The Environment – My Views

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The Environment
 I believe this planet is a living wonder and all life precious. That we are all custodians of one of the most miraculous events in the universe. A tiny planet in the outer spiral arm of a minor galaxy in a universe of trillions of galaxies might be the only home to life. It is that unlikely. We may be unique.
As intelligent beings (consciousness being another marvel) I think it is our duty to care for this amazing jewel of a planet.
At present our numbers and habits are plundering and destroying. We are cutting down habitat, polluting, overfishing, overhunting, strip mining, urbanising and generally laying waste to nature. We are reducing populations dramatically and driving thousands of species to extinction.
Our activities are having an impact on the climate and weather.
I believe we have to limit our numbers, live more sustainably and find a way of living alongside the rest of nature without destroying it.
I do not believe this would cost a huge amount. I believe we can create much more energy efficient machines and energy production. I believe we do not have to destroy.
I would like to see half the planet preserved for nature and half or us.

My Book on the Environment – Please take a look!!

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My book on the Environment – Anthropocene Apocalypse.

 

As a Biologist I have travelled the world and seen what is going on – the habitat destruction, the hunting, the pollution. This is the story.

If you are interested with the environment then this is the book for you.

 

In the UK:

 

 

In the USA:

 

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/books/book-detail-page?ie=UTF8&bookASIN=B00NU7WMJC&index=default&pn=irid82031849

Take Heart Too – a poem about the perceptive and wise.

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Take Heart Too

 

Take heart from those who see the bigger picture

And realise they are minor players

Within a mighty stroke of luck

That gave us eyes to see;

For they are aglow

With understanding

And see each second

As a gift.

 

Opher 16.6.2018

 

 

I wrote this as an adjunct to the previous piece. It always seems amazing to me that evolution has provided us with the brain, consciousness and senses with which to glimpse this most amazing universe. What a stroke of fabulous luck! We should celebrate every second of it.

Consciousness is a thing of wonder.

What if there were no conscious beings to witness the majesty of this cosmos? What a waste.

 

 

Nothing Is Surplus – a poem to the wonders of the interlocking ecosystem

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Nothing is Surplus

 

Nothing is surplus

Nothing wasted

Nothing less

Nothing greater

 

From virus to dinosaur

It is all a piece

Within a giant jigsaw

 

Opher 23.6.2018

 

 

I am always amazed by the way nature interlocks. Evolution has filled every niche with the right choice. They are so complicated and sophisticated. Everything has its place.

More time than we can imagine has created such a wonderfully intricate jigsaw.

What distresses me most is the cavalier way we dismantling it.

The Last Sad Dregs – A poem about rebirth from the debris.

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The Last Sad Dregs

 

When the last sad dregs are drained

The glass will still retain a residue

No matter how thoroughly we sterilise.

It will just take time.

 

When everything is finally gone

It will come back.

It has done so before.

But it is never the same.

 

Maybe next time

It will be even better.

The forms more perfect

The intelligence more pure

Unsullied.

Perhaps it will be

An improvement in every way?

All might agree that it was for the best.

 

Yet even if it were

That would not forgive us

For what we now do.

 

Opher 23.6.2018

 

 

We are a huge ecosystem catastrophe relentlessly steamrolling nature into nonexistence.

Species after species crashes into oblivion as we seek profit and our numbers spiral.

When we are through and we have destroyed it all there will still be some left even if it is just a residual slime. Evolution will rebuild the spectrum given time.

The planet will once again be full of a myriad of creatures, the wails of sound and flash of colour. There will be creatures every bit as wonderful and exotic as what we now have. It just won’t be the same.

Maybe intelligence, real intelligence, will once again evolve. I don’t think they will forgive us for what we are doing.

Two Swifts Shrieking – a poem about loss

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Two Swifts Shrieking

 

Two swifts wheeling in the sky

Shrieking with delight –

Not missing their brethren?

 

In days not long gone

Those same skies

Were full of flocks of screaming swifts.

 

The air, now a desert,

Teemed with insects

That were scooped with such glee.

 

There was enough

For many swifts

To gorge themselves and feed their chicks.

 

Now those insects

Are hard to find

And the future is looking dim.

 

Do they now shriek with delight or horror?

 

Opher 23.6.2018

 

 

It is so noticeable to me that the skies are emptying. We were so used to seeing the swifts, swallows and house martins, the filter feeders of the skies, putting on their aerial displays.

Where once there were flocks now they appear in pairs. The flocks have gone.

The skies that once buzzed with insects are empty. The insects have gone. There is no food.

The barns and house eaves that provided nesting sites are all knocked down, cleaned up and gone.

It is hard to believe the changes that have taken place in the space of one lifetime.

Were those two swifts really shrieking with delight! I feel they cry in desperation.

 

 

Leaf and Scale – a poem about how precious life is.

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Leaf and Scale

 

Leaf and scale

Eye and tail

Precious  Precious

 

Protoplast

Chloroplast

Precious  Precious

 

Bud and tree

Petal and bee

Precious  Precious

 

Fin and feather

Fawn and heather

Special  Special

 

Whale and ant

Fauna and plant

Special  Special

 

Brain and brawn

Shrimp and prawn

Special  Special

 

Limb and life

Husband and wife

Special  Special

 

Awe and wonder

No kill or plunder

Precious  Precious

 

Planet and sky

Sun on high

Precious  Precious

 

Forest and air

Bluebell and bear

Special  Special

 

Water and rock

Hen and cock

Special  Special

 

Earth and worm

Virus and germ

Precious Precious

 

Warmth and light

Oxygen and sight

Precious  Precious

 

Biosphere

Centromere

Precious  Special  Unique

 

Opher 25.6.2018

 

 

The whole of our biosphere is one amazing event and utterly unique. Every bit of it is special and precious.

If only we could stand back and see how miraculous it is and worship every last piece of this incredible jigsaw of life.

Instead we treat it with disdain and destroy it with derision, contempt and callous disregard.

Every Stroke Kills – a poem about destruction of life.

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Every Stroke Kills

 

In the wake of every stroke

Lies the ruins of many lives.

In the wake of every gouge

Lies a community destroyed.

Letter by letter

The epic story is untold.

Letter by letter

The greatest story is unwritten

Until the blank pages

Tell a different tale

Of what once was and is no more.

 

25.6.2018

 

 

We do not value the incredible miracle of life on this planet. We may be unique in this most enormous universe. Every single form of life may be utterly unique – every single cell the most amazing miracle. The utter improbability of life means that we should cherish every single cell.

 

Yet we treat life with such disdain. Insects, animals and plants are destroyed without thought. Every tree houses a community. Every stream and wood provides a million homes.

 

We chop down the trees and gouge up the soil without thought to the communities we destroy.

 

We are unwriting the greatest story ever written. It is becoming less by the minute. I wish we would change and learn to cherish every bit of it.

The Big Green Ball – A poem about the world

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The Big Green Ball

 

Big green ball

To kick around

It’s just a game

 

Too soon and gone

The wear and tear

Such a shame

 

Opher 25.6.2018

 

 

Big Green Ball

 

While I was driving around the country I had plenty of time to think. What we are doing to the planet, the loss of so many species, the ravaging of our rainforests, the overpopulation – it all drives me mad.

In the course of my lifetime the world has changed enormously. Nature has been devastated. What I used to take as granted is being eroded every single day.

Living creatures are being wiped out and their interests ignored. If there is money to be made they come in a poor second.

Many people are so cruel. Recently I read of reports of attacks on orangutans. On three different occasions orangutans have been found dying or severely injured riddled with air-gun pellets. One had 140 pellets, including 70 in its head. One died after being riddled with 107 pellets, another had 137 pellets and lost its sight. Which crawl maggots would do such things to such intelligent gentle creatures?

What are we doing to the world? We are kicking the life out of it.

Planet Earth – a poem that is an apology.

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Planet Earth

 

It is the thirteenth of June 2018

On a warm summer’s day

That I have spent writing and reading.

It was a pleasant day.

Yet there were no swifts in the sky this afternoon.

I am sorry for that.

My garden is full of flowers and the grass is mown

But there is no room for nature.

I am sorry for that too.

What are we doing to you?

How can you bear it?

As we dig and chop,

Fence and rip,

Sterilise and sanitise.

Is this what you want?

That we should tame and reduce?

Tie you in knots?

And reduce your complexity

To our simplicity?

How long will you put up with it?

Mother Earth

Are you powerless?

Planet earth can you hear me?

I am talking to you.

You gave me so much

And I value it all.

But this is becoming less by the day.

How can you bear to see so much destroyed?

So many creatures killed?

So much cruelty and pain?

Planet Earth

Is it alright if we cause you to bleed like this?

Planet Earth

You’ve given me a full life

Laden with stars, sunsets and rainbows

Rocks, trees and seas,

Creatures of all kinds,

Plants and wonders

Always wonders –

How can I repay you?

You’ve been my home for 69 years –

An endless time of love and change.

All I can do

Is say thank you.

I am so sorry.

 

Opher 13.6.2018

 

 

I do not happen to believe in Gaia – that the planet is really alive and has consciousness. At least I don’t think so. That type of mysticism is attractive but fanciful.

But I did find it an interesting poetic idea to talk to her as if she was alive.

So what is there to be said?

It seemed to me that the most important thing was to apologize for the mess we are making.

Life is so obviously the jewel in the crown. Life, in all its forms, is a marvel. Yet do we hold it sacred? No we do not. We are destroying species after species, ravaging habitats with impunity and treating life with disdain.

There is an arrogance about mankind that insists that humans are the only worthwhile life upon the planet. That is risible. All life is important. We all started from that same one miracle cell. We’ve all evolved for the same length of time. We all fit together in this remarkable jigsaw puzzle of life. Yet that is the jigsaw puzzle that we are dismantling. We are throwing away piece after piece. Soon we will lose sight of the big picture.

We need to start appreciating it.

I’m sorry Planet Earth. We’re acting like spoilt brats.