When we get the opportunity to view the Earth from aircraft or study photos from space, we notice that something is missing. Having studied geography throughout our years in school, we expect to see boundaries around countries, provinces, states and counties. After all, those lines define our allegiances and play a major role in our own self image.
Nature, of course, pays no attention to these lines. They do not impede migrations, stream flow or weather patterns. Storms and earthquakes move across them and they often have no correlation with natural, geophysical boundaries. Neither do those lines offer protection from the global effects of climate change or pollution.
These human boundaries, the supreme expression of our tribalism, are the equivalent of territorial behavior in other mammals. And while they may serve a purpose in social organization, they foster nationalism, discrimination, mistrust and war. This provincial mindset is also a major obstacle to resolving global issues and to our efforts to eliminate disease, poverty and hunger. Perhaps man will eventually evolve beyond the need for these lines; John Lennon asked us to imagine such a planet.
