It is quite apparent that the whole world has undergone immense catastrophic change in the past forty years. The rate of deforestation, species extinction, wilderness despoiling, and pollution has reached a point where we are endangering all wild-life and altering the climate of the world.
This huge acceleration in negative effects on the world is quite apparent everywhere you travel. The world’s rainforests are being chopped down all over the planet. The animal life is being slaughtered. The human population is continuing to soar and the complete devastation of wild creatures is looking inevitable.
Who would have believed, forty years ago, that we would be seeing the extermination of elephants, rhinos, chimps and gorillas in Africa in our life-time?
This is the Anthropocene – an age where we are altering the climate and nature of our planet. I call it the Apocalypse because of the massive destruction we are wreaking.
There is no sign of a slowing in human population or any end to the environmental destruction. So who is to blame?
I was having a debate about this with friends last night. We disagreed.
a. We in the Western World are to blame. We consume more than our fair share of the worlds resources, we waste food and goods, have extravagant lifestyles with many possessions, go on long journeys and holidays, and own energy-squandering cars, TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, showers, gadgets and other high-energy consuming goods, and live unsustainably. Our needs generate markets which result in the devastation of the forests etc.
b. The rich billionaires are to blame for their greed and selfishness. Not only do they consume at a far greater level with their hugely extravagant life-styles, multiple luxury homes, hugely polluting yachts, Leah jets and cars etc. but they are directing the markets, running the strip-mining, logging and palm-oil plantations in order to gain even more wealth. They are exploiting us through advertising to make us consume, exploiting the third world to get products cheaply made, exploiting the workforce to create inequality, lobbying governments to prevent sensible environmental laws, manipulating the media, using their wealth to get round laws and generally guiding society on a mad rush for more and more with the mantra of growth.
c. The politicians who are in it for their own wealth and power are to blame and do not care about the long-term effects of their policies. They will sell off mineral, fracking or logging rights to the highest bidder to boost the economy, allow themselves to be bribed, think in terms of buying votes and getting re-elected, think of only their own country and to hell with the effect on the rest of the world, and do not really care about the fate of forests, animals or people. They put a spin on what they are really doing. They are blinkered to the environmental damage, climate change and suffering. It is all about votes and economics. They are corrupt, morally bankrupt, sociopathic and short-sighted.
d. The religious leaders who see the world as a battle-ground of ideologies are to blame. Their brand, their god, their paradise/heaven/after-life, is all that is important. They do not care about the effects of huge populations. They are happy to ferment war and intolerance. Allah/God/Krishna/Jehovah is in charge and will sort everything out in the long run. All we have to do is multiply like rabbits to win through numbers, to spread the word and save souls, and to ensure everyone in the world hears the word and is converted. What happens to the planet is inconsequential. The next life is the important life. It is all a matter of doctrine and indoctrination. If the world is destroyed but they have converted every last soul in the process They will have done their job.
e.The third world people are to blame – who are breeding at such a rate that they are swamping the environment, killing everything that moves in order to stay alive, using up the resources, chopping down the forest to grow food, causing mass migrations in search of food, work and a better life, creating disease, water shortage and starvation through overuse of the land and overcrowding.
It made for heated argument.
The problem is that each of us is utterly impotent on our own. We could stop our own activities, change our life-style and it would not make a jot of difference. We could vote but there is no hope of creating a global perspective or effective environmental lobby (politicians do not think it is economically sound or there are votes in it). There is no one to vote for. We can campaign for environmental policy and equality, we can fight for education and birth control or we can send money to help environmental causes, birth control programmes or conservation projects. We can take direct action. But it is all a drop in the ocean. There is nothing we can do. Particularly in the face of such widespread apathy and indifference. There is even a growing feeling of inevitability – it’s going to happen whatever you do – why bother? Just get on and enjoy it while you can.
The debate was who is to blame? The answer is – everyone. We all are.
The solution lies in the powerful waking up and realising what is going on and doing something about it. It is those with the power who are the only ones who can change this. When the billionaires who are running the show for their own profit wake up and decide enough is enough they can put pressure on the politicians and world religious leaders to do something about it.
Until then the rest of us minions can keep plugging away doing our tiny bits, raising awareness, educating the public, putting pressure on the powerful and hoping that someone, somewhere will listen and ultimately we humans do value the living world, do care and will do something about it.
The answers are simple:
a. Control our numbers to sustainable levels.
b. Pass global laws on conservation and pollution that are enforced.
c. Set up 50% of the planet for human us and 50% wilderness for the rest of the animals and plants.
d. Use our technology to harness energy without pollution (Fusion or Renewables) and make our goods energy efficient and without inbuilt obsolescence.
The answers are simple. Putting them into practice is formidable.
I can’t help thinking that we have the means and wherewithal what we lack is the will. Not enough people give a damn. They will only start to panic when the oxygen runs out, the food and water give out or the temperature soars.
Surely our intelligence is great enough to solve this before the last animals are sadistically sacrificed? I don’t want to live in a world without nature! If we all make our voices heard even the billionaires, politicians and religious leaders will have heart enough to care? Won’t they?
The wild animals and plants do not have rights. They can’t speak up and they can’t vote.
Someone has to do it for them! That someone is us! I would have thought it’s the least we can do!
I believe we can change the zeitgeist! We have to.