It Really Is the Sixth Great Extinction
This movie from Last Hours only takes 10 minutes to watch and is one of the clearest, simplest explanations of what’s now taking place on Planet Earth – the early days of a sixth mass extinction.
We’ve already passed several tipping points. Many more are to come. Conceivably, governments worldwide will act together to head off a few of them. But there’s no indication that that’s going to happen.
Ironically, as thousands of humans die (no one mentions the other animals, of course) in the Philippines in what’s being called the biggest storm ever known, the nations of the world are meeting in Poland for another round of climate talks. (Poland, ironically, generates about 90 percent of its electricity from coal – a major climate killer.)
According to Secretary-General Michel Jarraud of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “This year once again continues the underlying, long-term trend,” towards higher temperatures caused by global warming that are causing more heat waves and downpours.
You can’t do much to turn it around, but you certainly don’t have to be part of what’s bringing it all about.
These Warsaw talks are working to put together a long-term deal to confront global warming, which is due to be agreed in 2015 in Paris. Frankly, that’s a bit late when you’re already in the middle of the crisis.
And anyway, most developing nations are committed to burning more fossil fuels, cutting down more forests and killing more animals, while most developed nations, like the United States, are trying to keep the voters happy by promoting “growth” – another term for the exploitation of the natural world.
If you ask “What can we do about it?”, the answer is that you can’t do much to turn it around, but you certainly don’t have to be part of what’s bringing it all about. So, three simple things:
- Don’t patronize the factory farming industry, but switch instead to a plant-based diet.
- Support the kinds of organizations that are doing good for our fellow animals and the natural world.
- And don’t waste water, power and gas. Those three in themselves would be a good start.
Bottom line: Don’t be part of the problem. Even though you can’t save the world (none of us can), you don’t have to be part of destroying it, either.