Originally Posted by Aubrey Manning, professor emeritus of biology at Edinburgh University and presenter of BBC TV’s Earth Story
Audience Question: Does Aubrey's assertion that everything is natural let humans off the hook when it comes to looking after the Earth?
Manning: It doesn't for the reasons that Richard illustrated. We have the ability to look at the long-term issues. My point in being rather provocative was that I'm completely unclear about the dividing line between what is natural and what is unnatural. Humans operate in a particular way as a result of natural selection. I don't see how that can be called unnatural. We are the one species that can take responsibility for the long-term and it is our only way out. People talk about protecting the Earth, but as Jim Lovelock has pointed out, we don't need to worry about the Earth surviving as a planet. The only real question is whether we will be aboard it.
This particular section of the debate transcripts had me reflecting on the thought "Just how many trial humans have there been?". I mean, considering the fact that there's an inifinite amount of information we have yet to unearth from the core of the earth and the depths of the oceans. Geophysics is still, comparitively, in the "baby steps" stage. Have there been advanced forms of life that have been here before, blew it by making the wrong decisions, then got buried under miles of earth?
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