Humans as Cancer Has The Human Species Become A Cancer On The Planet? When a spot on a persons skin changes color, becomes tough or rough and elevated or ulcerated, bleeds, scales, scabs over and fails to heal, its time to consult a doctor For these are early signs of skin cancer. As seen by astronauts and photographed fiom space by satellites, millions of manmade patterns on the land surface of Earth resemble nothing so much as the skin conditions of cancer patients. The transformaton of the natural contours of the land into the geometric patterns of farm fields, the straightening of meandering rivers into canal-like channels, and the logging of forests into checkerboard clearcuts all have their counterparts in the loss of normal skin markings in cancer victims. Oreen forests logged into brown scrub and ovetgrazed grasslands bleached into white wasteland are among the changes in Earths color. Highways, streets, parking lots and other paved surfaces have toughened Earths s u r h , while cities have roughened it. Slag heaps and garbage dumps can be compared to raised skin lesions. Open-pit mines, quarries and bomb craters, including the 30 million left by US forces in IndeChm, resemble skin ulcerations. Saline seeps in inappropriately irrigated farm fields look like scaly, festering sores. Signs of bleeding include the discharge of human sewage, factory effluents and acid mine dramage into adjacent waterways, and the erosion of topsoil fiom deforested hillsides to turn rivers, lakes and coastal waters yellow, brown and red. The red ring around much of Madagascar that is visible fiom space strikes some observers as a symptom that the island is bleeding to death. If skin cancer were all that ailed Earth, the planets eventual recovery would be less in doubt. For with the exception of malignant melanoma, skin cancer is usually curable. But the parallels between the way cancer progresses in the human body and humans progressively malignant impact on Earth are more than skindeep. Consider Cancer cells proliferate rapidly and uncontrollably in the body; humans continue to proliferate rapidly and uncontroIlably in the world. Crowded cancer cells harden into tumors; humans crowd into cities. Cancer cells infiltrate and destroy adjacent normal tissues; urban sprawl devours open land. Malignant tumors shed cells that migrate to distant parts of the body and set up secondary tumors; humans have colonized just about every habitable part of the globe. Cancer cells lose their natural appearance and distinctive functions; humans homogenize diverse naiural ecosystems into artificial monocultures. Malignant tumors excrete enzymes and other chemicals that adversely affect remote parts of the body; humansmotor vehicles, power plants, Wries and farms emit toxins that pollute environmend far fiom the point of origin. A cancerous tumor continues to grow even as its expropriation of nutrients and disruption of vital functions cause its host to waste away Similarly, human societies undermine their own long-term viability by depleting and fouling the environment. With civilization as with cancer, initial success begets self-defeating excess.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 16:37:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015