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Neglecting the ‘Earthship’ will affect all of us adversely |
We are on the Earthship, making annual treks around the sun and we are navigating through space, the final frontier. The only difference is all the strange species we are supposed to encounter, both hostile and friendly are right here on our ship and we hardly notice them until they are on the endangered list. As for the big holes in our atmosphere, we are oblivious to them unless some environmental “extremists” start throwing water balloons and smashing windows at the G-8 and other economic summits. We are amused and maybe some of us will pause and ponder for a bit but that is it. We then pretend to be deaf while environmentalists keep screaming until they go hoarse.
In trekkie talk, we have lost our shields and are under attack but are doing nothing to protect ourselves! We must be the only species, which even though it has the capability to halt destruction, chooses to ignore the mass extinction that takes place around us. Luckily, the Federation (United Nations) seems to think it is important enough. According to a study conducted by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Earthship's species are dying out at an alarming rate, up to 1000 times faster than their natural rate of extinction. By examining fossil records and ecosystem destruction, scientists estimate that as many as 137 species disappear from the Earthship each day, which means an astonishing 50,000 species go extinct every year!
Do We Need Nature?
That is a stupid question for we are a part of nature; nature is not a part of us. Most people get the two mixed up. So while nature can do without us and probably good riddance too, we can’t survive without nature. Why? Because we cannot survive inhaling carbon monoxide and continuous exposure to ultra violet rays. The earth we stand on is a part of nature as much as the water we drink, the air we breathe, the space we occupy and the fire or light from the sun’s rays that keep us warm.
But Do We Need The Biodiversity?
Surely extinction of around 50,000 species a day hasn’t killed us yet. So why bother about insignificant stuff like environment, biodiversity and habitat preservation? But seriously would you really be interested in the extinction of a micro organism or an insect? I think 99 percent of us could care less. It is like asking if we need our hands since our body can function without them. Our technological developments can even supplement us with artificial limbs. But what if you are told that the extinction of the insect would lead to the destruction of the fertility of the soil from where your food comes from? That will most likely get our notice. What if you are told these organisms are the ones that act as natural filters for clean air, water and earth? So they do matter in the larger scheme of things though it may not be apparent to us immediately. Soon most of them would be extinct from everywhere except our imaginations and in books.
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| Will controlling the weather be the norm in warfare in the future? |
Unfortunately for us, Captain Picard is the US Government which prefers to ignore these issues, most importantly global warming. He is not interested in getting “Commander Data” to repair the shields and fight back, but is more interested in Weapons of Mass Digging to prove something he claimed was there, and also in using the current data to make new weapons! The Pentagon’s top strategists are very much into new age weapons and to understand what has them so excited, do read the report, “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather In 2025,” which is essentially how to wage weather wars without using soldiers. “The study envisions future generals having at their disposal an impressive weather-control arsenal for tactical operations. These weapons would include unmanned stealth aircraft that could seed clouds above massing troops with fine particles of heat-absorbing carbon. This next-generation cloud-seeding technique would, in turn, produce localized flooding and create mud, which has been the bane of all of history's armies. Airborne lasers would cause lightning to discharge over the airframes of attack and surveillance aircraft. Other lasers would fire at fog banks, clearing a temporary flight path to high-value targets, such as command posts. In addition, still more powerful microwave transmitters would heat the ionosphere, altering its reflective properties in ways that would disrupt communications among enemy field commanders.” (An excerpt from Popular Mechanics published in 1997). This is no science fiction.
What Are We Doing?
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| In North America, brush fires are burning up large areas and causing more wide scale destruction |
Not that the rest of the crew including myself, does anything substantial to save our Earthship. We are aware the weather is changing because of global warming and that we are not immune to it. Just as signs of climate change are becoming clearer throughout the Arctic, scientists are losing some of their ability to keep track of them; the funds are being reallocated to more important studies like mating patterns of rats! This is frustrating most climatologists and is making environmental skeptics grin. In some areas the situation is alarming. In South Asia, the monsoons are not conforming to centuries old established patterns any more. In Nepal, in August 2002, some villagers took to desperate measures—women tilled in the nude and men performed frog marriages to appease the rain god! People are dying of heat waves in India. Africa is facing biblical drought. In North America, brush fires are burning up large areas and causing more wide scale destruction than ever before while earthquakes and tornadoes take their toll in West and South East Asia.
With the disappearance of rain forests, hacked off by us in the name of development, we are destroying habitats which means we are burying hundreds of species in their mass graves. And the best idea we can come up with is emission trading thought up by some “geniuses” and put into the Kyoto Treaty. Are we unable to use our brains anymore?
Maybe that is why we need an Earth Day and an Environment Day – to make us aware that our Enterprise is going to the dogs and if we don’t do something fast most of the species, including our own, will be on the endangered list. What kind of a world does this leave for our children and grandchildren? Why would we repair a broken window in our own house but not on our Earthship? The thinking seems to be—others will take care of it while I sit in my air conditioned room, eating “health” foods and watching the economic summits on TV. Unfortunately, the others are doing the same thing as you.
Our Earthship is in need of major repairs and we can ignore them at the peril of our own extinction. You don’t have to do nude tilling, hug trees or perform frog marriages. For starters, see how you can bring down your electricity bill and save yourself some money. Buy more organically grown vegetables and fruits – it is good for your health and would enable poor farmers in third world countries to fight bio-modified seed giants like Monsanto. Listen to what the environmentalists have to say and ask questions. It is that easy.
Earthship Alert! Security Breached and there is no safety zone. Everybody get to their stations and start repairing. |
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