Vegetation depleted during this ice age and Lucy’s species adapted themselves to eating meat unlike other vegetarian dependent apes, which eventually perished. The adaptation helped the species to survive that phase. Meat being rich in calories and nutrients gave surplus energy, parallel to that was the depleting dependence on hard underground vegetation. This led to the large intestines becoming smaller during evolution. With not that much energy needed in the intestines the energy got freed up to be used by other organs. The surplus seems to have been diverted to one organ in particular, the brain. With a bigger brain Lucy’s species learnt to use stones to hunt and cut open hides of huge animals they killed for food. The stone tools allowed them to get a food source that other creatures where not able to obtain, the bone marrow of the animals which contains long chain of fatty acids that are vital for further growth and development of their brain and they made more complex tools called the ‘Oldowan tools’.
Since then, the evolution of man has not ceased and he has crossed many horizons to be what we are today. Man has explored the unknown innumerable times and is continuing to explore, it’s his nature today not to rest, but to explore and create innumerable comforts and utilities to his species. He has taken control of this planet, he has managed to dig deep into earth and utilise its natural resources, he has leaped forward to reach the moon and beyond. He has spread his know-how to take charge of this planet. But in the process he has also contributed to global warming. Antarctica is melting in patches. The ozone layer has been tampered with. Pollution levels have increased. Stress to mankind of today is no more physical but a mental aspect. No animal has suffered due to obesity, but man due to his comforts has to face its challenges. Intellectual explorations have made emotional needs to suffer. All in all, the other side of the coin and its ill effects has been ignored.
It is time for man to take stock and act on these aspects before it’s too late. These subtle indications are a cue for man on what could potentially be detrimental for his future. Man has a responsibility towards what he leaves behind for his future generations. Let the movie ‘Water world’ be just an imagination and not a potential reality of the future. Spiritual leaders have time and again stated that the best way to live is living in harmony with the existential order. The right form of exercising our choices are in being able to do that in accordance with the laws of existence. The more we evolve against the laws of existence and nature the more detrimental it could be for the future generation. Man with all his explorations and skills has till date never mastered the ability to control nature and its lashes. A whiff of wave, an eruption of a volcano, a rumble of mother earth could cause perennial doom to mankind and other life forms.
It is pertinent that the exploratory man invests his collective intelligence; time and effort to what a small section of his fellow beings have been doing – exploring the spiritual aspect of life. To explore the laws of existence where lies the permanence and its bounties, its relevance in human living and the harmony it proclaims to give for him and his future. Man needs to act before it becomes too late.
You and I have a role to play. Let’s take Lucy and her kin to their rightful future and not to their grave.
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