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One World
One Humanity
One Environment
September, 2009, Rev. December 2010
The Common denominator among all living things
IS NATURE
Finding A Way For The Greater Good
An Urgent Task
OUR HOME: We Live on a Wondrously Diverse Planet and We are a vital, integral species within the Magnificent Web of Life not separate from it. Nature needs us. Let us Honor and Respect That
THE GREAT AWAKENING
In just over 250 years we have consumed or destroyed what took millions and millions of years to evolve…
We now understand that the majority of life on Earth has never been – and will never be – known to us. In a staggering forecast Edward O Wilson, eminent Harvard biologist, predicts that our present course will lead to the extinction of half of all plant and animal species by 2100…. – “Animal Extinction – The greatest threat to mankind”
Over the last 60 odd years we have become preoccupied with, and fixated on ourselves, our man-made lives of production, indiscriminate consumption and lust for profit. self-gratification and status. In this process we have increasingly excluded from our daily decisions and equations the well-being of others and Nature’s life supporting eco-systems. We can now see how this myopia has wreaked havoc upon both our environment and all species with in it –our societies, our communities and ourselves.
While we were flying high our natural world (and us) began to get sick, really sick . Greed took over from compassion, and wealth negotiated itself more wealth at the expense of the average man, woman and child setting the stage for a global uprising and reawakening.
We forgot our deep and profound responsibility to care for and nurture the greater whole. We forgot that we abide in Mother Nature’s womb, dependent on Her every second of every day. Just as we depended on our mother for nurturing and sustenance while in her womb, we depend on Mother Nature’s health, abundance and generosity for our daily nurturing and sustenance and FOR SURVIVAL as a species. This amnesia has resulted in us almost consuming ourselves out of existence and, in the process, we have lost our connection to community, to each other and to the essential natural processes of life.
EXTINCTION CRISIS – ECOLOGICAL ARMAGEDDON
In 40 Years HALF world’s wild animals have been wiped out:
http://sco.lt/7M1PCD
Without Nature We Do Not Exist. Period
It is an illusion to expect healthy, balanced lives without a healthy, balanced natural world. Her health is our health
While we were flying high our natural world (and us) began to get sick, really sick . Greed took over from compassion, and wealth negotiated itself more wealth at the expense of the average man, woman and child setting the stage for a global uprising and reawakening.
A Perfect Storm is approaching – a combined environmental, economic and social collapse UNLESS we change our attitudes and priorities in life NOW, and even then, we may well have passed the tipping point of what our biosphere can handle.
The major difference this time, than the Great Depression or any other time in human history, is the environment – its massive degradation and depletion by man – the degree of which has never before been seen on this planet – and the cumulative effect is the cause of Climate Change.
We depend upon a healthy, balanced natural world for our very existence – as does all life. Our eco-systems have been plundered, pillaged and polluted to a point, in some cases, of no return; species are disappearing at an alarming rate totally destroying the biological and crucial biodiversity balance of the planet. Our common life’s values and the dignity of cultures have been dismantled as we gave ourselves over to the Age of Consumerism. When Drilling for Oil has become a greater priority than clean water and healthy food, we have no choice but to revisit our values in life. What we do and choose now will set the destiny of humankind for centuries to come.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Humans must change behaviour to save bees, vital for food production
– UN report March 2011 – The potentially disastrous decline in bees, a vital pollinating element in food production for the growing global population, is likely to continue unless humans profoundly change their ways, from the use of insecticides to air pollution, according to a United Nations report released today.
“The way humanity manages or mismanages its nature-based assets, including pollinators, will in part define our collective future in the 21st century,” UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said. “The fact is that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.”…ARTICLE CONTINUES….Humans must change behaviour to save bees, vital for food production – UN
-▶ BATTLE FOR THE BEES: TENS OF MILLIONS OF DYING BEES RAISE ALARM FOR HUMANS
▶ MONARCH BUTTERFLY MIGRATION PLUNGES 59%. NOW AT LOWEST LEVEL EVER
▶ GARDENERS BEWARE: DEADLY PESTICIDE ‘BEE FRIENDLY’ PRETREATED PLANTS AND SEEDS SOLD TO CONSUMERS
SEE: List of crop plants pollinated by bees – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://ow.ly/cbq2F
Is This Insanity Or What?
The Objectification of Life – and The Huge Price We Are Paying
By @pdjmoo March 10, 2012
What is it about the human psyche that is willing to destroy the very foundations of life that humanity (and all species) depends upon for survival? Aren’t we supposed to be the most “intelligent” species on the planet? Sadly, facts are showing that we have far less understanding of the natural balances required for the planet than our arrogance and intellect would suppose.
It seems this disease is pervasive right across the globe. Like a swarm of locusts, we are ravaging and razing the earth to a point where life can no longer survive. We continue to over-fish our oceans until 90% of the big fish are gone, devastating the natural ocean systems and their biodiversity. Why? For profit and under the guise of “feeding the people” Overfishing leaves swaths of Mediterranean barren
We continue to ravage the forests that hold so much life that maintains the natural balance and biodiversity of our lands, often displacing indigenous peoples from their homes, creating dependency. For What? Profit and the hunger/demand for timber and clearing of forests for non-regional monocrops, destroying thousands of species and their habitat in the process. Our Disappearing Forests. (It takes 100 years to grow a 100 year-old tree)
We continue to “drill baby drill” even as we are faced with horrific oil disasters world-wide, destroying land and ocean life and ecosystems and costing billions in cleanups. Why? For profit and the hunger for cheap fossil-fuel energy, oil and gasoline. Effects of Oil & Drilling on the Environment AND A Tough-Oil World: Why 21st Century Oil Will Break the Bank — and the Planet Read the rest of this entry »
And they come in more than 200,000 shapes and sizes.
FULL STORY: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/pollinators/holland-text?source=email_gg
TRAILER
See full film here:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/696/Life-Running-Out-of-Control Running Time: 59:50
Director: Bertram Verhaag | Producer: Bertram Verhaag Genre: Documentary | Produced In: 2004 | Country: Germany
THE FORERUNNER TO “FOOD INC.”
“Life Running Out of Control” by Bertram Verhaag is an absolute MUST WATCH documentary Movie. Produced in 2004 it explains in depth how, even back then, genetic engineering was quietly taking over our global food and animal supply and had been for decades, reducing the gene pools, to a point where it may be irreversible.
The human, animal and environmental health risks are addressed here as well as the dangers and ethics of altering the genes of our food and animals — and thus us. Everything is interconnected and altering the genes of nature has a ripple affect on all of nature, our environment and us as we are clearly witnessing and experiencing today. (See “Urgent Memo To The World” on this blog here)
If you want to know why the environmental and food activists are protesting…this will fill you in. Let’s hope it is not too late.
 disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only |
SEE ALSO
Africa: ‘Land Rush’ (Land Grab) as Threats to Food Security Intensify #allAfrica.com http://ht.ly/1Lkox
FOOD AND WATER DRIVE AFRICAN LAND GRAB
by Staff Writers, Seed Daily Nairobi, Kenya (UPI) Apr 29, 2010
Rich Arab states such as Saudi Arabia have bought huge tracts of land across Africa in recent years in a bid to combat global food shortages, water scarcity and desertification and feed their burgeoning populations.
But now the scramble for Africa is intensifying, with investment banks, hedge funds, commodity traders, sovereign wealth funds, corporations and business tycoons out to grab some of the world’s cheapest land — for profit.
China has leased 6.91 million acres in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the world’s largest oil palm plantation.
South Korea’s Daewoo conglomerate planned to buy 2.9 million acres of Madagascar until the deal collapsed when rioters toppled the Indian Ocean island’s government.
“Philippe Heilberg, CEO of the New York-based investment fund Jarch Capital … has leased between 998,000 and 2.47 million acres in southern Sudan from the warlord Paulino Matip,” Le Monde Diplomatique reported.
“Foreign direct investment in agriculture is the boardroom euphemism for the new land grab and those promoting the grab spin it as a win-win situation.”
It quoted Heilberg as saying, “When food becomes scarce, the investor needs a weak state that does not force him to abide by any rules.”
According to various assessments, up to 123.5 million acres of African land — double the size of Britain — has been snapped up or is being negotiated by governments or wealthy investors. Read the rest of this entry »
Today we have the simultaneous events of income deflation and food inflation; two high-speed express trains coming down that tracks at each other, a financial crisis colliding with staggering crop losses, which are cutting deeply into available planetary food reserves. Prices of food are again beginning to soar again just as millions are losing the ability to afford a reasonable diet, though little of this is being observed or reported. But soon even the blind will see. (read on….)
International Medical Veritas Association » Blog Archive » Agricultural Apocalypse 2010.
MONSANTO CLOSE TO TAKING OVER GLOBAL FOOD SUPPLY
Tactics being employed by Monsanto are slowly destroying the integrity of the global food supply – could be irreversible!
According to Neil Harl, an agricultural economist from Iowa State University, Monsanto now has patented control over 90 percent of seeds and seed genetics, a chilling notion that has far-reaching consequences. Since the company regularly buys up independent seed companies, its competition is dwindling and the prices for its patented seeds continue to rise.
Monsanto’s genetic modification program has reached 95 percent of domestic soybean crops and 80 percent of domestic corn crops. It has plans in the works to insert its patented genes into wheat crops as well, given U.S. farmers agree to use them this time around. These percentages are likely even higher when considering the natural and unintended spread of pollen and seeds from these genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) into conventional or organic fields.
According to a recent Associated Press investigation, agri-giant Monsanto regularly employs business practices that not only aim to eliminate all competition, but essentially position the company as the sole proprietor of all things related to food. While old news to many in the natural health community, the mainstream press is beginning to recognize the world domination tactics being employed by Monsanto that are slowly destroying the integrity of the global food supply. (more) …“Natural News”
Monsanto is trying to take over the world food suppl
SEE ALSO: Monsanto GMO Ignites Big Seed War : NPR. Listen (1.13.10)
SEE ALSO: Better than Nature? GMO Foods, Your Health « The Natural Eye Project http://ow.ly/VSqZ
AND: MONSANTO AND THEIR PALS AGAIN, PRESIDENT OBAMA « The Natural Eye Project http://ow.ly/VSuP
AND: President Obama. Please Stop Monsanto « The Natural Eye Project http://ow.ly/VSvB
AND: Is Monsanto Finally Meeting its’ Maker? An Anti-Trust Issue « The Natural Eye Project http://ow.ly/VSwn
AND: Report: Monsanto Corn Causes Organ Damage in Mammals http://ow.ly/VTmp
Genetically modified foods are being approved before we understand their long-term health effects.
In gearing up for the 2010 release of its super-genetically modified corn called “SmartStax,” agricultural-biotechnology giant Monsanto is using an advertising slogan that asks, “Wouldn’t it be better?” But can we do better than nature, which has taken millennia to develop the plants we use for food?
Freshwater Fish Much Larger and Plentiful Before Overfishing Took Its Toll
Much focus on overfishing today is perhaps understandably focused on saltwater fish species, but new research fleshes out the idea that humanity has been over-exploiting fish species for a long time and that freshwater fish were never spared. Read the rest of this entry »
Farms in northern Uzbekistan are still contaminated with pesticides from the Soviet era. (Photo by David Holt)
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, July 20, 2009 (ENS) – Experts say agricultural land in northwest Uzbekistan is so permeated with pesticides from past decades that it still presents health risks for the farmers who work it.
The soil in Khorezm region and the adjacent autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan is still full of chlorine and other chemicals from the DDT used in cotton production in the Soviet period.
So intensive was the use of pesticides from the 1940s to the end of the 1960s that the Khorezm and Karakalpakstan had 78 aerodromes used by crop spraying planes. http://tinyurl.com/mrdgfs
Our depleted oceans cause by large, corporate fishing trawlers sweeping up everything in their path with the mile long fishing nets has hit Madascar.
The indigeninous people, who once fished to only fished to feed themselves, are now fishing for profits and the result could be devastating to them. The demand for our oceans bounty is ever increasing and we are outstripping the oceans ability to regenerate itself.
The philosphy of “only take what you need” for your own daily sustenance has vanished. Teams of people have come to the aid of Madasgar to find a solution to avoid the indigenous population becoming maids and toilet cleaners as big hotels and tourism encroach on the country. Restoring the environment has been profitable for many parts of Africa. Let’s hope the same is true for Madascar as it has one of the richest biodiversity environments on the planet, much of which is going fast.
A GREAT VIDEO FROM REUTERS:
World Environment News – Overfishing in Madagascar – Planet Ark.
