Climate change. Big topic. Hot topic. And of course now, we are told that the stats may have been massaged and manipulated and that climate change may not be our fault at all. Oh.

Thing is, now, a whole raft of people will use that as an excuse, indeed a rationalisation to keep on as before. To keep on burning fuel and using natural resources at an increasing rate without a care, without concern and without actively accepting that what they do affects everything around them.

The stats though, are largely irrelevant. It is a fool who looks around and thinks that we do not have an effect on the environment. And a bigger fool who looks around and doesn’t realise that we have a detrimental effect. The size of the effect is debatable, but it really shouldn’t stop us from realising that we don’t live in harmony with nature any more. And more importantly, it shouldn’t stop us from changing, finding alternative fuel, learning to live with nature rather than against it.

Humans are unique in our ability to change our environment to better suit our own wants, desires and conveniences. No, not unique, because animals do change their environment to suit themselves, but we are unique in the extent to which we can do it. And the speed with which we can change a landscape. And the longevity of our changes. Don’t believe me? Just go for a walk on any city pavement. Look at that! The pavement. What other animal has changed the world as we have – created roads and paving. And really – the paving, for what? So our boots don’t get too muddy when we walk? But even in our changes, the permanence is shown up; the crack in the sidewalk from the roots of the nearby tree. The pothole in the road from something underground subsiding.

It’s odd; those of us who live in big cities and make large amounts of money often take holidays in rural parts of the world. We talk about “getting back to nature” and “recharging our batteries” and “getting away from it all”. We talk a lot about how good it is to be more harmonious, to live in paradise for a few weeks a year without ever realising that but for our own handiwork, we would live like that all the time! I read an interesting post by Derek Silvers, founder of CD Baby and the quote that stood out for me was

Having too much money can be harmful. It throws off perspective. It makes people do stupid things like buy “extra” cars or houses they don’t use – or upgrade to first class for “only” $10,000 so they can be a little more comfortable for a few hours.

It’s odd that we look at something like the stock market. Now even if you know nothing of the stock market, you will know that small events in countries far away can change the stock market. And even experts will admit that they don’t fully understand how the stock market fluctuates. The stock market is a man made construct. How on earth can we begin to fathom how what we do affects the world? A construct more complex than we can begin to understand fully.

Now before you get all excited, I’m not advocating ignoring scientific data. However, I am saying that what we do has an effect, and we should not blithely go about consuming resources with the expectation that there will be no consequence. No balance. Yin and Yang must always eventually balance, or we die. We should all take a moment to consider our actions. Do one thing to move to a more harmonious nature. Recycle one bottle today. Plant a tree. Appreciate birdsong. But don’t think that because some statistics say that we are not necessarily responsible for climate change that you don’t hold it in your hands to live with nature.