EARTH
I was a good kid. I was fearful of rules, never wanting to break them. I respected them, and their enforcers. Although I might have disagreed with many rules in my day, I didn't disregard them. I suppose it's because I could never summon enough angst, or anger, or pure laziness, to disobey them. After considerable thought, I came to understand why they were there, and what role they were playing in the grander scheme of things. I suppose you could say I learned to have a little perspective.
With this acquired respect for rules and the laws of the land, I have somehow created a small phobia for myself. Nothing that will make me freeze in my tracks, sweat profusely or make me shake. Simply something that makes me pause, do a mental re-con and then I let myself carry on with what I was doing. This phobia is one of stealing things from a shop. When I was in high school, a classmate of mine was arrested for shoplifting. Her story was (obviously) that 'the item somehow dropped into her bag' or that 'it was planted there by someone'. No one was really ever sure if she was guilty of shoplifting- there was much embarrassment caused by the whole thing however, and she will always be 'the girl that got arrested for shoplifting'. From this small seed, an entire phobia has grown. As I near the exit of any shop, (be it Clicks, Woolies, Exclusive Books or The i-store), and walk closer to the security machines that beep, my pulse quickens slightly and I have to do a mental check to try and remember if I had accidentally, or subconsciously put something into my bag without realising it wasn't mine. There are a few tense moments as I walk through the detectors, and then a wave of relief that I won't be 'the girl who got arrested for shoplifting' because I don't believe in taking something that is not yours to take.
Spending three hours at The V & A Waterfront this evening was, thus, slightly harrowing- having to walk in and out of those detectors all evening, each time doing my *pause. breath. think. walk. breath* routine. My Sunday Evening ended very well as I met my two siblings to watch a truly inspiring movie- " Earth". I walked out of that theatre tremendously saddened, but incredibly inspired.
We all know it. No one can deny it. There is clear proof of it all around us. Our planet is dying. And, like the last few blooms of a magnificent rose, we are all sitting around watching it fade away- day by day. Unlike the Rose, however, we are able to slow the wilt and prolong life on earth-But, just as a bank robber is able to abort his mission, but carries on with it anyway, so too are we refusing to accept the inevitable and do something about it. And, as a criminal is sure to be caught and set in jail, so too are we destined for ultimate punishment...Not from 'the law', not from god, but from a force so powerful, so whole-heartedly unforgiving, so blindly invested in it's own cause- Mother Nature.
You can choose to ignore all of the signs. "Fuck Al Gore and his Inconvenient Truth" you say? Well, I'm sorry Honey, but it's not Al that's telling you to go and get screwed right now, it's the universe. Something slightly bigger and more powerful than one Mr. Al Gore. Have you ever heard of a little saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"? Two words for you then- 'Mother' and 'Nature'. Mother. Female. Woman. And human beings are making sure that she is being scorned.
As flashbacks of "Earth" dance across my closed eye-lids, I can't help but think about my phobia of taking something that isn't mine to take. As I lie here, tucked up in bed, I feel an emotion that sticks to you like grease. I feel guilt that we (which includes myself), for so many years now, have been taking things that were never ours to take in the first place. There were never any machines to beep loudly every time someone sprayed their arm-pits using and aerosol can which emitted gasses that have contributed to global warming. No red lights flashed every time we used plastic products absent-mindedly, leaving a non- biodegradable product to take up precious space. There was no 'earth-manager' to reel you back in and ask you if you knew what you were doing, told you it was wrong and reported you to the authorities. As the most 'intelligent' species on the planet, one would think that we could govern ourselves. It only takes one headline out of a national newspaper on any given day to prove that sworded theory wrong.
It isn't difficult to understand what is going on. 5 000 years ago, a huge meteor hit our planet, tilting it at a 23 1/2 degree axis to the sun. Miraculously, this allowed our planet to experience the ever amazing (and I mean that in the original sense of the word) phenomenon that is the change of the seasons. With this comes deathly cold, eternally dark winters in the Antarctic; life-changing spring times; debilitating and fatally hot summers in the southern hemisphere and slow-paced autumn seasons world-wide. As if this wasn't enough, every single living organism lives in one completely symbiotic relationship with one another. Predators kill prey animals. The most wondrous cycles happen. It becomes blindingly clear that nature is more intelligent than the human race. But intelligence is nothing when compared to greed and oblivion. Humans race to be the biggest, the best, the most successful and the most powerful. What they do to the planet in order to achieve this is simply collateral damage- measures that need to be taken in order to 'survive'. Just as a truly powerful male Polar Bear dies because the ice that he and his fore-fathers have relied on for centuries to remain solid in order for them to eat, so to will our race die. The differences will be that we will have brought our death on ourselves, having had the chance to change the outcome, and our death will be less tragic than that of the once majestic, once powerful but now emaciated Polar Bear.
It used to be a catch phrase that people used as add-ons at the end of their emails and jokingly when they threw away unnecessary paper: " Save the Rain Forests". No one really knew what it meant. Now we wish we didn't know what it really means."Nearly every inch of rain forests is covered with plants, and those plants sustain millions of animal species. Every year large portions of the Earth’s rain forests are cut down for logging, mining, and cattle ranches." "In Brazil, which houses 30 percent of the remaining tropical rain forest on Earth, more than 50,000 square miles of rain forest were lost to deforestation between 2000 and 2005. Biologists worry about the long-term consequences." www. nationalgeographic.com.
Here are some fun facts about how we have fucked up our planet:
"The report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, concluded that humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. Human-caused global warming is often called anthropogenic climate change." "More than a million species face extinction from disappearing habitat, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans. "
"More than half of Earth’s rain forests have already been lost forever to the insatiable human demand for wood and arable land. Rain forests that once grew over 14 percent of the land on Earth now cover only about 6 percent. And if current deforestation rates continue, these critical habitats could disappear from the planet completely within the next hundred years."
Every industry you can think of is a threat to our rain forests: Logging (obviously); Power Plants; The paper industry; The Cattle industry; Agriculture; Subsistence Farming; Governments and Industries; Hydro-electric industries. It's not just Rain Forests that are at risk of extinction, it's all of life on earth. Deserts, Oceans, Fresh water, Grasslands- you name it, we are affecting it with our behaviour. Simply log on to www.nationalgeographic.com and you will see the undeniable facts.
My point of taking things that aren't our to take still stands. The animals that are suffering because of our greed did not ask for that pain. What we currently give back in life has not and does not affect them whatsoever. What we think we are achieving has no consequence in their lives. They would still be able to function perfectly if we had never been here at all. A mother elephant and her calf following their herd never would have needed us. A strong Polar Bear could have carried on with his day. A mother whale and her calf could have swam and slapped the ocean in peace. But now, because of our foolish actions, they are reliant on the human race to make a difference in their lives.
Like a starving animal deprived of all food, our planet no longer has the power and energy to roar like a matriarchal Male Lion, or run like a cheetah, or swim aimlessly like a pregnant whale. It can no-longer breath easy, sleep peacefully and wake up with hope. Our planet can all but whimper- buckling under the stress and strain of a life it did not choose. It's all very well to say 'I'll deal with it tomorrow', 'I won't be affected in my lifetime' and 'Al Gore is talking shit'. Unfortunately we have flipped the proverbial middle finger to Mother Nature too many times for us to be forgiven. We are paying for our greed, our so-called success and our ambitions. The planet has reached the top of the roller-coaster and is staring down at the free-fall. Like it or not, we are strapped in for the ride.
But, as sad a picture as I paint with my angry words, all the colours of a pregnant thunder-storm, all is not lost. Like the miracle that is a monkey's wedding, we have the chance to make a difference. It's not going to be easy. It certainly isn't going to be fun but, sure as the sun will come up tomorrow, it will be worth it. There is too much at stake to simply let go and free-fall. There are too many things dependant on our next moves to abstain from doing our part. It doesn't take a miracle to make a difference. It takes dedication, inspiration, love, gratitude for our planet and, most of all, education on what we are doing wrong and what we can do to make a difference. Make it your mission to read up on www.nationalgeographic.com and the other sites like it. Empower yourself so that we can all empower this planet. Like a remorseful husband, we need to grovel on bended knee, do what we have to do, and admit our mistakes.
This planet has endured so much for so long because of who we are as a species. If we want to claim the title of 'most intelligent species on earth' we need to start acting like it. I'm doing my part to help to save our wondrous planet. What have you done today to do your bit? Let's step out of our techno-bubble, long enough to gain some much-needed perspective and realise that it is not OK to take what isn't ours to take. Earth's security scanner has been beeping loudly for years already. We have just chosen to ignore it. Now, the cops are on their way and we are destined to be, eternally, 'the species that got arrested for killing the planet'.
With this acquired respect for rules and the laws of the land, I have somehow created a small phobia for myself. Nothing that will make me freeze in my tracks, sweat profusely or make me shake. Simply something that makes me pause, do a mental re-con and then I let myself carry on with what I was doing. This phobia is one of stealing things from a shop. When I was in high school, a classmate of mine was arrested for shoplifting. Her story was (obviously) that 'the item somehow dropped into her bag' or that 'it was planted there by someone'. No one was really ever sure if she was guilty of shoplifting- there was much embarrassment caused by the whole thing however, and she will always be 'the girl that got arrested for shoplifting'. From this small seed, an entire phobia has grown. As I near the exit of any shop, (be it Clicks, Woolies, Exclusive Books or The i-store), and walk closer to the security machines that beep, my pulse quickens slightly and I have to do a mental check to try and remember if I had accidentally, or subconsciously put something into my bag without realising it wasn't mine. There are a few tense moments as I walk through the detectors, and then a wave of relief that I won't be 'the girl who got arrested for shoplifting' because I don't believe in taking something that is not yours to take.
Spending three hours at The V & A Waterfront this evening was, thus, slightly harrowing- having to walk in and out of those detectors all evening, each time doing my *pause. breath. think. walk. breath* routine. My Sunday Evening ended very well as I met my two siblings to watch a truly inspiring movie- " Earth". I walked out of that theatre tremendously saddened, but incredibly inspired.
We all know it. No one can deny it. There is clear proof of it all around us. Our planet is dying. And, like the last few blooms of a magnificent rose, we are all sitting around watching it fade away- day by day. Unlike the Rose, however, we are able to slow the wilt and prolong life on earth-But, just as a bank robber is able to abort his mission, but carries on with it anyway, so too are we refusing to accept the inevitable and do something about it. And, as a criminal is sure to be caught and set in jail, so too are we destined for ultimate punishment...Not from 'the law', not from god, but from a force so powerful, so whole-heartedly unforgiving, so blindly invested in it's own cause- Mother Nature.
You can choose to ignore all of the signs. "Fuck Al Gore and his Inconvenient Truth" you say? Well, I'm sorry Honey, but it's not Al that's telling you to go and get screwed right now, it's the universe. Something slightly bigger and more powerful than one Mr. Al Gore. Have you ever heard of a little saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"? Two words for you then- 'Mother' and 'Nature'. Mother. Female. Woman. And human beings are making sure that she is being scorned.
As flashbacks of "Earth" dance across my closed eye-lids, I can't help but think about my phobia of taking something that isn't mine to take. As I lie here, tucked up in bed, I feel an emotion that sticks to you like grease. I feel guilt that we (which includes myself), for so many years now, have been taking things that were never ours to take in the first place. There were never any machines to beep loudly every time someone sprayed their arm-pits using and aerosol can which emitted gasses that have contributed to global warming. No red lights flashed every time we used plastic products absent-mindedly, leaving a non- biodegradable product to take up precious space. There was no 'earth-manager' to reel you back in and ask you if you knew what you were doing, told you it was wrong and reported you to the authorities. As the most 'intelligent' species on the planet, one would think that we could govern ourselves. It only takes one headline out of a national newspaper on any given day to prove that sworded theory wrong.
It isn't difficult to understand what is going on. 5 000 years ago, a huge meteor hit our planet, tilting it at a 23 1/2 degree axis to the sun. Miraculously, this allowed our planet to experience the ever amazing (and I mean that in the original sense of the word) phenomenon that is the change of the seasons. With this comes deathly cold, eternally dark winters in the Antarctic; life-changing spring times; debilitating and fatally hot summers in the southern hemisphere and slow-paced autumn seasons world-wide. As if this wasn't enough, every single living organism lives in one completely symbiotic relationship with one another. Predators kill prey animals. The most wondrous cycles happen. It becomes blindingly clear that nature is more intelligent than the human race. But intelligence is nothing when compared to greed and oblivion. Humans race to be the biggest, the best, the most successful and the most powerful. What they do to the planet in order to achieve this is simply collateral damage- measures that need to be taken in order to 'survive'. Just as a truly powerful male Polar Bear dies because the ice that he and his fore-fathers have relied on for centuries to remain solid in order for them to eat, so to will our race die. The differences will be that we will have brought our death on ourselves, having had the chance to change the outcome, and our death will be less tragic than that of the once majestic, once powerful but now emaciated Polar Bear.
It used to be a catch phrase that people used as add-ons at the end of their emails and jokingly when they threw away unnecessary paper: " Save the Rain Forests". No one really knew what it meant. Now we wish we didn't know what it really means."Nearly every inch of rain forests is covered with plants, and those plants sustain millions of animal species. Every year large portions of the Earth’s rain forests are cut down for logging, mining, and cattle ranches." "In Brazil, which houses 30 percent of the remaining tropical rain forest on Earth, more than 50,000 square miles of rain forest were lost to deforestation between 2000 and 2005. Biologists worry about the long-term consequences." www. nationalgeographic.com.
Here are some fun facts about how we have fucked up our planet:
"The report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, concluded that humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. Human-caused global warming is often called anthropogenic climate change." "More than a million species face extinction from disappearing habitat, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans. "
"More than half of Earth’s rain forests have already been lost forever to the insatiable human demand for wood and arable land. Rain forests that once grew over 14 percent of the land on Earth now cover only about 6 percent. And if current deforestation rates continue, these critical habitats could disappear from the planet completely within the next hundred years."
Every industry you can think of is a threat to our rain forests: Logging (obviously); Power Plants; The paper industry; The Cattle industry; Agriculture; Subsistence Farming; Governments and Industries; Hydro-electric industries. It's not just Rain Forests that are at risk of extinction, it's all of life on earth. Deserts, Oceans, Fresh water, Grasslands- you name it, we are affecting it with our behaviour. Simply log on to www.nationalgeographic.com and you will see the undeniable facts.
My point of taking things that aren't our to take still stands. The animals that are suffering because of our greed did not ask for that pain. What we currently give back in life has not and does not affect them whatsoever. What we think we are achieving has no consequence in their lives. They would still be able to function perfectly if we had never been here at all. A mother elephant and her calf following their herd never would have needed us. A strong Polar Bear could have carried on with his day. A mother whale and her calf could have swam and slapped the ocean in peace. But now, because of our foolish actions, they are reliant on the human race to make a difference in their lives.
Like a starving animal deprived of all food, our planet no longer has the power and energy to roar like a matriarchal Male Lion, or run like a cheetah, or swim aimlessly like a pregnant whale. It can no-longer breath easy, sleep peacefully and wake up with hope. Our planet can all but whimper- buckling under the stress and strain of a life it did not choose. It's all very well to say 'I'll deal with it tomorrow', 'I won't be affected in my lifetime' and 'Al Gore is talking shit'. Unfortunately we have flipped the proverbial middle finger to Mother Nature too many times for us to be forgiven. We are paying for our greed, our so-called success and our ambitions. The planet has reached the top of the roller-coaster and is staring down at the free-fall. Like it or not, we are strapped in for the ride.
But, as sad a picture as I paint with my angry words, all the colours of a pregnant thunder-storm, all is not lost. Like the miracle that is a monkey's wedding, we have the chance to make a difference. It's not going to be easy. It certainly isn't going to be fun but, sure as the sun will come up tomorrow, it will be worth it. There is too much at stake to simply let go and free-fall. There are too many things dependant on our next moves to abstain from doing our part. It doesn't take a miracle to make a difference. It takes dedication, inspiration, love, gratitude for our planet and, most of all, education on what we are doing wrong and what we can do to make a difference. Make it your mission to read up on www.nationalgeographic.com and the other sites like it. Empower yourself so that we can all empower this planet. Like a remorseful husband, we need to grovel on bended knee, do what we have to do, and admit our mistakes.
This planet has endured so much for so long because of who we are as a species. If we want to claim the title of 'most intelligent species on earth' we need to start acting like it. I'm doing my part to help to save our wondrous planet. What have you done today to do your bit? Let's step out of our techno-bubble, long enough to gain some much-needed perspective and realise that it is not OK to take what isn't ours to take. Earth's security scanner has been beeping loudly for years already. We have just chosen to ignore it. Now, the cops are on their way and we are destined to be, eternally, 'the species that got arrested for killing the planet'.
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