There is no waste in nature

I oftentimes encounter the attitude that mankind is somehow dangerous to the planet. Fairly often people claim to genuinely worry about what we do to mother earth. But it's very obvious the only thing we even can endanger is ourselves, and maybe a few other species (not too many btw, another disproportionate view).

But what really strikes me is the concept of waste. Somehow we became concerned by us making things that don't go away easily. In the context of us not wanting to walk through piles of plastic on our way to work I can see a point there, but we rarely wait until it blocks our way. Usually we get rid of it quite quickly.

So there is some other concern. We think, just because plastic doesn't go away in our lifetime, it's somehow a threat to nature. It simply isnt. But there is more:

We marvel in the horror of our CO2 output. As insignificant as it may be, we calculate that it can have an impact on the planet's climate. Given, there are way bigger players in that game, but at least we participate.

Maybe (and that is a big maybe) we manage to screw up the conditions of our planet so much, that we ourselves have to go, and in doing so creating the perfect conditions for another chapter in the history of the planet.

But there is no waste. Or rather, everything is. Everything in the universe that "matters" is a product of some waste-producing process.

So why the distinction. I guess as the first plants produced oxygen, there could be some rocks going "that wasteful bastards, polluting our nice and clean earth". If nature's goal would be to keep things unchanged for as long as possible the rocks would have a point. But as it turns out, it's not the goal at all. Or nature does a horrible job at it. Either way... there is no waste.

Suns are incredible waste-making machines. Without them, the universe would be a sad and lonely place. All this beautiful waste brought about another machine called life that started to produce it's own beautiful waste. And humans are especially awesome as we are about to export our waste to other planets. We might only be around for a short period to see it, but what we do echos into the future of the cosmos.