How close did we come to losing the Earth ?

How close did we come to losing the Earth?

It is frightening to think that we had a close call, but the Earth appears to have been warning us for some time that it could not cope with our madness any longer.

Prince Charles has written an article, published today in many newspapers, in which he pleads the case for The Earth.  He asks that we carefully consider how we reset post COVID.  Furthermore, he chose a wonderful analogy of The Earth being in Intensive Care. With the world stopping, and pollution drastically reducing, he notes that there were hopeful signs of the Earth breathing again.

To take that body analogy one step further, if we say that the atmosphere is the skin, the oceans and rivers the blood, the land the bones, and the people the muscles, we could comment as follows: -

1.  The Atmosphere.

Now that the air-transport industry has ground largely to a halt, it would appear as though the ozone layers are starting to repair.  But are we going to rush back to putting those air polluting monsters back in the sky?  It would take a brave and courageous Leader to propose this at the G20, and probably with Donny Trump at the helm of the biggest aircraft polluter, the USA, it is unlikely that they would join immediately. However, after he loses the November 2020 election, we must hope that things will change.

Are we prepared in the 4 territorial blocks (USA, China, Europe, and Japan) to put our greed away, where we have somehow obtained 80% of the world's wealth, and stop using aircraft for holidays and business travel?  Are we prepared to shut airports and make 5million or so direct and indirect employees redundant?  It is a BIG step this one.

We could still travel overseas but we would have to use trains, ships, and electric cars.

2.  The Oceans and Rivers.

It was only last year that Europe (mostly) was astounded by the Blue Plant Documentary finale where Sir Richard Attenborough laid before us the criminal damage that we had allowed to happen to our waters.  Plastic was so prevalent that it was finding its way into fish and crustaceans, and therefore back also into the food chain.

Greenpeace seems to be always fighting the case of saving the whale populations from hunting.

Industrial plants appear to be belching out immoral pollution in the poorer countries, where those mega rich territories have outsourced their production 

Are we prepared to pay for the clean-up of our oceans, to stop those giant cruise ships from discharging waste as it is inconvenient to dispose of inland, and to enforce excellent anti-pollution standards on all companies wherever they trade/produce?

3.  The Land.

It has been 5 years since the Masai Mari saw any rainfall.  What was once a sustainable way of life for the Nomadic people of this desert is now no longer possible again due to the impact of Global warming caused largely by those 4 territories.

We have seen the lungs of the World decimated by deliberate fires in the Amazon ( and how ironic that the world richest man Jeff Bezos, a major contributor to the poor state of the World, has a company by the same name).  Irony is a major understatement.

We have also seen swathes of land in Africa that could in good years sustain the Poorest of the Poor, laid to waste by the changes in Climate.

4.  The People

The virus has been with us for years.  However, we in the rich 4 territories have refused to accept it.  We have developed a need to consume more and more, and all we hear about the scraps we offer the Poorest Country is that charity must start at home!!  How sick is that.  Other articles have explained how the closing down of trust funds and offshore facilities could easily enable the wealthy to meet the costs of a good standard for all within these 4 territories.

This virus of carelessness and greed has seen us allow a child to die every 4 seconds every day from starvation and diarrhoea.  We somehow allowed this to happen.

We are one World, and we can share our daily bread.

There is plenty of rice to sustain the poorest of the poor, but we must have ours first as we can pay top dollar (there's capitalism for you).  The poorest then must pay the market price for what remains, and the price of rice has risen by 45% in just over a year.

The end of term report does not read well.  We can and must do better.  But do we want to?  Are we prepared to support those Leaders that care for The Earth and the poorest of the Poor?

Somehow, I think that very few are listening to what the World has told us.

Somehow, I think that once we are over COVID the next plague will come, and then the next one.

Will it take 10 plagues for Pharaoh to release the slaves?

Won't is be wonderful when we listen?  When we act?  When we deliver?

When we Let the Earth Breathe.

Love and Peace.  

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