Accents
A mess of economy and ecology
Economy at odds with ecology. The face-off is frightening. Preserve one to the detriment of the other. A temporary balance may exist between the two, but it is getting dangerously fragile by the hour, so much so that at the end of the day, you realize you can't have your cake and eat it too. Why, that truism has been pounded on us since time immemorial. We just can't have it both ways. One side's gotta give: George W. Bush or the environmentalists.
Scientists have accused Pres. George Bush of hiding global warming consequences. Because to Bush and his ilk, heeding the scientists' warning is a risk on the US economy. Because Big Business -- the oil-gobbling corporations no less -- must not be deterred on its way to the bank. Because the American way of life must be preserved even if it means drilling the Alaskan landscape for oil, never mind ecology.
Environmental activist Eugene Linden shakes his head. He gave the US president a mouthful in a satellite feed on BBC, June 3, the channel's opening salvo to the Environment Month of June and the June 5 World Environment Day.
Eugene Linden, author of The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather and the Destruction of Civilizations, said the US government has misled the public as regards global warming. He said scientific findings were "severely edited before the White House released the same to the public. He accused the White House of "cover-up" which allegations the latter denied.
Linden insists the Bush administration refuses to recognize the problem, i.e., global warming which results in shocking climate change. For instance, 2005 saw more hurricanes than any other year. The magnitude of Katrina's devastation boggled the mind, so did the tsunami disaster before that, and now the earthquake in Indonesia that killed more than 5,000. In our own country, rampaging nature wrought killer floods and mudslides. Enough for Linden to conclude that climate with all its cataclysmic changes is the leading weapon of mass destruction, the WMD that dwarfs the hullabaloo that is Iraq's alleged nuclear arsenal.
Scientific consensus points to man's misuse of nature that provoked and will continue to provoke its wrath unless you and I do something about environmental degradation: the dwindling natural resources, air and water pollution, the hole in the ozone layer, and the rising thermostat. The last got me and my granddaughter Raisa June in a comedy of errors that did not produce a laugh, only sunburn. Confused with the place and time of a presumed appointment, we walked under the same splendid, silent sun, but the heat was blistering as never before in summers past. I wonder how much more global warming would Raisa's great-great-grandchildren suffer unless...you and I do something about environmental degradation.
What can an ordinary citizen do? Let's have that catch line again: Think globally, act locally. And to act locally is to summon the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And by all means, by everyone, anytime, anywhere follow The Earth's Ten Commandments.
Some five years ago, I wrote a column that included The Earth's Ten Commandments that I'm reprinting here. Call me repetitive, nagging, or badgering, I won't mind -- for the sake of the environment. Read, imbibe, and do translate into action:
- I. You shall love and honor the earth for it blesses your life and governs your survival.
- II. You shall keep each day sacred to the earth and celebrate the turning of its seasons.
- III. You shall not hold yourself above other living things nor drive them to extinction.
- IV. You shall give thanks for your food to the creatures and the planets that nourish you.
- V. You shall limit your offspring for multitudes of people are a burden unto the earth.
- VI. You shall not kill or waste earth's riches upon weapons of war.
- VII. You shall not pursue profit at the earth's expense but strive to restore its damaged majesty.
- VIII.You shall not hide from yourself or others the consequences of your actions upon the earth.
- IX. You shall not steal from future generations by impoverishing or poisoning the earth.
- X. You shall consume material goods in moderation so all may share earth's bounty.
Mother Earth's ten commandments transcend race, creed, color, and nationality. As sacred as the ten handed to Moses of Bible fame.
(Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)