Sunday, March 25, 2007

An inconvenient truth for all of us!

The other day, I was watching the Oscars night and naturally, I saw Al Gore receiving an Oscar for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
While there may be many among us who don't really think too much of Al's "truth", we cannot ignore the enormous climatic changes that are taking place around us.
In most developed and developing nations around the globe, as well as in faraway places that few of us have heard of, the radical changes that are affecting the land are now becoming news items.
Take for example, the fires in Australis, the blizzards in Europe, earthquakes in Asia and the tsunami of 2004.
While, it is a little premature to pronounce the end of the world, it would be prudent to pay heed to the signals provided by Mother Nature. It should make sense for us to interpret these conditions, sometimes violent, as signs that there is something seriously wrong with our planet.
Now, what can we do about this? To begin with, we need to consult the people who know best about this kind of phenomenon. Then, we can proceed to the next level where we will have to study the ecological cycles and attain a near complete understanding of the climatic changes that are affecting all our lives.
Once we know exactly what is happening around us, we can proceed to find ways to arrest the decline in normal weather and seek remedies to alleviate our unexpected suffering.
This world of ours is a living organism. It is on a global scale but when you look at it as just like life form, you will begin to understand that like all other life forms, it will adapt and survive according to the laws it knows best.
Our time on earth if finite, so will be the lives of our children and grandchildren. Our duty, first to our family and then to the rest of the others around the earth is to ensure that the planet is safe or in better condition as when we first occupy it.
The inconvenient truth for most people is that they have to exert some efforts to bring about a better planet. Few ever care that that small piece of paper or plastic cover is ever going to change the fate of the world.
Translate that act of throwing a plastic bag into the bush by a few hundred million times, you will begin to grasp the bigger picture. That is the inconvenient truth that we hardly are able to bring ourselves to see.
Frankly, this planet is all we have. If we do not know how to cherish it, the owner, Mother Earth, is going to be rather unpleasant about her recalcitrant tenants.
Mother Earth has many ways of making us see and experience our mistakes. For a start, she can call upon her other siblings named typhoon, hurricane and tornadoes to give us a big nudge.
Failing which, Mother Earth can put in a trunk call to her bigger brother, earthquake and to add in more muscle, she can enlist her elder sister volcano to really wake us up.
For time immemorial, human beings have had the times of their lives. We didn't have to pay any rent of importance to Mother Earth for staying in her premises. In the last 50 years, we have been quite irresponsible and have been up to no good.
The roof of the world is "leaking". In other words, the ozone layer has been punctured by our misuse and abuse of gases of all kinds.
It is no longer a joke because the polar caps are melting at a dramatic rate. Soon, if this goes unchecked, the icebergs will start drifting in our directions, wherever we are staying.
In the worst case scenario, the earth axis may shift and all of us will experience an earth-shattering phenomenon called Absolute Zero. In other words, the temperature will drop to about minus 275 degress Centigrade in certain areas and all life forms will be rendered impossible in a matter of days or hours.
Sounds ridiculous but theoretically, it can happen, and you know what theories can do when the right conditions are in place.
Al Gore is right on several counts. If we continue to ignore what is blatant before our eyes, soon all of us will be blind. Yes, life is cheap for some people and not much to look forward to for others, but let's not forget that we homo sapiens have survived greater disasters before.
It will be insulting our own intelligence to parlay with Mother Nature. The time for "negotiations" is near over. Mother Nature is no longer amused. Neither is Mother Earth. Together they form a formidable pair. And they can really make us suffer.
In the "best case" scenario, we will all die suddenly. In the bad case scenario, death will be slow in coming, but nevertheless the outcome is still the same.
Strange it seems that it took Hollywood to highlight one of the most important and phenomenal changes taking place on earth. Perhaps it is for the better.
It's only via the cinema that people will gain a better understanding of some of the biggest challenges ever to be faced by man.
Now it's time to get off your knees and get out to work to fight for Mother Earth. Only through her safety and well being, can we ensure our own.