Science, fiction not a new thing

If we were all mere blobs of grey matter on the sidewalk of the cosmos would any of us care about identity or individuation? Is there anything new under the sun? Perennial questions of who, what and why have driven the piles of civilisation since the big bang, in theory, resonated across the paradoxical nothingness of space.
My parental home was in the upper reaches of Stokes Valley on half an acre of bush clad hillside amid native bush and birds. Education and conservation were close to my soul. Storytelling was natural. Science and fiction were fascinating in the 1960s. I recall reading a book, Victory On Janus, about a struggle for supremacy on a far flung planet where green skinned naturopath mystics were fighting mechanised digital technocrats. James Cameron's Avatar is not a new plot. The Whanganui River, along with the Ganges, has recently been granted personhood giving it the same rights as a human being. I hear much talk of this being a legal breakthrough. In local political circles the river is spoken of in reverential tones and addressed as the Awa.
But just a moment. Is this so unique? "Mother Earth" is a personification of this lump of space debris we all ride on. The legend of the Rainbow Warrior and the Cree Indians' claim that killing off the natural world for technological and fiscal gain will only prove that you can't eat money or breathe without oxygen. King Midas would agree. Personifying a natural feature respectfully acknowledges its place in the living scheme of things.
On one end of this argument is the danger that we become animists and pet rocks become gods. On the other, nature is a useful resource. Will the Whanganui River be able to vote or carry a gun or drink? Is it old and wise, or is it still in diapers throwing the occasional tantrum. Is it a river, a part of a global system? Are we not all caretakers of Earth and all it contains?
I hope we can remember that as humans we can choose intelligently, and govern mindful of our reliance on Mother Earth, and not glibly forget or ignore history. Decades ago an author called Earth a small spaceship and wrote a manual on its maintenance. Call him a Technomystic. There is nothing new under the sun. I think that we would be wise to keep awake and understand the gravity of our decisions. Otherwise we die.