EOC 172: A Stolen Future

Taking Action on Climate Change

Environmentalism and its sister message of conservation have echoed throughout the ages. The love, fascination, and sublime fear of nature have been as much a part of humankind as any book or historical document can recall.

But, it doesn’t mean that we’ve always understood our duty to it, or even been able to comprehend our capacity to permanently change it. In fact, despite our affinity to the outdoors, our respect of Mother Earth has often come second to our ability to dominate it.

• From animal heads we can hang on our walls, to great beasts domesticated to do our work, to the conquering of savage animals prowling in the night, coming to snatch our sleeping children from their beds. From gold mined deep in the earth to finance our futures, and diamonds sold in one part of the world at the cost of warfare in another.It’s pretty clear that our relationship to the only home we have isn’t one where home is where the heart is – but one that actually has much more to do with what can I get from you today? This isn’t a relationship. This isn’t symbiosis or cooperation. It’s parasitic. It’s unstable, abusive, domestic assault.

• Our respect of Mother Earth has often come second to our ability to dominate it.

• This psychological, masochist condition is made all the worse by our impending need to ever-expand. More clothes, bigger homes, exotic vacations, faster cars, fancier toys, stronger weapons. Compelled by an economy that drives us to innovate and produce at a pace faster and more cost-efficient than our neighbor, drives a system that rewards planetary destruction. And the cost is measured in dollars and cents, not in the intrinsic value of nature’s precious resources or limited space. It’s not measured by the value of animals, insects, bacteria, or even humans. The concept of cost rarely even considers a timeline within our own life expectancy. The latter of which, baffles the philosophical mind.

  The irony is that our environmental movement was born out of a need to save us from ourselves. Most “environmental regulations” were spurred when toxins brought on from industrial development were known to be directly poisoning us. Often, it is in these times that the rationale of humanity seem to compel us to take lasting action to protect ourselves, and only indirectly on behalf of the environment.

  Sadly, the cause of climate change or global warming is no different. The case for keeping our atmosphere from the edge of a runaway Greenhouse Effect isn’t just for endangered animals, dying coral, ocean acidification, or plant die-off. It’s for us too.

  On this episode of the Eyes on Conservation podcast we take a brief look at the causes of climate change, the animals most at risk, our addiction to anthropocentric progress, and a quick walk through the history of environmentalism by taking a closer look at the late Rachel Carson, her groundbreaking work, “Silent Spring”, and the culmination of humankind’s response to our environment distress in the global effort – our global effort – to save our asses, in the United Nation’s works through the International Panel on Climate Change.

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  This episode of the Eyes on Conservation podcast is intended to do one thing: implore you to take action this year when it comes to the future of planet Earth. And if you think this doesn’t apply to you, then your call is to take the next step.

• “A Sense of Wonder”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isoJxPZH1LQ (Here, writer and actress Kaiulani Lee portrays Rachel Carson in the biographical play, “A Sense of Wonder”. The play has been touring the world for nearly a quarter of a century.)

• RACHEL CARSON SILENT SPRING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3jAQBqb38 (Taken from American Experience on PBS)

• 6th Great Mass Extinction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=cmb5hn2X2ok (From video, produced of Stanford Biology Professor, Paul Ehrlich. Credit: Rob Jordan)

• What is Climate Change?

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/ipcc-report-climate-change-impacts-forests-emissions/ (From National Geographic, October, 2018)

Greta Thurnberg, United Nations, Poland

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/13/you_are_stealing_our_future_greta (15 year old Greta Thurnberg addresses the United Nations on taking effective action on Climate Change)