Old Dogs: Survival of the Fittest

Recently, I've heard people justifying doing nothing about the dreaded global warming because it is, they claim, a matter of survival of the fittest.

As if humans would know anything about that.

There is nothing, they say, as natural as ice ages and sudden shifts of temperature. Didn't that happen thousands of years ago. Wasn't that what killed off the dinosaurs or woolly mammoths? Should humans really worry if an animal goes extinct? Isn't that natural evolution?

Please tell me what is more unnatural than the life that humans have built? Living in deserts by bringing in contraptions that make the day time temperature a livable 65 degrees as opposed to 100 plus? Or how about all the chemicals they use to maintain their hair?

Think of all the hospitals that house the sick in attempts to save them from death. Think of all the money spent in attempts to circumvent nature. What is more natural than dying of a disease? Certainly there is nothing natural about the cure.

There is nothing natural about cows kept safe from wolves and other predators. There is nothing natural about some of the dogs, cats, horses and other domestic animals bred. Let a pug loose in the wild and see how well even a pack of pugs do in nature.

I'm not saying this is necessarily wrong, but by allowing the weak, the sick, the unfit to survive, there come certain responsibilities. Those range from knowing when to say good-bye to a sick relative or pet to figuring out what is required to correct the unbalance created by the unnatural choices made.

In truth, humans are a sentimental bunch who have rules against things like murder, stealing and duress--all very natural things in the animal world.

And yet, as I grow old, I, too, enjoy the unnatural cool created by AC and the comfort of furniture and bedding. When I am past my prime, I do not fear being left behind by my human friend in my forever home. There is something to be said about the gentle human heart that perhaps dogs can benefit, but global warming is not a problem that a dog can resolve.

So should you humans be tempted to speak of survival of the fittest, remember what that really means. In the world of animals it means that the weak, the sick and the old are left behind to die. There is no social welfare. It means that murder, assault and battery are how ownership of a territory is decided. It means that comfort is found with the group and that once a member is of not use to the group, that weak link is left behind. The group, the pack, the herd is everything.

Survival of the fittest is a kind of world that humans seem to be dead set against, at least for their own kind and their favored domesticated animal friends and acquaintances. And thus, the responsibility for fighting global warming is a human debt to be paid to the earth and the pack of animals of all species.