I guess, at fifteen years of age, I just wasn't paying attention! How about you? If you were alive in 1958, were you paying any attention to the Great Sparrow Campaign?
If you would like to find out about the Great Sparrow Campaign, you can click this link for a Wikipedia article. Or, you can click this one, for a Treehugger news story, which is where I got the picture at the top of this blog posting.
The Wikipedia article identifies the Great Sparrow Campaign as just one part of a more inclusive effort. The more inclusive effort, sponsored by the Chinese government under Mao Zedong, was called, "The Four Pests Campaign." Wikipedia also says that the campaign against sparrows went by the name of the "Smash Sparrows Campaign."
How did I, in 2022, get to thinking about the 1958 Great Sparrow Campaign? Well, I read an article by Li Yuan in the April 14, 2022, edition of The New York Times. That article was titled, "China's 'Zero Covid' Strategy Shows Perils of Autocracy." Here's what that article said:
In the spring of 1958, the Chinese government mobilized the entire nation to exterminate sparrows, which Mao declared pests that destroyed crops. All over China, people banged on pots and pans, lit firecrackers and waved flags to prevent the birds from landing so they would fall and die from exhaustion. By one estimation, nearly two billion sparrows were killed nationwide within months.
The near extinction of sparrows led to insect infestations, which ruined crops and contributed to the Great Famine, which starved tens of millions of Chinese to death in the next three years.
Whether "democracy" or "autocracy" is the political system best able to address the opportunities and challenges we confront today - and the challenges and opportunities that we always confront - is a topic well worth discussion. It is a topic that is, quite definitely, "in the news," as we look at how different kinds of governments are confronting everything from military aggression to our climate catastrophe. I have definitely acknowledged the importance of this debate in some of my recent blog postings.
The lessons taught by the Great Sparrow Campaign, however, are perhaps even more profoundly important.
When human beings decide that the natural systems that govern the World of Nature should be replaced by our own, human-designed approaches, we almost certainly go wrong. Living within the Natural World, instead of trying to replace it with our own bright ideas, is how to be successful as a species. The key takeaway of the Great Sparrow campaign, as outlined in The New York Times article, is worth repeating:
By one estimation, nearly two billion sparrows were killed nationwide within months. The near extinction of sparrows ... contributed to the Great Famine, which starved tens of millions of Chinese to death in the next three years (emphasis added).
Who knew how important those sparrows were? Well, now we do! Our lives depend on the sparrows, and on the bugs, and on the intricate tapestry of the World of Nature. We forget this, we ignore this, at our gravest peril.
Image Credit:
https://www.treehugger.com/the-great-sparrow-campaign-was-the-start-of-the-greatest-mass-4864032
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