Everything is everywhere and the media selects. Remarkable words from a remarkable man. When Martinus Beijerinck uttered these words, Charles Darwin was still formulating his ideas On the Origin of Species back in England and Mendel’s ideas were buried in obscurity, encased in a musty chest in the basement of his monastery in Austria. Martinus was interested in the diversity of life he studied on the microbial level. He was astonished at the success of these creatures and sought to understand their achievements.  He hypothesized that they were Earth’s oldest children, patiently, and in some cases gleefully, tolerating the excesses of their upstart siblings. It is his work (and the insightful ideas of his Russian colleague Sergie Winogradsky) we are replicating and relating to the larger theme of climatic change.

The experiments contained within have many goals. First among them is to demonstrate how bacteria behave in their natural environment. These experiments drive home the idea on interconnections and interdependency. Watch your column long enough and you will see empires rise and flourish. Before too long, the hegemony of one will be replaced by the eager desire of another. A violent struggle will ensue between unlimited growth and limited resources. You will see that homeostasis is not a pretty site, and equilibrium tenuous at best.

But another goal of these experiments is to model principals relevant to global climate change. Through a simple chemical titration, it is possible to determine how much carbon dioxide these bacteria produce. They are enormously successful in this process. Equally impressive are the photoautotrophic and chemoautotrophic bacteria that act as a sink for carbon dioxide. As we become reasonably certain of the correlation between carbon dioxide emissions and the corresponding alteration to climatic patterns (i.e. warming), these diminutive bacteria offer important insights into the global systems of our planet. Although correlation does not equate causation, the preponderance of evidence suggesting that human activity is altering the planet begs our attention. The contrarian ostrich may continue to bury his head in the sand, but prudence dictates that we seriously evaluate how we go about the routines of life. Regardless of our fate, the Winogradsky column informs us of one stark fact. Life will continue on this planet, and bacteria will be around with or without us.