We as humanity face a conundrum. Very few among us wilfully advocate the extinction of species or the suffering of our fellow humans. Yet we face rampant environmental destruction that is imposing hardship on millions.
If so many of us care about nature, why is our impact on the Earth accelerating rather than being reigned in? If so many of us care about our fellow human beings, why is there such disparity in living standards? Why do so few have so much , while so many have so little ?.A by-product of the industrial age is the disconnection between us and the natural world that sustains us. We have developed a temporal and physical disconnection from the resources that sustain us and from our impact on them.
Our ancestors had a direct connection to nature. Meat had to be caught, and killed , carried and skinned, a taxing business. Fruit and vegetables had to be found growing in the wild or carefully tended. That effort caused our ancestors to waste very little. Modern life has removed that connection and the realisation of our impact on the earth.
Supermarket and packaging methods hide the processes involved in feeding us. In short the consequences for our actions are delayed or hidden, so we assume they are waived.
But in the same way as overspending on a credit card leads to consequences, so does depleting the ‘bank account’ of fresh water, clean air and unpolluted soil that keep us alive.
Ask fishermen about the size and numbers of the once abundant stocks in their nets and your will get a depressing picture of just how great the problem is. Fishing communities all over the world are ending a way of life that has changed little over centuries. That is one example of one sector, but its is a telling urgent and tragic one.
So how doest humanity reduce the consequences of our over consumption?. We simply have to act individually and collectively to reduce our impact on the world . There’s no shortage of information on how to do that. It just needs to be done by enough people. And acting on it must be impressed on the government leaders who will meet in Copenhagen xxx to devise the next generation of guidelines on limiting carbon emission and fighting climate change.
We cannot continue to live like this. We cannot maintain our assault on the natural world and expect it to sustain us. The 2008 Living planet report of the World Wildlife fund shows that living as we do now will require the resources of two planets by 2030. The report tracks 2000 species and shows they have declined by 30 percent between 1970 and 2006 as a result of human activity. Combating climate change is important for all South Africans, but especially for the poor.
The reality is that the rich have a far greater impact on the planet than the poor. Tragic is the reality that the impact of climate change on the poor is first and worst.
(adapted from article in the Sunday Argus 8th March )
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
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