I have never appreciated my normal body temperature so much until my recent trip to South Korea for a brief 20-day stay. Fully half of the stay was a 10-day quarantine required of all visitors to South Korea. From the moment I landed at the airport in Incheon I had my temperature constantly checked – was it normal or was it elevated? During the quarantine my temperature was constantly monitored. Even after the quarantine, my temperature was checked at the entrance to restaurants, bookstores, public offices, banks and any building I wanted to enter. Not only was my temperature checked, but it was tracked including the date, time and place each temperature check was taken. Without a “normal” temperature reading I would not be allowed to do anything – would be quarantined once again. And even with a “normal” temperature, I had to be tested for Covid-19 upon entry to the country, upon exit from quarantine, and again to exit the country. My normal temperature was the permit to do everything.
All of this got me thinking about my temperature of 36.5 degrees (97.7 degrees Fahrenheit) the temperature of my life, the baseline I have to live on. Even in the midst of a boiling iron pot of my misery that attacks my life sometimes, it was the 36.5 degree “normal” temperature that made a new stronger iron from the liquid iron of my rage and sorrow that boiled over out of the iron pot. Biologically, the 36.5-degree temperature sets the optimal condition for my body regulating my metabolism, blood circulation, immune system, etc. allowing all the enzymes in my body to sustain my life and my activities.
If we have a fever, it means that our brain detects infections and sets the body temperature at a higher temperature around 38 degrees (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit). At this temperature, the viruses and bacteria in my body that are causing the infection reduce their speed of reproduction and my body’s defense mechanism is activated to fight the infection. However, if the temperature increases to above 39.5 degrees Celsius (103.1 degrees Fahrenheit) the most vulnerable neural cells start being destroyed and my vision and hearing is impaired like Helen Keller. If the temperature exceeds 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit) it becomes fatal and leads to death. In a way, my body of normal temperature of 36.5 degrees is the container of my soul and spirit that forces me to go step by step every day toward my dream and my ambition.
As my body is the container of my sole, the earth is the container of my life. As my body has a normal temperature range, the earth also has a normal temperature range. It is between 15 and 17 degrees Celsius (59 to 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Earth’s “normal” temperature of 16 degrees Celsius (60.8 degrees Fahrenheit), sets the optimal condition of the green coat of the earth, the earth’s ecosystem that is interconnected, interdependent, and a coexisting system in the circulation of birth and death. The earth’s ocean currents circulate from the tropical oceans to the arctic oceans like a conveyer belt exchanging the cold current and warm current, which makes four seasons by mixing the atmosphere making it milder. This temperature of 16 degrees Celsius also makes the roaring animals in the mountains, wildlife of oceans, microbes under the soil, wild animals and plants in the forests vitalize their life activity with competition.
When the earth’s temperature veers off the normal range, earth goes through the procedure that our body goes through. In the book “Sixth Degree” by Mark Linus, the author described the details of the earth’s status as the temperature rises degree by degree. Here is a very rough brief summary of his research. With a one-degree Celsius (1.7 degree Fahrenheit) rise, 70% of coral reefs will be destroyed, environmental refugees will increase, and the areas of hurricane will expand. With a two-degree Celsius (3.4 degrees Fahrenheit) rise, the drinkable water becomes scarce, food production reduces and water resources become rare. And the countries around the Mediterranean Sea area will become like a desert. The ocean level rises by 60 cm (2 feet). One third of life (animals and plants) will become extinct.
A three-degree Celsius (5.1 degrees Fahrenheit) rise is devastating. We must prevent this. It is the tipping point (450ppm CO2 in the atmosphere). It means the vicious cycle starts. The destruction of the earth’s systems will feed more destruction, there is no way that the earth can recover to the status suitable for living things. The amazon will disappear, the countries in the tropical area will have constant wildfires. We are at 415.01 ppm CO2 as of Dec. 6, 2021. A four-degree Celsius (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) rise would mean that Australia will no longer be able to sustain agriculture and the earth will be uninhabitable. Constant war caused by starvation will occur. A five-degree Celsius (8.5 degrees Fahrenheit) rise means agricultural activities will become difficult even in arctic areas. The hydrate (methane under the sea level) will be released and cause constant tsunamis. A six-degree Celsius (10.2 degrees Fahrenheit) rise means 90% of species including humankind will become extinct. Human existence is not possible in this status.
It is only 400 years ago that people thought the earth was flat. Once people knew that the earth is round, they began to explore the other side of the earth. Humankind invented humanism during the renaissance out of the religious oppression of medieval times. Humanism put humans in the center of the universe making us think we have a license to destroy anything in nature for our own benefit. The idea that humankind is the center of the universe makes us think that nature is an object to conquer. Our capitalism along with developing technologies expedited the destruction of nature. According to a recent WWF report, only 3% of earth remains pristine, not attacked by humans. Humans representing only 0.01% of life species have caused of the extinction of 83% of life species.
Comparing the change of ideas from the flat earth to the round earth, the concept that the earth has a normal temperature just like us is not so revolutionary. Awareness of the fact that keeping the earth’s normal temperature is directly related to the survival of our future generations is critical. The idea that “human health is directly related to the earth’s health” needs to be the new humanism. This new humanism is our dream of a civilization in search of a harmonious relation to nature and the universe with humans as one of God’s creatures equal to other species but not above other species and not licensed to control the rest of the ecosystem for our benefit alone.
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