By Fr. Shay Cullen
ASK any class of school children who are steeped in knowledge and experience of the natural world, that have been on many field trips to the forests and the sea, and have seen numerous documentaries on wildlife and the challenges and harm being done to our planet- what they want to do or be when they grow up? Many will cry out, “To guard the animals”, “to protect the forest”, “to care for the planet.”
We see and admire and ought to join the thousands of school children like Greta Thunberg marching for climate justice and protection of the natural world. When climate activists call out “save the panda” or “save the elephant,” they are in fact saying, “save the planet.” That is because all life on earth is threatened by the mighty force of climate change, the rapid charge towards the extinction of species as a result of human activity, over population and the insane “conquest of nature” desire among humans. The world’s population is projected to reach eight billion on 15 November 2022. In 2030, it will be 9.7 billion. In 2050, it will be 10.4 billion people, all putting greater demand on the planet’s resources.
The planet has warmed up by 1.2 degrees Celsius in the past 150 years or so, which cannot be ignored since our stocks of freshwater fish has declined by 83 percent overall and the oceans have warmed up three years in a row since 2021. Many fish species can’t survive. We are killing off our food supply by warming the planet and over-fishing. Eventually, all could be gone. This and more disturbing revelations according to a new shocking report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for Nature backed by 89 specialists and scientists.
We cannot deny the truth of science any longer and not take global action that the children and environmentalists call for. The UN should sequester huge areas of ocean as non-fishing areas since only 15 percent of ocean is presently protected but it is not enforced. Ocean levels are rising fast as the polar ice caps are melting quicker than first predicted. Rising ocean levels will quickly inundate low-lying coastal areas as it now covers large parts of South Pacific islands.
Coastal Philippine towns and cities, including Manila, will be threatened by drastic year-round floods by 2030 or sooner, making parts of Manila a new Venice by 2050. Property values will plunge and investing in gondolas will be a good move. The children see and learn faster about the danger to the flowers and insects, the plants and trees, the animals, fish and creatures of all kinds. They learn how beneficial, wonderful, beautiful and important the creatures and plants are to each other, supporting and helping each to survive and thrive. It’s a wonderful world that we must understand and cherish as children do, before it is gone.
The humming bird with its long, pointed beak can only get the nectar deep in the special trumpet-shaped flower of the orchid. Its sweet nectar is tasty to the hummingbird only, not to bees. The bird, when drinking the nectar, is coated with male pollen and carries it to the next flower and pollination takes place. Many species have similar cooperation. They have mysteriously co-evolved or co-adapted with each other for mutual peaceful survival. What a wonderful world we live in that is now fast disappearing.
If only the human species would have a similar relationship with the natural world and each other and realize that humans need to respect all living things and live in harmony and recognize their mutual dependence. We don’t, we just destroy it with more construction, cutting forests, making plantations, building more dams and coal-fired power plants. (To be continued)/PN
