about. (One of Those Days - September 7, 2023) loves wildebeest dung and "nearly 20% of all the soil in the Serengeti is buried dung balls". Good soil, good grass.

On the plains of Patagonia, as sheep are being replaced with wild guanaco, a species of camelid similar to llamas, pumas began to hunt them keeping the herd on its toes. As they moved across the grasslands to evade their predator, "it's estimated that over 200 species feed upon the pumas' half-eaten carcasses."

"... it's this return of an ancient rhythm between the animals and the plants that is having this startling effect on the landscape, causing the grasslands to return."

The same is happening in America as buffalo are relocated back to grasslands and allowed to roam. Prairie dogs are returning, digging their underground networks of holes where other species can live and find refuge. Oak trees are now growing like they used to, spread out over the grassland.

"Even here in the U.S., the right balance of animals set in motion a powerful force... to resurrect a ghost habitat and create a Serengeti at home."

Grasslands, apparently form a CO2 (carbon dioxide) sink and are able to "remove up to 10% of global emissions just by managing soils better and storing more carbon under our feet." The best thing about the grasslands as opposed to forests is that the grasslands grow back quickly after a fire, forests don't and our world is heating up. (All quotes from EVOLUTION EARTH: Grasslands, Episode 5.)

The point is that as wildlife is changing right now, can we not join them in finding solutions to both adapting to and mitigating our reality? Sadly, I don't believe we have the collective will to make any change until it's too late. Are we too late now? In my opinion, change involves listening to Indigenous Peoples and their solutions for the earth, then working in partnership with a selection of experts to implement those solutions. Indigenous leaders are pointing us in the direction of what we need and can help lead us out of our current path and onto a restorative path. Most of us can't or won't hear them speak unless we start listening. What motivation do we need to put the planet before profit?

There's so much work to do and maybe you feel overwhelmed like I do. Maybe we just need to start doing something or anything to adapt because before too long our earth will grow less habitable and then we'll fight over the last and best patches of arable land. That's how extinction happens which begs the question, again, are we not more intelligent than wildlife?

With a planet moving quickly into one crisis after another, our inquiries and our plans may not even be possible. We might not even exist, eventually. Experiencing the eclipse caused many of us to contemplate how mighty our world is and how powerful the elements of nature are. Can humans stop its destructive ways long enough to let what we're already done return to health? Could wildlife and our earth lead the way forward and would we listen in time?