What could Redeem Humans?

[Whateverist]

Yes, I was referring to the speed and efficiency in which we can destroy or alter habitat. With nuclear weapons we can do so at the touch of a button.

Elephants or starfish might be slower, but the ability to destroy habitat is not uniquely ours.

And more to the point, the fact that having had this ability for 60+  years and still having drawn back from the precipice, what does that say about us?

We've been lucky?

Humans, like every other animal, have both good and bad qualities. Knowing our power to wreak destruction and yet resisting it speaks well of us: we are making an conscious decision to be more careful.

I agree that we as animals with drives which are destructive when not held in check does not make us unique. What does make us unique is that, barring some catastrophic event, only we seem capable to keep ourselves in check. This relates to something Chad said.

Do we ask what could redeem the bear?  Or the lion?  We're animals.  Redemption is just the wish that we're more than that.

...and this line of reasoning leads to various Final Solutions as we deny the humanity of others by purging it from ourselves.

Not really sure what your point was here, Chad. But what worries me is that we only seem able to consider solutions which maximize human survival - without regard to the well being of the other life on the planet. Do we have the capacity to view 'our' survival as meaning 'our survival as an integral component of a vast and diverse web of life? I fear there is very little support for such a point of view.