A Walk Up Torc Mountain

Torc is an old Irish word for boar. But the boar is gone from these lands, because after the hunters came the farmers. Industry rose as forests fell. It is said that a squirel could travel from coast to coast without touching the ground. Now our little Red Squirrel is under threat from the introduced American Grey Squirrel as well as intensive agriculture.

It's one of the reasons I love this part of Ireland so much. Yes, this landscape has been shaped human influence, but only to a certain extent. I can still come here and feel as though I'm alone; feel like I've been transported back to an age where everything just existed.

I heard an interesting argument recently, that maybe we shouldn't be as alarmed about this period of mass extinction as we are. We've literally uprooted countless species and transplanted them across the globe, but it's gotten to a point where many of them are now thriving and actually having a positive effect where they haven't become invasive. This along with other human influences such as CO2 emissions and habitat destruction is accelerating evolution among other species. It makes sense. We've created these unfavorable conditions in such a short period of time that other species are having to adapt relatively quickly or perish; such is natural selection.

People say that what we're doing isn't natural, but are we not born of nature? Is this not our nature? To be human is to be curious, and this change we are facilitating is a direct result of our curiosity, ingenuity, and adaptability. It's a product of our evolution. Though, through this unparalleled thirst for exploration, conquest, and domination we have taken the ghosts of our distant ancestors and used them to power our societies. The question is: will these ghosts demand retribution? is it too late? Or, will humanity cop the fuuuuuck on? Who knows. It's late and I'm rambling.