wild places have dwindled, where the species that are left are those that can co-exist with humans: the grasses that sprout in sidewalk cracks; rats, starlings, and carp? Even in this impoverished future, so long as plants still capture the sun and the earth’s waters have oxygen, I imagine life restoring wonders to the world. As terrible and heartless as evolution is, with time it will once more fill the world with “endless forms most beautiful.” Even now we see new species arising in the strange environments we have made: there are mosquitoes that live their entire lives in London’s underground, isolated from their relatives above. Imagine the exuberant novelty that will emerge in the next million years if we allow it. I choose to hope our young species will grow wise, that we will allow life to restore the world, for ourselves and all else that lives. The Sending: Go forth with the courage to look upon the work to be done, with the resolution to begin, with the knowledge that you will not work alone, and with the perspective to see where life thrives as well as where it suffers.
Fall 2020/Agora
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