By Polo Munoz, Managing Editor/Publisher
We are in the cusp of space travel; we are testing spaceships that can support our human limitations. We believe of our capacity to conquer and to explore, yet we are deliberately creating a situation that will threaten our survival as a species in this planet. We are much more vulnerable to extinction than we believe we are. There are viruses and bacteria that are evolving much more rapidly than our ability to discover or create new cures. Our bodies are only able to last around 120 years and according to some scientists the mind starts deteriorating in the late 20’s.
Environmentalists have had a tough time reminding all of us how fragile we really are. A change in the composition of the air we breathe and we will suffocate or it will poison us. If our skin is punctured by anything that contains a bacteria or any form of organism that is foreign to our body, it could mean our death. We are ill equipped to survive in a world that changes chemically and we are not scientifically advanced enough to create the tools that would allow us to survive in a world where the temperature is too hot for us, that could be only a couple of degrees change. Instead of fostering intelligence and opportunity in search of those that may be able to discover our chances of surviving and thriving in the galaxy, governments are incarcerating and starving those children they fear.
Much of the challenge toward better stewardship, scientific advancement and earth equity, falls under the guidance of private corporations to create from the work that governmental agencies that were created and designed to advance knowledge through basic science. However when fear seeps into those publicly funded agencies and greed guides corporate boards who feel their finances are more important than the survival of the human species make choices, we are all in danger.
What is one more tree if it allows them to stay financially healthy? To the individual who is barely making enough to eat, no animal, person or thing is going to stand on his way to “earn” that dollar. Those corporations will find an ally in them, regardless of the damage done to the environment.
The lack understanding of the real global implications by individuals is also a challenge for environmentalists, in order to understand and change we must educate and take action at the same time. We are lucky to have young environmentalists claiming their place and demanding the adults in control to expand their work and create opportunities to heal the world and we must start listening to them, or they will inherit a trash heap we are creating because we are too comfortable and can’t see past our “self-care.”