"It is a little lonely when you're around people too", said the snake
-Antoine Saint-Exupery The Little Prince
There is a timeless serenity to the desert. Although a forest and mountain dweller my heart always feels especially clear when looking out over the starkly stoic landscape of the South West. It is a place that seems like it can swallow humanity whole and not even have any indigestion.
As climate change is set to increase the desertification process substantially in the immediate future, I think it serves as a fitting reminder of how nature responds to mankind. So often it has been portrayed as 'environmental collapse' or the 'end of the world', but in a less dramatically anthropocentric view, its really just the living organism called Earth trying to find a solution to an invasive species. We rely on grain to survive, and we have used up almost all the space we can to produce food, eaten the oceans and killed off all the great herds, so when climate change results in chronic food shortages the problem will essentially be solved from a planetary perspective. Famine will sweep the globe, wars will certainly erupt in never before seen dimensions, disease will probably do its part as societies collapse and then ecosystems will slowly recover.
The desolation we are all working towards will see much of the worlds farmland turn into a desert, which will no doubt seem like a tragedy to us humans, but other lifeforms will surely take it with less theatrics. The desert has always sustained an impressive amount of life for an arid area, and it also seems to make humans a bit more thoughtful and sustainable (Hopi, Kalahari Bushmen, Himba etc.).
Speaking of the Hopi, they have a wonderful creation story. It is much like the others in that the world is created and destroyed multiple times until we got to the current era. The first time it was destroyed because a birdlike creature called the talker convinced people that there was differences between them, which caused conflict among the humans and led to the animals no longer trusting or associating with us. The second time it was a love of goods that resulted in trade that became more important than living in harmony with nature, and so this too was brought to oblivion. The third go round saw the rise of civilization with its swarms of people, who built flying machines and used them to wage war upon each other. This too was laid waste and those who had not lost their way were once again saved to make another attempt at life. They were told that this 4th world would not be as easy and beautiful as the others, and that they would have to live in a harsh landscape if they wanted to avoid the decadence and oblivion of the previous worlds, and so it is that the Hopi today live in the most desolate desert in the South West, keeping their traditions, waiting for the day that once again this world is destroyed and they are allowed to live because they have not lost their way.
The Sufi poet Attar of Nishapur records the fable of a powerful king who asks assembled wise men to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad, and vice versa. After deliberation the sages hand him a simple ring with the words "This too shall pass" etched on it, which has the desired effect. As we travel deeper into the desert of our own making, I think we would do well to remember these wise words, least we get too caught up in our madness.
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