SAN FRANCISCO, 14 November – Our planetary life support systems are under siege, especially the bees, trees and seas.
Bees are food. Trees are freshwater. Seas are oxygen.
So, why are the bees, trees and seas and everything else within Nature getting destroyed?
The three underlying root causes of our ruinous civilisation: legal, economic and political systems, are all based on the assumption of Man’s supremacy.
The economy is built on human productivity, human inventiveness and plundering Mother Earth’s finite living and non-living jewels. This is why Amazon, Jeff Bezos’s company, is backed by bankers and valued by the economy at >$2tn.
{What’s the difference between a million, billion and trillion in relatable terms? One million seconds is about 12 days. One billion seconds is about 32 years. One trillion seconds is about 32,000 years.}
Amazon the Rainforest, the most complex biologic terrestrial system (with its vital flying rivers as intercontinental breadbasket irrigators), has no economic value until it’s logged, ranched, fracked, mined, fished, pipelined, thoroughfared, plundered for timber and animals (live or dead) by transnational organised crime, dammed, planted with soybeans (slathered in neonics and glyphosate) for animal feed, or built upon.
The economy purposefully disregards Nature. Yet without Nature, there is no economy. There are no humans because it becomes impossible to colonise Earth.
Humans have built political, economic and legal systems, shaped and constrained with directed behaviours and activities that are based on endless commodification of Nature, consumption, materialism and skyrocketing toxic waste.
Cloaked in greed and indelibly stained in Mother Earth blood-money, all political, economic and legal systems will fail. Overt plundering of Wilderness, Native Rainforests, Grasslands, Peatlands, Wetlands, Rivers, Lakes, Oceans and bottoms, Seagrass Meadows, Corals and all animals therein are happening at warp speed. And deadly heatwaves, droughts, firestorms and floods (from accelerated burning of fossil fuels, wooden pellets and palm oil) are the agonising end.
Action is the Antidote
The single biggest thing that YOU can do, right this moment, is change YOUR behaviour. Switch to a plant-based diet. It’s water-smart, healthy, compassionate and a necessity.
Be kind. Do random acts of selfless goodness. Smile more.
Join direct-action conservation groups and disobedient uprisings to protect native forests, wetlands, grasslands, the oceans and all Earth’s animals.
Eschew consumerism and materialism. Go debt-free. Reconnect with Mother Earth by earthing. Put YOUR bare feet onto our Mother’s soils, rocks, shorelines. Get grounded by regularly feeling Earth’s vibration.
Vote for politicians that protect our planet. Or better still, become an elected official and help devise community future-proofing action plans.
Harness the sun by making a clothes line. Walk more, ride a bicycle more, ride share and use public transit. Become thrifty by mimicking nature.
Plant food-bearing trees. Refuse chemicals in your yard. Don’t rake the leaves, many solitary bee species nest within the fallen leaves. Grow food in a pollinator friendly garden with vermiculture and compost. And share YOUR food with family, friends and neighbours. Communities are only as resilient as the people who actively participate within.
Support local farmer’s markets and local businesses. Consume sparingly.
Spend at least 15 minutes daily next to a BIG tree, disconnected from electronic device(s). Those airborne tree medicines (phytoncides), twelve months of the year, are THE most potent tonic YOU can share with YOUR body. It’s free. While YOU are at it, hug that tree and commit to protecting native forests.
Join non-violent rallies and straighten up proudly for Mother Earth. Or, make a sign and stand on a corner, and let people know that YOU refuse to be silent.
WE must not go quietly into the imminent collapse of civilisation.
Bees. Trees. Seas.
Reese Halter is a bees/trees/seas defender.
Unearthly Wails is a special edition, a collection of poetry
illustrated by renowned Ojibwa artist Terry McCue.
Email: HalterBooks@gmail.com to order
