Just when you think you have a clear view of things, something gets in the way and you seem stuck. What to do? For a lot of people, it seems the answer is to just ignore the view and focus instead on the ground beneath their feet.
Sadly for us on this planet, we can pretend all we like, but the view at our feet isn't going to help us move ahead. That tree and it's kind are going to change us and block our view of the future forever unless we change our focus and look to the scene beyond...
In the late 1960's I collected seal blubber samples in the Canadian arctic. The samples were sent south to be examined for various substances including mercury. In most cases, mercury was present along with a variety of other harmful chemicals. Suddenly it was clear that a seal hunting culture was being threatened by activities far, far away. Suddenly the future for a whole culture of people was in doubt and clouded by the unknown.
Today the threat is even bigger, extending not just to an isolated group of arctic hunters, but to everyone's well-being and that of our children. We have contributed to the changes our planet is undergoing, perhaps to the point of no return. We must change our ways. We must ignore whatever it is that's blocking our view of the future. We must move beyond our self-interests and together act.
Don't be that tree in the photo. Be the view beyond!
3 comments:
So very well said.
I've read some really scary stuff about what is happening in our oceans. Newfoundlanders know first-hand what a devastating impact a deterioration of ocean systems can have, as the people who've taken their living from our coastal waters for centuries cope with the collapse of the Northern cod stocks.
Even more frightening is the situation of the plankton resource, which is the true base of all life in the seas. As the impact of man's use and misuse mount, the resource is decreasing - and that spells trouble that could make the collapse of any fish stock - even the largest free-swimming source of the protein in the ocean, the northern cod - a minor matter. Time is running out, and we'll either pay the price of making the needed changes now, or our children will find they cannot.
not totally sure if the environmental damage is purely caused just by total greed, I tend to subscribe to a wider picture of the problem: overpopulation.
While surely we could limit the damage that humanity is causing themselves, I believe the root of the problem is: too many people.
More thoughts at http://gnarlydognews.blogspot.com/2009/11/too-busy.html
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