Our Planet Betrayed

Nature Betrayed

Looking back at the dawn of the 21st century, I vividly remember daring to hope that this remarkable milestone would usher in a renewed worldwide vigor focused on confronting life threatening events such as the accelerated destruction of an already compromised environment, the continued fight against toxic global resources and our blatant exasperation of terrorism and armed global conflicts.
Despite my natural tendency to be pessimistic when it comes to believing in mankind, I still remember clinging to the thought that many well respected scientists had finally tacitly agreed that the earth would not be able to sustain the present level of environmental destruction for another century. Indeed, the numbers were sobering as, one after another, scientific hypothetical scenarios came to similar conclusions: mother earth would no longer be able to sustain life as we know it for another 50 or so years. Indeed, the general scientific consensus reached at environmental conferences throughout the world seemed to be that if people continued to use up this planet's resources at the current rate, there would be precious little life left to save by the next century. Thus, the conclusion that drastic environmental changes had to start taking place was obvious...or so, it seemed.
As of 2011, not only has the U.S., and other governments, continued to deny responsibility for setting in motion events which continue to result in environmental disasters but a sense of urgency seems to be lacking on the part of individual politicians. Not only has the death and displacement of millions of people due to tsunamis, earthquakes, mudslides and hurricanes accelerated the size and scope of nature's fury but, thanks to a seemingly misplaced glorification of corporate greed, we have continued to allow off shore drilling in places that have systematically produced one huge environmental disaster after another including this newest BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.
So, who is responsible for creating these growing global economic and environmental disasters? And what about the propagation of terrorism and the continued squandering of earth's natural resources? The fault lies with the global community of course but the U.S.'s role, especially throughout the Bush years, has been particularly deplorable. The co-opting of the 2000 election in Florida followed by the worst terrorist attack suffered on American soil to date assured that the world's only superpower and thus, a major global player, went off half cocked. Since, according to sources, Americans are leaving global footprints three times the size of most other nations (with Great Britain close behind), it seems that "the buck stops here".The undeniable result of America's political agenda for a good part of this decade has resulted in two wars, the further corruption of what was once a sound economic model based on capitalism and, worst of all, a mind blowing environmental policy that has accelerated, rather than slowed, the worst possible grievances against nature to date.
Even the very essence of the American Constitution was perverted in the name of security. For example, what has happened to the idea of separation of Church and State? All of these concerns bring me back to this same question I keep asking myself over and over which is.. "Why have the American people let this happen?"
One of the biggest spiritual lessons humanity needs to learn is the understanding of our evolutionary role as it pertains to life on earth. It is shocking how unenlightened many people's philosophies are regarding our impact upon mother nature's most precious gifts such as animals, plants, oceans and all other forms of life today. The sobering truth is that this whole planet is linked together on a cellular level meaning that if one aspect of life is out of joint, then everything else suffers. Yet people continue to ignore the dangers ahead despite the fact that life as we know it is inexorably intertwined. The passage out of the Old Testament stating that God put man in charge of managing the flora and the fauna to the best of his ability, is sadly one of the most misunderstood and misquoted passages. God's commandment did not mean that man could do as he willed on earth but rather, that the awesome responsibility of keeping life in a healthy balance was bestowed upon us. According to the Old Testament writings, God placed the responsibility of taking care of our earth directly in the hands of mankind!
Sadly, the death toll from violent natural disasters such as the explosive earthquake that ripped through Haiti, the tsunami that tore Japan asunder, and the droughts that are plaguing the African continent are yet other examples of nature's fury resulting in countries being scarred beyond recognition. Nature is striking back but there is no doubt that many of our current environmental disasters are due, in large part, to the effects greedy economic decisions. For the most part, geological experts concede that oil is quickly running out making it imperative that that global consumers find a cleaner, more sustainable source of energy.
Yet, what has been done over the past decade to address fundamental issues such as climate change, the extinction of species, deforestation and the continued poisoning of our drinking water? The answer is sad and pathetic -- very little! Despite President Obama's attempts, over the past few years, to guide businesses towards more sustainable sources of energy, very little has been accomplished because his continuous efforts to broker long term solutions for the current economic crisis have been sabotaged by big money interests. What's even more frightening is that this cabal of the super wealthy have finally managed to buy themselves their very own political puppets who go by the name -- "Tea Party".
When this far-right faction of the Republican party first burst on the scene, I never thought that their philosophies and politics would receive any attention or respect. Far from championing "family" interests, the Tea Party's agenda has centered around providing huge tax breaks to the uber rich directly impacting the current administrations ability to ear-mark government support for health care, day care, jobs, education and social security, in addition to allocating badly needed funds to begin fixing this country's aging infrastructure. The Bush administration made sure that any government agencies meant to oversee banks and corporate restructuring, as well as special branches assigned to policing Wall Street's economic decisions over the past decade were completely de-clawed. The backlash of George Bush's disastrous economic policies reared it's ugly head before President Obama even had a chance to take office. So, why then is no one laying the blame for the 2011 economic meltdown at the feet of this past administration? There is no doubt that America's current financial plight can be directly attributed to the Bush administration.
So, I ask again..."Why is no one driving home the point that this country's predicament can be directly attributed to George Bush's cabinet whose irresponsible military decisions and myopic approach to global economics are the reason why America recently suffered a placement downgrade according to Standard and Poors latest financial analysis. This well respected institution cited the latest congressional and senatorial debacle over raising the debt ceiling as the main reason why there has been a loss of confidence vis a vis the United States's ability to manage it's budget. The worst part of this is that this whole debacle was created mostly by tea party constituents,
We already know that Ronald Reagan's "trickle down economics" was an unmitigated failure so why would George Bush not only champion this economic model by striking down any laws written to protect consumers but, also make sure that any federal oversight agencies created specifically to keep an eye on money market manager's greedy decisions obviously so needed to keep Wall Street in check. So, how much more economic and environmental devastation will it take for human consciousness to wake up?
Thus, back to my initial point. Why are politicians in the U.S. (one of the largest worldwide consumers of resources), global power brokers and members of the Vatican's highest echelon, more concerned about gay marriage, abortion, stem cell research, sex scandals, regulating individual rights to health and happiness, than doing everything in their power to save this planet? How is it even possible that so few people recognize the fact that we are now at the deadly junction of this planet's life or death? And worse, the impending environmental, biological and military catastrophes to come have been somewhat accelerated by the irresponsible rantings of politicians that view the accumulation of power and wealth as the ultimate goal rather than taking a long, hard look at what the pursuit of the almighty dollar is doing to our planet.
I am appalled, frightened, angry, sad and so much more spiritual these days. I really thought mankind would wake up and start putting in place the necessary actions to save this planet. Now, that grave foreboding feeling just keeps growing.
Of course, I don't want to make it sound like no one is trying. There are thousands of commendable people and organizations out there solely dedicated to doing everything they can to save the planet. And to those people, I extend a well respected, "Thank You!". But what about the majority of our politicians? And why is environmental research and development being cut even more so that the wealthiest of American tax payers can keep barely putting in what they are presumably taking out of this country by the billions?
Basically I just want to know, when is enough, enough?