Is the planet better off without us?

Posted on by Opher

There are many who are wonder that with the terrible damage we are presently doing to the planet, whether the place wouldn’t be better off without us.

There are so many disasters. I reckon the major ones are:

Overpopulation
Global Warming
Species extinctions
Extreme pollution

Presently I think we are in grave danger of totally upsetting the ecological balance of the planet and doing permanent damage.

Would the planet be better off without us? That is debateable but if there is nothing left that is sentient to appreciate it would it matter?

I have a few thoughts.

Well certainly the richness of life and abundance would be better without us.

And certainly there are a number of other creatures who are sentient (and intelligent) who might well prosper without us (gorillas, chimps, elephants, whales to name but four).

I certainly appreciate nature and have a great love for animals and plants. I would like to see them flourish and it distresses me to see them treated so badly and suffering so much.

Then, of course, evolution would work to fill in the gaps. There could well be a new highly intelligent species that would eventually replace us and prove to be more compassionate and a better manager of the planet. So that could be good.

But I have a fondness for humanity. I think we are a bit Jekyll and Hyde. Perhaps there is hope for us? Perhaps we can learn to care for the other life we share the planet with? Perhaps we will learn to be less cruel? Perhaps we will learn to manage the natural world a lot better and learn from our mistakes?
I’d like to think so.
You don’t value what you’ve got until its gone, do you?
And the cruel, vicious side of our nature is really our worst side!
But there are many people who do care for nature. That gives me hope!

USA and Brazil – idiotic blindness or gross irresponsibility?

Posted on by Opher

 

Nearly 200 countries came together to produce a comprehensive plan to tackle climate warming at the 24th UN Climate Summit. Only the stupidity of a few climate warming deniers, such as the USA and Brazil, are refusing to participate. Trump and Bolsonaro both, for political reasons, choose to believe the tiny minority of climate warming deniers. For economic and political reasons, they want to support the coal, oil and gas industry.

Trump was voted in by the blue-collar workers whose old technology industries were being shut down. Rather than move on to the new alternative energy industries he promised to keep their old polluting technologies going. There is nothing intelligent about this decision. It is merely a cynical ploy to gain votes. It requires ignoring all the warnings about climate warming. It is short-termist thinking. Instead of promoting the technologies of the future they are stuck in the technologies of the past. In the long run these old industries are doomed. America could be at the forefront of the new technologies but is allowing other countries to leave them in their wake.

Bolsonaro is similar but even worse. He was elected for the same reasons as Trump – so many are being left behind in extreme poverty by this globalisation that is lining the pockets of a small elite at the expense of the vast majority. They wanted someone to represent them and chose an extreme right-wing popularist. He promised to deal with their poverty by bulldozing the rainforest and stimulating the economy. Without regard for the future he wants to remove all environmental considerations. Building roads and motorways through the Amazon he plans to give free-rein to the logging and mining companies with no thought for the wildlife or pollution. All that matters is short-term gain.

This is capitalism gone mad. All that matters is profit. The mantra is growth. The result is huge profits for the few. They leave the vast majority of people in squalor as the inequality grows.

Surely somehow, we have to get out of this crazy cycle?

The world does not have infinite resources. It is necessary for us to both limit our numbers and live sustainable. The natural world is precious. We have to protect it.

So well-done the responsible 200! Time to wake up to the real world Trump and Bolsonaro!

Mother Nature is a myth just like Father Christmas.

Posted on by Opher

There is no such thing as Mother Nature – it’s a human construct like Father Christmas. There is no automatic super mother stepping in to sort things out. There is just an exceedingly complex ecosystem that has taken billions of years to evolve and we are fucking it up in no time at all.

Yes it is possible that a virus will mutate but there is no certainty of that. I hope it does. Wiping out 99% of humans would not be a bad thing for the planet – even if it did kill off me and my family.

A far better solution is for us to use our intelligence and sort the problems we have created out for ourselves.

Overpopulation, pollution, species extinction, deforestation, global warming, habitat destruction – they are all in our remit to fix.

The Crash – a poetic metaphor.

Posted on by Opher

The Crash

 

500 M.P.H.

Car and rock

Slow mo

Frame by frame

Paint

Bumper

From split seconds

Into decades

Radiator

Engine

Crumple zones

Decades into centuries

Steering wheel

Into chest

Engine into seat

Exploding

Into inferno

Burning out

No survivors

Blazing wreck

Humans

Planet.

 

Opher 20.11.2018

 

 

This is not about a car crash at all. I was merely using that as a metaphor.

The clue is in the last two lines.

Mowing the bloody grass! Global warming is a pain!

Posted on by Opher

It used to be a problem with the lawnmower. When you laid it up for winter it would never start in the Spring. We had to lug it to the shop and get it fixed. We don’t have that problem now. It never gets much of a lay off at all!

I’m mowing the bloody grass through into December! I start again in March!

This is what happens with global warming! And the fools say it isn’t happening! They should come and see my garden!

But at least I don’t have the lawnmower maintenance costs! I just wear it out quicker!

A letter to a denier of environmental disaster.

Posted on by Opher

Dear Denier,

you seem to live in your own little world where you can forget what is happening elsewhere and claim firstly to have no knowledge of it (that everyone is lying) and secondly to be ignorant of the impact you do have.

I presume that you do consume energy, have possessions and do some travelling. You do have a carbon footprint and utilise materials. What you don’t care about is the ethics of how all this is being done in your name and the impact it is having on nature all round the globe.

What you don’t seem to care about is the impact of the rest of the 8 billion people on the other creatures that live here on this planet with us.

And what you are in denial over is the impact all that is going to be having on your life and particularly the lives of your descendants. You don’t seem at all bothered.

Who cares if there are no elephants, chimps or hedgehogs? Doesn’t bother you. You’re not killing them (directly). But you are.

You won’t be bothered until such time that the impact arrives in your house.

The fact that the mass immigration is already affecting you does not seem to register.

What happens at a distance will come home to roost.

The palm oil in your shampoo is killing orangutans.

The CO2 from your electricity is changing the climate.

But you simply deny all the evidence, call the scientists liars.

Global Warming is real and threatens us severely.

Posted on by Opher

Science is based on accurate observation followed by hypothesis and testing.

As is obvious with testing we do not have a control group for the planet.

We have observed the heating of the planet very accurately. It is heating up.

We have looked for reasons.

In previous tropical ages there were natural phenomena. In ice ages there were natural phenomena.

These changes were brought about by things outside our control – solar output variations or volcanic activity.

We have not observed any such activity.

What we have observed is that the greenhouse gas CO2 is building up in high levels due to human activity through burning fossil fuels. This correlates.

The greenhouse effect of CO2 has been verified using scientific method, with controls.

The global warming is having a marked effect on weather patterns and rises in sea level. If the temperatures rise much more those changes will increase dramatically.

Intelligence says that if you have a problem you look for a way of fixing it. Global warming is a hell of a problem.

We could put mirrors in space to reflect heat.

We could put my water into the air to form cloud to reflect heat.

We could reduce CO2 levels.

You know what – I think CO2 reduction is the easiest and best way to solve the problem.

Global Citizen – 87 Elephants massacred in Botswana

Posted on by Opher

The biggest poaching incident ever. This beautiful intelligent animals slaughtered by poachers!

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/elephants-killed-botswana-poachers/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UK_07_Sep_2018_content_digest_alive

Global Citizen – A planet in Crisis.

Posted on by Opher

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/union-of-concerned-photographers-environment/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UK_07_Sep_2018_content_digest_alive

Neil Young – Mother Earth (A Natural Anthem)

Posted on by Opher

It is about time that we started respecting the planet we all live on and depend on! Neil Young has done a great job with this anthem.

Mother Earth

Oh, Mother Earth,
With your fields of green
Once more laid down
by the hungry hand
How long can you
give and not receive
And feed this world
ruled by greed
And feed this world
ruled by greed.

Oh, ball of fire
In the summer sky
Your healing light,
your parade of days
Are they betrayed
by the men of power
Who hold this world
in their changing hands
They hold the world
in their changing hands.

Oh, freedom land
Can you let this go
Down to the streets
where the numbers grow
Respect Mother Earth
and her giving ways
Or trade away
our children’s days
Or trade away
our children’s days.

Respect Mother Earth
and her giving ways
Or trade away
our children’s days.