The natural world is dissolving around us. Ecologically, environmentally, biologically, things are looking grim.
It is reassuring, then, to know that Dr. Edward O. Wilson, widely heralded as one of the greatest scientific minds of the 20th century, is optimistic. If this man—this Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, this author of 20 books, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and recipient of enough awards to fill a small cavern—can think positively about the future of life on Earth, then certainly extensive education and knowledge need not necessarily lead to cynicism and darkness.
Dr. Wilson's lecture—to be delivered Thursday night at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, in Ketchum, at 7 p.m.—will touch on a number of themes he raises in his most recent book, "The Future of Life," published by Vintage Books in 2002. (The inside cover of the paperback features a reproduction of Isabella Kirkland's "DESCENDANT," which is currently on display at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, in Ketchum.)
Wilson's latest book, which he also discussed in a PBS interview with Charlie Rose on Dec. 14, 2005, combines arguments from biology, economics, ethical philosophy and spirituality to address today's most pressing environmental issues.
Wilson opens "The Future of Life" with a letter to Henry David Thoreau, a man he sees as a forerunner in the conservation spirit. The writing throughout the book is sprightly and engaging, but rarely more so than in this colorful prologue.
Wilson informs Thoreau of the great changes that have taken place in the natural world since his death:
"Half of the great tropical forests have been cleared. The last frontiers of the world are effectively gone. Species of plants and animals are disappearing a hundred or more times faster than before the coming of humanity, and as many as half may be gone by the end of this century. An Armageddon is approaching at the beginning of the third millennium. But it is not the cosmic war and fiery collapse of mankind foretold in sacred scripture. It is the wreckage of the planet by an exuberantly plentiful and ingenious humanity."
Wilson does more than merely raise impassioned pleas in his books. In the November 2005 issue of Smithsonian magazine, he was named as one of "35 Who Made a Difference," and in 1995 Time magazine named him one of "America's 25 Most Influential People."
As a professor of entomology, he has discovered literally hundreds of previously unknown insect species. In "The Future of Life," the reader is never condescended, but rather, is respected as a curious intellectual equal, even as the most basic principles of modern biology are presented, often in words lathered in a fair helping of poetic lyricism.
Explaining the system of Latin names assigned to the levels of species, genus, family and order assigned to plants and animals, Wilson says, "And thus in visualizing life we travel nomenclaturally outward through the gossamer pavilions of Earth's biodiversity."
Of today's ecological crisis, he says that humanity has compromised itself. "We are inside a bottleneck of overpopulation and wasteful consumption. If the race is won, humanity can emerge in far better condition than when it entered."
While he concedes that, environmentally speaking, "the situation is desperate," he allows that "there are encouraging signs that the race can be won."
Ultimately, Wilson is a passionate man, an idealist and romantic whose true love is the living planet. But he is not a hopeless primitivist or a Luddite by any means.
"Science and technology led us into this bottleneck. Now science and technology must help us find our way through and out."
Biodiversity
Dr. E. O. Wilson will deliver a lecture Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, in Ketchum. The event is part of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts current exhibition, called "Biodiversity." Tickets are $15 for non-members, $10 for members and are available through The Center.
Dr. Edward Wilson, author of "The Future of Life," will lecture with optimism on the future of our planet. Photo by Jim Harrison
