At 12 am today, the Human New Year began; we have all agreed that it is 2017, based solely on the religious beliefs of a segment of our global population. This round, the first day of our New Year is eleven days after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and eleven days after the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
While we humans ring in our New Year with a wide variety of celebrations, wildlife have no clue that a significant transition has occurred since it has no direct relationship to any solar or astronomical event. Many northern species (whales, birds) are wintering in the Tropics or Southern Hemisphere as our New Year begins while natives of the southern latitudes are raising their young which were born over the past few months.
The Human Year is perhaps the most conspicuous global symbol of our disconnect from nature. While early humans paid close attention to solar and lunar cycles, building structures to document the winter and summer solstices, modern humans, still subject to mysticism, openly declare our independence from nature, a folly that will eventually doom our species. Happy Human New Year to all!
