Some Pondering About Things that Trouble Me

I only have so much time before it's all gone, or either I die, to roam this earth on foot and soak up the natural medicine that fills me with something I need deep down. It's a strong force that speaks to me in primitive ways that I cannot explain in words. It is a feeling that only others who seek it and truly experience it understand, which is ironic because religious people say the very same thing, and as everyone knows, I don't have a religious bone in my body. But if there is spirituality or something like it in us, I'd say the outdoors is about as close as it gets for me.

What I'm talking about has nothing to do with any kind of religious belief, however I'm sure many who seek what I seek are of all walks of life, including the religious amongst us. I'm fine with that of course. Anyone who is a friend of nature and our planet has my respect. For that matter any decent human being who cares about humanity has my respect. But I think I'm digressing a tiny bit.

I'll continue. Natural things in outdoor settings is where it's at for me. It is what I need to feel whole and connected to the universe of which I'm made of. I can think of nothing more natural and powerful than the forces of our ever changing universe at work and how it affects all life as we know it and how it affects me personally.

But I'm deeply troubled. The balance of things is way out of whack, which is blatantly evident. Species all over the planet are going extinct at alarming rates, oceans are becoming depleted and dying from over fishing and pollutants of all kinds, including very dangerous toxins that do untold damage to marine life.

Plastics are a problem because they pollute the waters with poisonous particles that are starting to out number the plankton in a large chunk of ocean. I just learned that by the way watching a documentary and was astounded by it. I've always known that without plankton in healthy numbers, the ocean will deteriorate until there is only a vast uninhabitable wasteland of water. But I didn't know that plastics played a huge role in that deterioration. How long will it take to saturate the whole ocean with our pollutants? Without the oceans, most everything on this planet will go extinct including humans.

Not only are our oceans a huge concern, other ecosystems are failing as well. Our fragile lives hang in the balance. Not just our lives, but every living thing, or mostly everything. Cock roaches may very well survive when nothing is left and I'm sure the planet will survive as well, as it has for billions of years. And other life will probably remain, such as microbes and extremephiles in particular. But life as we know and want it, will be gone. It's already slipping from our grasp second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, year by year...

The question is will we be able to do enough globally to buy us more time and possibly even reverse the damage being done? I implore people to really think this over if they are not doing so already. For the sake of generations to come, this is the most important problem the people of earth need to be concerned with.

You know about all those damned stupid religious wars over in the middle east and the ones here at home. You know about the endless wars fought due to cultural differences. You know about the conflicts of all sorts in different societies, anything from race issues to abortion. I could go on and on about problems that plague us all, but the thing most people seem to fail to realize, is none of it is going to matter if something isn't done about the planet that sustains each of us, because we simply won't be here anymore, which frankly I think sucks.

I fear my children will see in their lifetimes our ecosystems rapidly disintegrating, which will result in horrible famines the likes of which none have ever seen, terrible violence too close to home because of very scarce rescorces available, and panicked people, etc... If people all over this planet don't take heed of the evidence everywhere that our species is in trouble, we are doomed to see major upheaval and collapse. I don't want my children to have to live through that horror.

Make no mistake. This isn't end of the world prophecy bullshit, this is humankind pushing the limits and racing towards destroying itself because of competition and selfish consumption. For that matter, I think all the religious nuts in the world are trying their best to make things happen to fit their mystical prophecies of doom for the people of earth. They are so determined to be right about their beliefs they will throw the baby out with the bathwater. Dumb asses.

I hope it's not too late and that we will prevail to save our planet. I try not to dwell too much on it, but I have to get on my soap box every once in a while to hopefully reach some and it turn into a ripple effect.

Now I'm in no way perfect. I'm trying to practice what I preach. I could consume less and am making an effort to do so. I use energy efficient light bulbs. I save water as much as possible and don't water in the summer even though the yard really needs it. I turn off lights constantly, and try to use as less energy as possible heating and cooling the house. I compost as much material as I can and recycle many things, often turning them into some kind of art project. I've found all kinds of useful things that don't need to be in the landfills sitting by curb sides and various places that can be refurbished or somehow recycled. So I think I'm off to a good start.

How about you?