837
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_97
Chapter 97
The Biosphere Beyond Humanity
97.1 To Seize the Day
As early as 1981, the future of evolution 50 million years hence had been conceived
with stunning, flamboyant biologically picturesque enthusiasm by Dougal Dixon in
his After Man – A Zoology of the Future
1
(Fig. 97.1). “The floor of the great rain forest
of the Australian sub-continent is home for a number of marsupial mammals,” Dixon
modestly teases.
2
A sensational prelude to a wondrous set of behavioral premonitions of the future. Hybrid beasts, part Lewis Carroll liberated, Hieronymus Bosch
on a very bad day, loving and grand, that we can all eye with great bemusement and
understanding. The same for “South American Forests” and the imagined “Night
Stalker” and “Flooer” of “The Islands of Batavia.”
3
Or the envisioned “Zarander,”
“Turmi,” “Swimming Monkey,” “Swimming Ant-Eater,” “Giantala,” and “Posset” of
coming twilights across the “Island of Lemuria” and countless other wild and crazily
wonderful “forest floors” and “tropical wetlands.” The Scottish paleontologist, who
went on to write Man After Man (1990), Greenworld (2010), and more than an astonishing 200 other works, is today thought of as a founder of speculative evolution,
a genre replete with exobiological flavors, and the perennial charm of great storytelling, all rooted to an adept and comprehensive sense of our post-Darwinian earth.
However marvelous the coming machinations may, or may not, prove to be, the
current biological divides, driven by the last known hominin, provide all the fodder
in the world for imagining alternatives which, in our most ardent sustainability
modes, continue to elude the elixirs beyond mere ratification. As described in the
Introduction, the record, to date, of humanity’s ability to save what is here, now; to
protect what is left, in thousands of laws, agreements, treaties, accords, presents but
“a dismal record.”
4
So what do we do now?
1 Introduction by Desmond Morris, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1981.
2 ibid., p. 98.
3 ibid., pp. 102, 108, 109.
4 See John Vidal, “Many treaties to save the earth, but where’s the will to implement them?” June
7, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/jun/07/earth-treaties-environmental-agreements, Accessed February 17, 2020.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_97
Chapter 97
The Biosphere Beyond Humanity
97.1 To Seize the Day
As early as 1981, the future of evolution 50 million years hence had been conceived
with stunning, flamboyant biologically picturesque enthusiasm by Dougal Dixon in
his After Man – A Zoology of the Future
1
(Fig. 97.1). “The floor of the great rain forest
of the Australian sub-continent is home for a number of marsupial mammals,” Dixon
modestly teases.
2
A sensational prelude to a wondrous set of behavioral premonitions of the future. Hybrid beasts, part Lewis Carroll liberated, Hieronymus Bosch
on a very bad day, loving and grand, that we can all eye with great bemusement and
understanding. The same for “South American Forests” and the imagined “Night
Stalker” and “Flooer” of “The Islands of Batavia.”
3
Or the envisioned “Zarander,”
“Turmi,” “Swimming Monkey,” “Swimming Ant-Eater,” “Giantala,” and “Posset” of
coming twilights across the “Island of Lemuria” and countless other wild and crazily
wonderful “forest floors” and “tropical wetlands.” The Scottish paleontologist, who
went on to write Man After Man (1990), Greenworld (2010), and more than an astonishing 200 other works, is today thought of as a founder of speculative evolution,
a genre replete with exobiological flavors, and the perennial charm of great storytelling, all rooted to an adept and comprehensive sense of our post-Darwinian earth.
However marvelous the coming machinations may, or may not, prove to be, the
current biological divides, driven by the last known hominin, provide all the fodder
in the world for imagining alternatives which, in our most ardent sustainability
modes, continue to elude the elixirs beyond mere ratification. As described in the
Introduction, the record, to date, of humanity’s ability to save what is here, now; to
protect what is left, in thousands of laws, agreements, treaties, accords, presents but
“a dismal record.”
4
So what do we do now?
1 Introduction by Desmond Morris, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1981.
2 ibid., p. 98.
3 ibid., pp. 102, 108, 109.
4 See John Vidal, “Many treaties to save the earth, but where’s the will to implement them?” June
7, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/jun/07/earth-treaties-environmental-agreements, Accessed February 17, 2020.