In light of recent environmental disasters, it's time to pose a question. How many of these recent events are attributed to human involvement and how many can be written off as the earth's fury that we couldn't possibly have had any control over? After the death of environmentalist David Brower in 2000, former Congressman and Executive Director of Voice of the Environment, Dan Hamburg wrote, "David Brower challenged us to comprehend both the awesome beauty of creation and the awesome responsibility we have to preserve it. Whether we meet that challenge will determine nothing less than our survival." In the wake of recent events, these words couldn't be more important.
It's true that hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados are a fact of life, and aside from having a slight advance warning to take cover, there is little we can do to prevent them. But what about other global phenomena's such as the recent tsunami, mudslides and the rapidly depleting ozone layer.
Sadly humans have lent a hand in these tragedies. Deforestation of old growth forests has contributed to mudslides, making the soil unstable by taking away the anchors that naturally hold it in place. The Wilderness Society President William H. Meadows, said as early as 1999, "The logging and roadbuilding are doing enormous damage to some of the best lands in America. They pollute our streams, damage wildlife habitat, tarnish the scenery, and promote mudslides."
According to the Earth Island Institute, the formerly exotic vacation paradise of Phuket, Thailand was once populated with a healthy protective layer of coral, sea grass and mangrove forests, underwater barriers all designed by nature to slow the surge of incoming waters. This was all cleared to make way for resorts to lure western tourists and industrial shrimp aquaculture, placing unassuming beach combers in imminent danger. Earth Island Institute reports that, on Simeuleu, a small island near the earthquakes epicenter, the damage was minimal and only four people were killed. Island residents attributed this to the still intact mangrove forests that line the coast and slowed the massive waves that were responsible for so much death and destruction on December 26, 2004. Today, less than half of the world's mangrove forests remain, leaving the door open for similar tragedies to occur in the future. A fisherman on the coast of the Andaman Sea, Trang Province, Southern Thailand
said, "If there are no mangrove forests, then the sea will have no meaning. It is like having a tree with no roots, for the mangroves are the roots of the sea."
Elsewhere, Inuit hunters are bringing a lawsuit against the United States claiming human rights violations. Inuits claim that America's selfish, extravagant lifestyle is destroying their environment and threatening to snuff them out. The United States consumes 1/3 of the world's resources and is responsible for 23 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, a key component in global warming. According to an article posted on Planet Ark, Inuits in Alaska, Greenland, Russia and Canada are suing because the increasingly warm temperatures are undermining their way of life, which is based around hunting arctic animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. In recent years hunters have fallen through thin ice, the warmer temperatures have destabilized buildings and contributed to mudslides. According to United Nations studies, the Arctic Ocean may be largely ice free in the summers by 2100, effectively destroying the Inuit's way of life and wiping out their culture, an indirect genocide.
Polar Bears, another mammal dependent on the arctic for survival, are in danger of becoming dinosaurs as well. According to an article published in the Independent on November 11, 2004 the rising arctic temperatures, chemical pollution and dwindling feeding territories are contributing to the animal's demise. Typically the bears hunt on pieces of drifting ice, but with icebergs shrinking and growing further apart, the bears must work twice as hard and swim twice as far to obtain food. As a result, females are becoming at risk of becoming infertile from loss of body fat and chemical pollution. No reproduction means no more bears.
On the home front, in a recently passed bill that benefits big business with little regard to the destruction done to the environment, President Bush handily undid 30 years of environmental law. The Natural Resources Defense Council said on December 22, 2004 "In a move that will facilitate more logging and grazing at the expense of old-growth habitat and wildlife safeguards, the U.S. Forest Service has rewritten the National Forest Management Act, which 30 years ago set standards for managing the nation's 190 million-plus acres of forest. Critics warn that the revised rules will open up these lands -- including old growth forests, roadless areas and sensitive wildlife habitats -- to industry to log, drill and build roads. The changed rules eliminate the environmental review process for forest management plans -- a process that provides the public with information about forest planning and a chance to participate in management decisions about public lands."
Furthermore, The International Fund for Animal Welfare said in a recent news release that the North Atlantic Right Whale, population only 350 worldwide, is in danger from extinction because they are constantly hit by naval and passenger ships in the ocean and left for dead, their battered bodies washing up on beaches days later. Under the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is obligated to protect the species from harmful human activities, but the accidents often go unreported. This is yet another chip in a string of crippling blows to Mother Earth. Bush's White House acts on instant gratification urges, making decisions that will benefit their own short sighted interests.
On the eve of the Bush inauguration, the NRDC has released it's fourth official report regarding Bush's environmental policies. Rewriting the Rules (2005 Special Edition) The Bush Administration's First Term Environmental Record. The NRDC says, "The Bush administration took nearly 150 actions to undermine environmental protections over the past year, consistent with its historic assault on the nation's environmental safeguards. This January 2005 NRDC report assesses the Bush presidency's first-term environmental policies, and previews battles expected during the administration's second term." The report can be read here.
How much more pollution and abuse can the earth handle? Deforestation, arctic drilling, oil spills, destruction of precious coastlines. Here in Maine our environmental laws are strict, but pristine areas such as Acadia National Park have some of the worst air quality in the country, thanks to air pollution from the entire eastern seaboard blowing in. I don't want my children to ask me one day, 'Mommy, what were the forests like?'. It's a shame that corporations try to convince us that a healthy economy has to come at the expense of the earth that nourishes us and every so often has to remind us to take it easy on her by unleashing her fury. At this rate, the frequency of disasters will increase until we ultimately cause our own demise.
It would be a damn shame to have to adjust to lakes of fire (Lake Erie), not be able to swim in the ocean for fear of growing a second head, be harmed by breathing the air outside and to wilt under the film of greenhouse gasses. Though the future may seem grim, we are entering a historical period in regard to environmental policy. Speaking out, banding together and putting a stay of execution on environmental deterioration is more important now than ever before. We can't waver now, Brower never gave up, he fought in the face of adversity. Remembering his vision, encompassing the connection between all living things, is the just the breath of fresh air we need.
Brandi Neal is an assistant editor at Common Dreams. She can be reached at brandilneal@commondreams.org
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