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Global Warning - Jan 1, 2007 - Printable Version
- Letter From the Earth
by Robin Buckallew
Happy New Year from Mom. Yes, you remember me, Mom. Mother Earth. Although you never write, and you rarely stop to spare me a thought, you’re on my mind constantly. I suppose that’s not too surprising, when I’m carrying your weight around on my back every day. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, it’s just something mothers do. We don’t expect thanks, and we’re not too surprised when you don’t even notice the little things, the special little touches we prepare to make your day a little nicer. Like that splendid sunrise you occasionally take time to notice in the eastern sky. Like those colorful wildflowers I spread around in your life every spring. Like the cool breezes that warm you in the summer. I have provided many things that ease your path and make your life more pleasurable. Now, as we all look back at the year gone by, and turn our face to the year ahead, I would like to talk to you about a few things that concern me. I do this now, because I am not feeling well. I don’t know how much longer I can continue supporting you in the style you’ve come to take for granted, and I want to have a motherly talk with you while I’m still able. Is that concern I see? You didn’t know I was ill? Let’s talk about that. I’ve always had a bit of problem with indigestion, you know. I’ve always had times when I just had to let off steam, or maybe a giant burp. From time to time, I’ve had to rearrange the furniture to make my core more comfortable. This was never anything serious, just the regular workings of a physical world that grows, develops, and changes. Lately, however, things have been different. One of my species that I’ve borne and nurtured has been tearing giant holes in my crust, looking for the substances I hid deep underground. I hid them there for a reason – many of them are highly toxic, flammable, or explosive, and I didn’t think youngsters should be playing with them. Unfortunately, some of my youngsters proved a bit precocious, and also a bit greedy, and tore me apart in their eagerness to uncover my secrets. Then, this same youngster began to encase me in concrete. My lovely carpet of grass, trees, and wildflowers, the coat of many colors that I wore so proudly, has been rent asunder, and patched with forbidding, dreary gray. The weight is immense, and I bear the burden so sadly. It is even more regretful that my youngsters see this dreary gray as an improvement. The subtle splashes of color against the vivid green backdrop, all surrounded with a beautiful watery blue, were despised by blind souls who see only the dull gray of industry, accented by the dull green of money. It’s enough to make any mother weep.
Enough about decorating. Let’s talk about temperature. I have one favor to ask of you, in return for all the years of food, shelter, and raw materials I’ve provided. WILL YOU QUIT TURNING UP THE HEAT, ALREADY? You’re melting my beautiful ice caps, and drowning my polar bears (I was rather proud of the polar bears – such a fabulous idea I had, and where has it gotten me but a world of sadness?). You’re wilting my plants, and killing my trees. You’re fouling my beautiful blue skies with a putrid-smelling, foul gray smoke that irritates my eyes, stings my throat, and makes me quite nauseous. You’re sinking my islands, and draining my swamps. And for what? So you can have rapid transportation that carries you from one gray city to the other, and you never have to notice the beautiful greens, yellows, oranges, reds, pinks, and purples I’ve provided for you along the way. You rush from house to garage to office to mall in a closed-in, concrete world, and see my beautiful decorations as must so much annoyance to be avoided as much as possible. OK, I can accept that we don’t have the same taste in decorating. After all, not everyone can have my exquisite eye for color and texture. But do you have to destroy everything? Can’t you save just a little for your poor old mother?
The heat may not seem like such a bad thing to you right now. You have your air conditioning to protect you, even though you know it’s also creating more warming problems that will lead to the need for still more air conditioning. What protection do I have? I can’t get away from the heat, or the smoke, or the toxic stew of chemicals. I have to live with it 24/7. My fever is increasing, and my nausea won’t go away. I am beginning to have problems breathing, as they witnessed in France when my lungs (the trees) couldn’t even breathe out as much oxygen as they did carbon dioxide. My whole system is failing, and you don’t even seem to notice. And parts of me are disappearing. My temperate old growth forests that once graced much of North America are nearly gone. My tropical forests are rapidly falling away. My remaining wetlands are polluted and suffering. My skies are full of hot, poisonous smog. Tell me, my children. Has anything you’ve ever built been a match for the glory of the Grand Canyon? Or the spectacular Everglades? Oh, yes, I know. You’re now putting tax money into restoring the Everglades. Were you aware that much of that money went to the sugar producers who are using the Everglades to grow sugar cane? Please, at least think of my incomparable Everglades every time you drink a Coke® or eat a Twinkie®. Think of the crocs and gators, the lilies and the saw grass that gave their life for just that moment.
Of course, it wouldn’t be totally fair of me to leave you like this, accusing you of totally ignoring my plight. Finally, in 2006, thanks to Al Gore and his touring slide show, global warming has “come into the mainstream”, as the pundits have pointed out. Why, in a list of the top ten news stories of 2006, global warming came in at number 11! It’s really on the radar screen of everyone now! They’re talking about it in the U.N., they’re talking about it in England, they’re talking about it in the Maldive Islands, they’re talking about it in the White House, of all places, where your juvenile delinquent president finally nominated the polar bear for listing on the endangered species list because of global warming. They’re talking about it everywhere now, whenever there’s a lull from worrying about who is going to be the American Idol, or whether Tom Cruise will be able to make this marriage last. You take time to wonder what the government is going to do about it, while you’re pumping another tank of gas into your Suburban. You wonder who’s going to solve the problem as you rush from one air conditioned building to another in your rat race, money-making routine. When is Dubya going to solve this problem? When is Congress going to pass a law to “fix” global warming? When is someone going to make a product you can buy to stop the world from heating up? One thing you rarely stop to ask yourself is – what can I do? How can I make a substantial difference? What am I doing other than sending an occasional $10 to the Nature Conservancy?
Dear children, listen to your mother. Make this year a new beginning. Your life, and the life of millions of other species (except, of course, the cockroach) may depend on it.
**No offense intended to Mark Twain and his wonderfully satiric masterpiece, Letters From the Earth.
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