Robert Gibson

The nature of human origins is less important than the origins of human nature.

AS MEASURED by public fuss, the debate about human origins boils down to whether life on Earth evolved over hundreds of millions of years, or whether an all-powerful prankster deity spent a week creating a world that just looks like a product of evolution. As measured by practical significance, however, the more important question is what kind of creature descended with the other apes.

T.H. Huxley and Peter Kropotkin initiated the latter discussion, or at least the evolutionary version of it, over 100 years ago. Both were respected scientists who accepted the idea of natural selection. Beyond that, they looked for and saw entirely different beings.

“My grandfather rode a camel. My father rode in a car. I fly in a jet airplane. My grandson will ride a camel.” (alleged Saudi saying)

THE CONCEPT of non-renewable resources is not difficult. The litres of gasoline we burned yesterday are gone. They are not resting and recuperating. They are not off somewhere pining for the fjords. They did not leave behind a clutch of little litres growing into adulthood. They were one-time opportunities that have now passed away.

QUICK NOW. What’s worse: a punch in the nose or a poke in the eye? An ugly divorce or a year in the slammer? Deep drilling in the Gulf of Mexico or tar-sands mining in Alberta?

Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice has an opinion on the latter. In a statement reported shortly after the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 people and gushing oil into the Gulf, he said that the environmental risks associated with Alberta’s tar-sands operations are “probably less than the kind of risks associated with offshore drilling.”

Simple solutions to difficult problems are exceedingly rare. Their attraction, however, is undeniable. The world is awash in cults, fanaticisms and miracle cures. Millions of media minutes are devoted to how we can stop climate change by dumping iron filings in the ocean, prevent cancer by taking massive doses of vitamins, or eliminate stress by tidying our closets.