In the scheme of the world, there is much debate about our importance. In the past, nuclear war was a frightening prospect, because “we could blow up the whole world!” Could we actually destroy the planet, or would we just affect global changes that would destroy humanity and several other species –while the world just continues on without us? 
No doubt, we humans have affected great changes on the planet. Just a few centuries ago, life was very different. People had to grow, hunt and barter for food. They also had to carry water. They had to cut wood to heat their homes that they had to build. Today, we buy food at the grocery store, buy houses with money from working jobs, and we have electricity, water/sewer, and here in the Midwest, natural gas piped in to heat our homes.
When I hike the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge lands, I see that there are high-voltage lines spanning the area above, gas lines beneath the ground, and there is a huge power-plant at Black Dog. Black Dog was the name of an American Indian chief who once lived at the site, but now the name applies to the power-plant, the lake and the road between the two.
The power-plant allows for the production of electricity that is diverted and wired directly into our homes. This allows for a variety of lights and appliances that were not available in the past few centuries. This plant burns huge quantities of coal, which produces emissions. The resulting heat also causes heat-pollution to Black Dog Lake, as the plant uses the waters to cool its systems. As a result, certain fish, plants and animals cannot live in the waters, while others congregate there in the winter because it never entirely freezes over.
This, perhaps, demonstrates that people do have a major impact on the environment, usually disadvantageous to everyone, except for the comfort level of human beings. One can use the analogy of bacteria in a Petri-dish, polluting their environment until they die in their own waste. This could be humanity’s fate at some point in the future.
One thing we do know is that we have made changes in the world, and in the Minnesota River Valley, where the Black Dog power-plant is located. Still, the natural environment, the plants and the animals, hold on and some even thrive. Of course, we should remember that bears, wolves, cougars, elk and bison once roamed these areas, and they are for the most part, long gone. That said, there are still deer, coyotes, raccoons, lots of birds and wildflowers still in abundance.
Our national emblem, the Bald Eagle, made a remarkable comeback after efforts were enacted to save this unique species of raptor from extinction. Unfortunately, other, less charismatic species do not enjoy the same level of public support. Their fates are more perilous.
So in the end, as we consider global warming, are humans affecting serious and harmful changes on the world that will cause catastrophic events? Or, could it be that we are merely fooling ourselves, as a greater and grander series of natural forces follow their own patterns that have occurred over billions of years while humans were still evolving into the egomaniacs that we have become?
Kevin J. Curtis
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