In our effort to come in from the cold, we forgot the pleasure of growing warm. In avoiding the heat of a sweltering afternoon, we lost a view to the setting sun. In protecting ourselves from nearly invisible invaders, we forgot the smell of fresh soil pressed beneath our fingernails.

Our tolerance is reduced, our threshold decreased. Biology always avoids discomfort and chooses the path of least resistance. Our species was not satisfied with simply building a shelter. Instead, we transformed the undesirable places, the unreachable depths made accessible and breathless peaks available for those able who pay.

What we did to survive a century ago is now a televised game. We removed the risks only to seek the extremes. Our entertainment has become the very violence we fought to resolve. We have returned to the gladiators of ancient Rome.

We have forgotten the beginning of the journey, the objective long ago surpassed. We conquered the natural world and now rest among its ruins and spoils. The rubble around us yet smolders, those trapped beneath the fallen walls die at an alarming rate. If we hurry we can yet rewrite history from what we now see. Species, languages, quiet places and dark skies relegated to the museums and theme parks of the next generation, pages in our notebook. A footnote from the author will warn, “In our effort to keep from feeling the cold, we made things a bit too warm.”