Not long ago I read I Contain Multitudes, a book about microbes and microbial ecologies in animals and humans. It’s amazing stuff! Since then I think about what will make my microbes happy; what can I do to foster a good ecology?
I am reading a marvelous book of essays called Cultivating an Ecological Conscience by Frederick Kirschenmann and to my utter delight I came upon the following passage in one of the essays:
From the perspective of evolutionary biology, the human species may not hold a particularly salutary place on the planet. We may be simply one of many experiments that microbes have devised to ensure their own survival. After all, bacteria were the first living inhabitants of our planet. It seems that for the first 2 billion years of life on the planet, bacteria were the sole occupants. All of the rest of life emerged in the subsequent 1.7 billion years. We have been around for far less than 1 percent of the time! So it may be that all of Earth’s ‘higher’ plant and animal species are simply ‘homes’ for the microbes — tenants who may well decide to switch homes when it suits them. If further planetary changes make it difficult for us to adapt, the microbes might replace us with some as-yet unimagined new species.
Isn’t that something to think about? Humans as mobile homes for microbes. We cannot live without the bacteria we carry around and if we cease to be home sweet home we are in deep trouble. It is, of course, more than just taking care of our bodies. Because in order to take care of ourselves, in order to keep our microbmobiles hospitable, we also have to take care of the planet. Without a healthy planet, we cannot have healthy bodies.
Care for your microbes, care for the planet.
Well, that certainly puts us humans in our humble place! That’s fascinating. I’ll have to check this out, especially as everyone and their mother seems to be pushing probiotics on me these days.
LikeLike
Amanda, doesn’t it though? Microbes are a fascinating subject and we are just beginning to learn about them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m listening to I Contain Multitudes too.
LikeLike
Heather, yay! I hope you are enjoying it!
LikeLike
That’s a pretty creepy thought actually. And we humans toght we were the bosses, such a joke!
LikeLike
Danielle, it’s kind of crazy to think about isn’t it? I mean, we think we are the top of the evolutionary ladder but really it just might be the microbes who are in charge!
LikeLike
Now how can I fit this fascinating info into my “we’re all made of chemicals” diatribe whenever anyone comes up with pronouncements that they won’t eat a certain product because it’s chemical?.
LikeLike
BookerTalk, hmm, you might need to change your diatribe 😉
LikeLike
All this is so very true. I think that some folks become so wrapped up in the modern world that they forget just how tied we are to the natural world. Our symbolic relationship with with various microbes is as close as that tie gets.
LikeLike
Brian Joseph, you are right, we have convinced ourselves that we have somehow escaped nature but that is so far from the truth! We can never escape and our microbes will make sure to remind us of that!
LikeLike
Ha ha I love this, Stefanie. How “centric” we are in terms of seeing everything from our own perspective!
LikeLike
whisperinggums, kind of takes us down a few pegs, doesn’t it? We aren’t so high and mighty after all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gulp. I feel rather like a slave to those microbes now, I had better start placating mine, perhaps with gifts?
Belatedly, I wish you a very happy solstice and hope that you are enjoying the holidays. Also that you have a fabulous 2017!
LikeLike
Helen, heh, yep, slave to the microbes! I hear they like gifts 😉
Thank you for the good wishes! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and 2017 is all kinds of wonderful!
LikeLike
Wouldn’t that be a kick? We’re just farms for microbe lunches!
LikeLike
Joan, microbe farms! Puts things in a little different perspective 🙂
LikeLike
Simply fascinating! You find the most interesting books Stefanie.
LikeLike
Iliana, thanks! It is interesting the places reading can take us 🙂
LikeLike
My friend Joan, the SF writer, wrote about microbes on her blog today https://ultraphyte.com/2016/12/30/microbes-of-2016/
LikeLike
Very cool! I clicked on the link for the showerhead project and signed up. I see it is run by YourWildLife which is very exciting because a few years ago I participated in a project with them taking samples from different areas of my house. I love helping out science!
LikeLike
Pingback: Cultivating an Ecological Conscience | So Many Books