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Last Updated: Dec 29, 2011 - 2:39:49 AM |
Isn’t it interesting how we call earth, or the world, our home…yet what is your world, my world? We are possessive of our dwellings that we rent or have paid for. We claim ownership of our community, city, or island we live in. Why? Is it a sense of wanting to belong? Yet when someone does something “wrong” we immediately disassociate. We find a way to separate. We may agree as a global community that we need to do something about the state of our world and how we are polluting it, but what are we really doing anyway… all of us…each of us? In our world, in our community…and is it enough?
Recently I had visitors from across the planet (Australia) and I was snapped from my pleasant island numbness as I took them food shopping upon their arrival. So conscious were they to the process of shopping that I was stunned into remembering that I was once similar. More conscientious to what I put in my body, and what products I purchased based upon packaging, and ecology. They carefully read where paper products came from, knowing which countries were huge violators of pollution laws or labor laws etc. They tried to shop organic, but of course that is near impossible here, but they were very pleased to find Butler’s Specialty. They were excited to see the tiny little “organic” label on the eggplant in Winn Dixie, a label I likely would not have seen even though I purchase eggplant all the time.
The Winn Dixie shelf stocker asked them why “organic” was better, and my friend kindly told him why. He told him that organic is as close as nature would have intended for us, and that the product had not been covered with pesticide or herbicide chemicals, and hopefully the ground that it grew in was free of it too. This young man had no idea what “organic” meant until that moment. Being a vegetarian is more than just not eating meat or a diet fad. Many are vegetarians because of the ecological effects on the planet due to the mass raising of animals for food and the depletion of our soil in that process. Many do not get this.
Visitors are often horrified when they ask where they can place their empties and we simply say, “…in the garbage – we don’t recycle”. Well why don’t we? It is easy to say, “Oh I live in The Bahamas, we are a bunch of islands and we don’t recycle because it is too expensive to ship stuff off”. How long can we use this? When are we going to begin? If we can’t keep our own backyard clean, our street, our community, our city, our island – then how can the world, our collective home be clean? We are miles behind other nations in this process. Enough of the excuses... Let’s focus more on ways we can begin and then follow through with action. Education to our children is adamant as they are the future keepers of our earth.
Why not join the National Trust? They are an organization that’s mission is:
”To conserve the natural and historical resources of The Bahamas.” Learn more about the
Bahamas National Trust here
. Read their history, structure, strategic plan, and past accomplishments. Without them where would The Bahamas be, or rather, what would become of us?
On a global scale, the scientists are now telling us that the icecaps are melting at remarkable rates: “This evidence for the imminent collapse of ice sheets in both Greenland and West Antarctica has prompted Dr James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute and arguably the world's foremost authority on climate change, to warn that we have only a decade or so to avert a rise in the oceans of 25m. Picture an eight-storey building by the beach, then imagine waves washing over its roof. That's what a 25m rise looks like.”
The Bulletin Newsweek
(I suggest reading this entire article!)
Some VERY pertinent information I hope you will take time to read:
A visual of the ice cap glacier change
Common Dreams News Center – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community
Take Action – See this!
“The Great Warming” opens in select theaters in 2006
Saving the Planet Will Require Community Effort
Churches and Environmentalists Spread the Word about Global Warming
That gloomy distant future we thought was so far away has crept up to a ten-year countdown unless we do something – and NOW. We can no longer be complacent. What are we teaching our children, and what are we leaving our children…
Earth is my home, our home…and it needs us.
© Copyright 2006 by thebahamasweekly.com
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