AFTER THE ICE AGE

Have you thought about those happy go lucky dinosaurs? Stomping around like they owned planet earth, they were the Gods of the land.

They were gigantic, ate too much, were largely inter-species anti social and conducted themselves like aggressive brutes. Realizing that they had brains the size of peanuts, we can excuse a few of their bad habits. However, the hurtling menace from space that apparently ko’d the big guys may come in a different form for us.

The dinosaurs of today, the hungry consumers of petroleum, air food and water aren’t scaly beasts shaking the ground (sorry I forgot about Hummers) but instead, small in stature creatures that feed on all species, and, like our leviathan and not – too - bright predecessors, keep thinking there will always be more of everything.

We may object to the world rice shortage affecting our ability to buy rice, but the non-dinosaur species who live on the brink of starvation with rice as a staple will do more than object. They will starve.

The truth is, according to science, the dinos simply got too large. They would not stop growing bigger, and with their Thumbelina brain, and construction crane size bodies, they were ideal candidates for the Atkins diet. Like their contemporary North American counterparts, big was a concept worth worshipping. Now try big vehicles, big ideas, big bills, Mr. Big and Tall, and the king of all dinosaurs the North American consumer. Now WE may be headed for a summary extinction. It will not befall us by war or by famine, but by the wasting of our minds and the increase of our greeds and needs.

A half a world away there are populations who would be happy with a tenth of our daily food consumption, a hundredth of our disposable income and a fraction of our peace of mind. They suffer, work, wait and hope.

If we spent a tiny fraction of our own personal good fortune, time and energy on improving the quality of life of just one individual somewhere, the ripples of this action would last forever. I have been told that the flutter of butterfly wings can change the future. Imagine what the actions of a herd of dinosaurs could do.