It’s up to us to change our planet’s self-destructive course 
The Universe
(June 04, 2006)
I have much sympathy and understanding with people
who are illiterate. There are social economic and personal difficulties
that have left them this way. About 40 percent of the children that the
Preda charity rescues from the streets and prison are illiterate. In developing countries like the Philippines,
millions of children are illiterate because they have been driven into
poverty because of disastrous climatic change. Typhoons, drought,
floods, landslides and volcanic eruptions destroy their lives. Man made
disasters too such as mining and logging have devastating effect. The
rich make the distribution of wealth to the poor an empty dream. As many
as 1.2 million Filipino children have to work and never go to school.
Thus, they cannot read danger signs and many are electrocuted, drowned
or die from poison. Those with the power to protect and preserve our
planet and all living things have no excuse when they fail to act. We
have to pressure political and community leaders to act now. In the Gospel narrative, Jesus of Nazareth challenges
the rulers of his day to read the political and economic signs of the
times: ”When you see the clouds in East you know one thing when you see
them in the West you know another”, he said. We western people are living such extravagant
lifestyles that we consume three times as much resource as poor people,
and burn fossil fuels in ever-increasing amounts. Oil is now close to
the point of exhaustion, forests are destroyed to clear the land,
rubbish dumps smoulder, the earth is burning and our ‘intelligent’
species is doing it. The planet cannot sustain our wasteful ways. We are pouring massive amounts of carbon dioxide,
sulphur and other gases into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels
and trapping the earth’s heat. This is causing the planet to heat up and
is melting the ice caps. This melting will cause sea levels to rise
dramatically in the coming years. Storm surges will choke estuaries and
flooding of vast areas of farm land will be inevitable. If you have property in low lying coastal areas or
inland by rivers, say goodbye to it now because your grandchildren will
inherit a salty marsh or a sea view. Bangladesh will practically
disappear, as will the low lying islands in the south pacific.
Scientists say a one meter rise in sea levels is inevitable. The captains of commerce and their political puppets
are either scientifically illiterate or refuse to read the signs of the
times. Neo-conservative-led governments refuse to put a cap on the
emissions of gasses that industry produces as the Kyoto protocol
demands. It is up to each of us to recycle and prevent
environmental damage. We must pressure politicians to be true stewards of
creation and to save our planet.[End]
