Biodiversity – the big disaster. The Anthropocene.

The tragedy of our destruction of biodiversity has been like a slow-motion car-crash that I have been observing throughout my life.

The destruction is ongoing, continuous and horrendous.

I have witnessed it in the UK and as I’ve travelled the world I have seen the evidence everywhere I have one.

In The UK.

The plants and animals I used to see regularly are disappearing fast. As a boy, I used to play in meadows full of wildflowers. I used to collect caterpillars, newts, frogs, toads, slowworms and grass snakes. They were common. Hedgehogs were everywhere. The fields were full of the buzz of insects. Big flocks of swifts and swallows swooped and fed. Streams were full of sticklebacks, dragonfly and caddis.

Those fields are sprayed with pesticide and herbicide. The streams are polluted or culverted. The hedgerows have been grubbed up, trees chopped down and ponds filled.

Where can the wildlife live?

Abroad.

The rainforests – the lungs of the earth – are disappearing at an alarming rate. Flying over the Amazon the sight of the vast areas of cleared forest is alarming. But the same thing is happening in Borneo, Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Africa. What was once impenetrable jungle (only fifty years ago) has roads running through it. The loggers and hunters have moved in. The farmers follow. The forest, along with the creatures it supports, is burnt.

I was quite shocked by a statistic that came out of the David Attenborough programme last night concerning the biomass of organisms.

60% Livestock

36% Humans

4% Wildlife.

That is what we have done in the last hundred years.

Our seas are being denuded of fish by huge supertrawlers. Our rivers are likewise overfished. Travelling down the Mekong I was amazed to see that through the whole length there were fishing enterprises taking even the smallest fish to batter into fish paste. What hope is there?

In Vietnam, everything that moves is killed. Even the paddy fields have traps to catch and eat insects. The jungles were silent.

I am appalled by the cruel, inhumane way we treat animals. They are caged in tiny cages, driven mad and killed in the most horrendous ways – being boiled alive, skinned alive or cut open to extract blood or gall bladders. Such insensitivity.

What is wrong with people?

This is not sustainable.

The delicate balance of nature not only supports this wondrous array of life but provides our climate, our food, our oxygen and atmosphere that keeps us alive.

Already we are seeing the huge fires due to global warming, the floods, droughts, heatwaves and changes in air and sea currents.

Nature can bounce back but we have to help it. We have to stop the destruction, reduce our population, stop the waste, put back the forests, the ponds, streams and hedgerows and start to act responsibly (and far less cruelly).

I think we are on the brink.

https://populationmatters.org/campaigns/anthropocene?gclid=CjwKCAjw74b7BRA_EiwAF8yHFEU-83LimHv9sMS8kwfZm2wvo6wFi4wIkrpz3f3bBLz-zj0Dp9YsJBoCzyEQAvD_BwE

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2016

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The Future – Covid, A/I and a new beginning.

I smell change in the air!! I hope it manifests properly.
I think we are on a cusp. The way I see it A/I and automation can be the saviour or the last straw. There’s an A/I revolution coming.
From shelf stackers to truck drivers, teaching, doctors, surgeons, cleaners, deliverers, picking veg, flying planes and running factories – the jobs are going A/I is coming – it’s going to be automated like never before. Skilled jobs will go as well as manual. Computers will run the world.
We will not need the workforce.
In a sensible world we would reduce our numbers by a good half, share jobs and go down to a two or three day week, retrain staff into caring and support roles, share the increased wealth, encourage creativity and leisure, nurture nature, eradicate poverty and disease, end all wars and produce a well-balance, more equal and fulfilled global society.
In a stupid world, run by a greedy elite, we would encourage more expansion, more people to consume, keep using up resources and destroying the environment, shovel the increased profits into the huge pockets of the selfish elite, maintain poverty and inequality in order to create cheap labour (when needed), encourage war and conflict (as it provides opportunity for profit), and create a polluted hell-hole for nature and the many, which they, with their immense wealth, private health, education and security and gated communities, can live apart from in their own little bubble.
Which way do you think we’ll go??
I know what I’m promoting!

Anthropocene Apocalypse – The World population explosion – a terrifying prospect for all living creatures.

Anthropocene Apocalypse – The World population explosion – a terrifying prospect for all living creatures.

Anthropocene Apocalypse – World population explosion video – You Tube link.

Overpopulation

The effects of the population explosion are catastrophic for the wild-life on this planet. We are even affecting the climate.

The population is currently in excess of 7 Billion. It is due to double in fifty years. The impact of that is almost unimaginable. Life as we know it will be transformed. The wilderness will be devastated. Natural resources will be depleted. The climate will change forever.

We are sleepwalking towards our own extinction!

Check out the video. I find it terrifying!

Roy Harper – The Tallest Tree – a homage to Chico Mendes

Roy Harpers tribute to Chico Mendes – The Brazilian conservationist who was murdered trying to save the Amazon rainforest.

He stood against the destruction and died for it.

The earth is possessed
By the curse of the west
Who devour
Newpaper furniture
Paparazzia by the hour
But a man with a vision
Believed
That tomorrow’s begun
And has to be won
And nobody here is reprieved
O Chico, Chico Mendes
The man in a million
Stood in the way
Stood his ground
For the earth
For the coming of day
The chorus of dawn
On the perch of each morning
Receives
A forest of tears
As the joy reappears
On their leaves
And believes
Sings his name
And the tallest tree
Forever stands
Beyond the flame
North south east and west
We can all reach the rest
Every day
Now is the chance
To set out together
For a beautiful day
Whoever saw it
A different way
Was a man in a nightmare
Too numb to the future
Of brilliant possibles
Ever to share
The same air
As the men in the clay
O Chico, Chico Mendes
There are men who are more than just men

How to solve the Overpopulation crisis in easy steps.

How to solve the Overpopulation crisis in easy steps.

Reducing the world’s population is the greatest imperative of the moment. A large global population is the cause of mass poverty, environmental destruction, war, mass migration, the overuse of the world’s resources and is driving thousands of species to extinction. Something has to happen.

Here is how to address it:

  1. Recognise that there is a crisis.
  2. Publicise the drastic need to reduce population and give reasons (pollution, resources, space, wildlife, happiness, migration, poverty, war…..). Justify the crucial need to reduce our numbers.
  3. Make reduction of population really high profile.
  4. Bring religious leaders and politicians on board.
  5. Create a unified front.
  6. Use education to bridge cultural attitudes.
  7. Provide extensive contraception/vasectomies etc.
  8. Provide pensions so people do not require children to support them.
  9. Provide social sickness benefits so that people do not require children to support them.
  10. Give financial incentives to reduce families.
  11. Create a social attitude towards small families and away from large families.

Failing that just create a virus and wipe us all out. The world would be a better place.

Just 85 people own the wealth of half the planet!!

I still find it had to accept that 85 people hold the equivalent assets to the poorest half of this world. That means that 85 individuals own as much as 3.5 Billion people – 3,500,000,000,000.

Am I alone in believing that is obscene?

I do not believe that it is possible for anyone to ‘earn’ that magnitude of wealth. That amount of wealth can only be accrued through the ‘exploitation’ of other fellow human beings.

That exploitation is a matter worthy of discussion but not the main thrust of my present argument; the issue I wish to pursue is what these superrich people do with these unimaginable resources. My contention is that what they do is horrendous for all of us.

Perhaps I should extend this slightly before I get started for it is not merely 85 people that I am talking about here. There is a superrich club of thousands who between them own most of the world. That is the reality. 99% of us live off the 1% they leave us. They, and their corporations, effectively control the world and run it for their own ends. That means they set up mechanisms to keep the power for themselves so that they can control what goes on and accrue more.

So how do they achieve this?

They exploit global markets.

They exploit tax loopholes.

They control the media.

They buy off politicians.

They lobby, bribe and pressure.

They threaten.

The end result is that this tiny minority of individuals run the world for their own profit without regard for the environment, ordinary people, wildlife or the future. They are a law unto themselves.

This is surely madness!

It is manifestly a recipe for disaster!

It is my contention that many in this group instigate conflict, wars, unrest and social inequality in order to create markets and maximise profits.

War, poverty, starvation, slavery, extreme hardship, deforestation, climate change, ecological destruction and pollution are the product of their lunacy.

We are controlled and indoctrinated with the view that there is nothing that can be done about war, famine and poverty. It is human nature. It will always be with us.

I do not accept that.

Human nature has two distinct sides. There is the negative selfish, greedy, vicious, cruel and destructive side that we read about so often in the news as people and animals are attacked, robbed and sadistically tortured for amusement. But then there is the altruistic side exhibited by the majority who really care about the world, individuals, other creatures and are helpful, friendly, honest and selfless.

Over the course of time, through the invention of civilisation, human society has come a long way. The world is a safer, more pleasant place despite the efforts of the negative players and all their thoughtless cruelty, greed and selfishness.

In general societies have introduced laws that restrict the worst of their activities and these laws work to a degree.

If we manage to survive long enough we will create a better world – of that I am certain. The only problem is whether we will be able to do this in time before the greedy minority succeed in destroying the planet through their insatiable desire for profit and power.

In order to prevent them we must put a stop to this incessant mantra for more. It is my contention that there is no need for further growth and expansion; there is only a need for greater fairness.

Just imagine how beautiful the world would be if there was a virus that destroyed human ego so that nobody wanted to be more important than anybody else, own more and show off?

Imagine all the world’s resources being used intelligently and benignly to solve problems universally rather than to accrue more yachts, mansions and control?

Imagine all the energy deployed by the gangs of lawyers, lobbyists, thugs and bully-boys employed by the elite to bribe, threaten, coerce, misrepresent, obfuscate and confuse, used productively to promote global progress.

We could solve inequality, poverty, war, disease, overpopulation, pollution, and all the rest of the world’s ills. They are not insoluble as some would have us believe.

All that is required is that we find a global way of controlling the tiny exploitative minority so that they cannot mindlessly run the world for their own selfish ends.

Here is a simple 10 step plan to prevent the venomous greedy from controlling us:

1. We stop voting in politicians who are mentally ill sociopathic, psychopathic, paranoid schizophrenics (we seem to make a habit of doing this – Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Thatcher, Reagan, Bush, Trump etc..)

2. We do away with institutionalised religion. It is used as an excuse by the wealthy. We do not want pie in the sky and the poor do not always have to be with us.

3. We jettison all tribal nonsense – such as hatred for other people, nations, religions and races. We ban xenophobia and begin thinking with our brains and not our glands.

4. We discard the outdated idea of countries and nations and replace it with a global government with global powers to protect people and the environment, to tie up the loopholes and put an end to multinationals exploiting us and the absurd financial gambling that creates boom and bust. With one market and one currency we immediately remove speculation and all the stupidity that goes with it.

5. We replace the stupid outmoded markets that gamble on the world’s resources for profit and create exploitation. We reward people fairly for their efforts. A new global system should not be hard to devise with one market and one currency.

6. We enforce the United Nations charter of human rights as the basis of universal law to ensure that all men, women, children and creatures are treated fairly with rights and responsibilities and respect.

7. We create a universal tax and welfare system so that all are treated fairly, have a safety net of sick pay, pensions and unemployment benefit so that none are needy.

8. We limit our global population to 3 billion – a level that is sustainable without creating environmental mayhem.

9. We have universal laws to control pollution, conservation and environmental degradation to create a world where all life can thrive and everyone has clean air, water and food without destroying the world.

10. We unify our efforts and research to accelerate scientific advances to fight disease, solve potential global destructors posed by asteroids, viruses and volcanoes and create paradise on Earth.

All of this is perfectly feasible! I told you it was easy!

Oblivious – a poem

Oblivious

Oblivious to what is going on.

Uncaring towards the victims.

Callous towards the cruelty.

Living apart from the action;

Caught in their own bubble.

At best indifferent.

But also complacent.

Sure that it will all come good.

Nature is resilient.

Except nature is nowhere near as resilient as they would have us believe.

The proof is in front of our eyes.

 

Opher 5.5.2019

I am haunted by conversations with three individuals on an American site, who are not only incredibly in denial as to any environmental damage going on but really do not care even if it was. As far as they are concerned the immense harm being done to biodiversity, the reduction in animal populations and global warming are political lies produced to make them pay more. All evidence put forward is seen as political scaremongering. They believe nature is some infinite, resilient pool of life that we can used, abused and destroyed without any real impact.

I am haunted by my trip to South America. Out in the wilderness of Patagonia, Brazil and Tierra Del Fuego we were expecting to see plenty of wildlife. The first wooden whalers had encountered a land of plenty. They had harvested turtles, seal lions, seal, penguins and all manner of birds. They had visited the breeding grounds, slaughtered for fun, loaded up ships with hundreds of tons of fresh meat, boiled eggs and carcasses for oil.

In their wake are the vestiges, clinging on. What once was plentiful is now scarce. We had to search for signs of life among an emptiness that shouted at us.

Overpopulation is the cause – a poem

Overpopulation is the cause

 

Overpopulation is the cause of the pain.

Eight billion mouths to feed.

Sixteen billion feet head off in search of food.

While the population breed.

They are chopping down the trees

Killing everything that moves.

Providing for their children and

Ignoring anyone who disapproves.

But there’s only so much wilderness

So many creatures to eat.

They are battling against nature

And inflicting a defeat.

 

Opher 24.4.2019

 

 

We can’t go on chopping down the forests and killing everything. There are limits.

With eight billion mouths needing feeding, huge numbers of fish to be dragged from the water, massive amounts of land cleared and used for agriculture, we are reaching the limit.

Our sheer numbers are destroying the world.

Overpopulation is the biggest problem.

The tide of humanity is sweeping nature out of existence.

We are destroying the planet bit by bit.

We need to reduce our numbers in order to live sustainably and stop this crazy train before it runs off the tracks.

We do not need to kill people off.

We can control the world’s population by a big dose of fairness and birth control.

What is killing the world is runaway capitalism – unbridled selfishness and greed, a lust for more and more, the mantra of growth at all costs, profit before people, profit before nature, pollute if it saves money, gross inequality. There are a greedy bunch of people running things who simply do not care. They selfishly put their own acquisition of wealth above everything. They profit from extreme poverty, the destruction of nature and wars. They are utterly immoral.

And those are the people who are leading us on this road to ruin.

We need a better way of life, a more equal world, a fairer society and far less people.

That’s what I believe.

I believe we can live peaceably with each other and nature.

Overpopulation – my views.

Overpopulation
Probably the biggest of the lot – most other problems stem from it.
I have studied this in depths. There are cultural and religious obstacles to overcome.
What is required is:
a. Female education (a lot of 3rd World countries do not educate girls) – educated girls have less children.
b. Education in general – to educate men as well so that they understand and can progress.
c. Contraception availability
d. Medical nurses availability to explain and care.
e. A welfare system that provides when someone is ill, or in need – so one in not dependent on children.
f. A pension system that means that the old are not dependent on their children.
g. A campaign to explain to people (the current Indian one is proving quite effective – You me and two + family)
It is not by chance that the fertility rates in developed countries is much less.