Eyjafjallajökull

The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull and massive ensuing ash cloud should remind us to be cognizant of nature's dominating role in our lives. But let's not let this ominous specter diminish the magnitude human activity has on the biosphere. Check out this infographic:

And that's just planes alone. This eruption is being regarded as the first carbon-negative one of its kind in history - that is, the amount of CO₂ emitted from the volcano (not inconsiderable) was dwarfed by the CO₂ it prevented from being emitted by air travel in and out of Europe. The ash cloud blocking air traffic vectors is still going strong five days after the initial eruption, and poses hazardous threats to all sorts of European economic activity. What's my point? That there are scarier things than gargantuan terrestrial explosions.

Equally important, though, is to understand that we are all citizens in a global ecosystem. I am not a fan of climate sensationalism or global warming scare tactics, but I do understand the call for a sense of humility on the part of our species. The Invisible Hand of the Market is puny when compared to the very visible and quite powerful hand of natural earth systems*. The interplay of biospheric activity and political economy should not be underestimated. Ecologists and ecological economists talk a lot about ecosystem services (pdf) - this eruption is an example of the exact opposite.

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*That's me trying to avoid using the phrase "Mother Nature."