[prakruti] Best Message on environment by CAPT PAUL WATSON

[Guest guest]

At 03:10 AM 5/1/07, you wrote:

 

 

>Nandita Shah

>5/1/2007 1:48:06 PM

>Nandita Shah

>FW: Captain Paul Watson's earth day address

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>Captain Paul Watson is one of the most sincere well known environmentalists

>I have heard of. I really liked this write up and want to share it with you

>all.

>Best,

>Nandita

>

>

>

>

>Earth Day Cometh and Earth Day Goeth

>

>And Where have all the Bees Gone?

>

>Earth Day Report by Captain Paul Watson

>

>

>Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not

>sure about the former.

>

>- Albert Einstein

>

>(1879 - 1955)

>

>Earth Day is almost here. I don't believe in Earth Day myself. I think it's

>a little silly to devote one single day of the year to being concerned about

>the environment, but I suppose one day is better than no day at all.

>

>

>Having been an environmental activist since 1968, I have seen the movement

>go up and down like a roller coaster in popularity. It was big in 1972 with

>the Environmental Conference in Stockholm which I attended and it became big

>again in 1992 with the U.N. Environmental Conference in Rio De Janeiro that

>I also attended. I remember that the priority issue in 1972 was the danger

>of escalating human populations but by 1992, that concern was not even on

>the agenda.

>

>Well we are approaching the end of another 20 year period and it looks like

>ecology is in vogue again thanks to global warming and a few other scary

>things. Green is once again popular.

>

>

>I can always tell when the environment is getting to be faddish again. My

>indicator is the number of lectures I am booked for around this time of

>year. It reached its peak in 1992, practically disappeared for awhile and

>now it's coming around again.

>

>

>What worries me is that the movement is constantly being sidetracked by the

>issue of the day.

>

>

>It's global warming now. When we were trying to warn people about global

>warming and climate change twenty years ago, no one was interested. Now it's

>become the " in " issue and the big organizations are tapping the public for

>donations to address the problem although no one has come up with anything

>that makes much sense. But global warming is good for business if you're one

>of the big bureaucratic organizations whose primary concern is really

>corporate self preservation.

>

>

>Greenpeace is even telling people that they can slow down global warming by

>(and I kid you not) " singing in the shower " . Yep, you see all you have to do

>is run the water, then get wet, shut the water off, and sing in the shower

>as you lather up and then open up the faucet and rinse off. Ah, so simple to

>save the world.

>

>

>The problem is that these big organizations are too politically correct to

>address the ecologically correct solutions.

>

>Instead they are baffling everyone with abstract concepts like carbon

>trading and carbon storage or trying to sell us a new hydrid Japanese car.

>

>Even Al Gore with his Inconvenient Truth totally ignored the most

>inconvenient truth of all. I'll get to that in a moment.

>

>

>But let's look at the number one cause of global greenhouse gas emissions.

>

>

>First and foremost it is human over-population, the very same issue that was

>the priority concern at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the

>Environment in Stockholm.

>

>

>It's 6.5 billion people folks.

>

>

>Remember in 1950, the world population was 3 billion. It's now more than

>doubled.

>

>

>6.5 billion people produce one hell of an annual output of waste and utilize

>an unbelievable amount of resources and energy.

>

>

>And this number is rising minute by minute, day, by day, year by year.

>

>

>And most of the people having children have no idea why they are even having

>children other than that's what you do. Most of them don't really love their

>children because if they did they would be very much involved in trying to

>ensure that their children have a world to survive in.

>

>

>Unless over-population is addressed, there is absolutely no way of slowing

>down global greenhouse gas emissions.

>

>

>But how do you do that within the context of economic systems that require

>larger and larger numbers to perform the essential task of consuming

>products?

>

>

>Corporations need workers and buyers. Governments need tax-payers,

>bureaucrats and soldiers. More people means more money.

>

>

>I've said for decades that the solution to all of our problems is simple. We

>just need to live in accordance with the three basic laws of ecology.

>

>

>First is the Law of Diversity. The strength of an eco-system lies in

>diversity of species within it. Weaken diversity and the entire system will

>be weakened and will ultimately collapse.

>

>

>Second is the Law of Interdependence. All of the species within an

>eco-system are interdependent. We need each other.

>

>

>And the third law of Ecology is the Law of Finite Resources. There is a

>limit to growth because there is a limit to carrying capacity.

>

>

>Human populations are exceeding ecological carrying capacity.

>

>

>Exceeding ecological carrying capacity is diminishing both resources and

>diversity of species.

>

>

>The diminishment of diversity is causing serious problems with

>interdependence.

>

>

>Albert Einstein once wrote that " if the bee disappeared off the surface of

>the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees,

>no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man. "

>

>

>That is the Law of Interdependence.

>

>

>

>Forget global warming folks. The disappearance of the honeybee could end our

>existence as human beings on this planet far sooner than we think.

>

>

>And the honey bee is in fact now disappearing. Why? We don't know why. It

>could be genetically modified crops, I could be pesticides or it could be

>that our cell phones are interfering with their ability to navigate.

>

>

>Whatever the cause the fact is that they are disappearing. All around the

>world bees are disappearing in a crisis called Colony Collapse Disorder.

>

>

>And bees pollinate our plants. Everywhere on the planet, bees are hard at

>work making it possible for you to live and enjoy life.

>

>

>We hold on to our place on this planet by only a toehold. If anything

>happens to the grass family, we are screwed. If the earthworms disappear, we

>are in big trouble. If the bees disappear, well according to Albert Einstein

>who was considered somewhat smarter than most of us, we will have only four

>years. Just enough time to get a college degree to discover that everything

>you learned is relatively useless when sitting on the doorstep of global

>ecological annihilation.

>

>

>We are cutting down the forest and plundering the oceans of life. We are

>polluting the soil, the air and the water and we are rapidly running out of

>fresh water to drink.

>

>

>Only corporations like Coke and Pepsi have figured out that water is more

>valuable than gold. That is why they are bottling it in plastic bottles and

>selling it. This week I saw a bottle of water in my hotel room that I could

>have drunk for only $4.

>

>

>Unbelievable. That means that water is now being sold for more than the

>equivalent amount of gasoline. I hope that I'm not the only one who thinks

>this is insanity.

>

>

>Now for Al Gore's really inconvenient truth. In his film he does not mention

>once that the meat and dairy industry that produces the bacon, the steaks,

>the chicken wings and the milk is a larger contributor to greenhouse gas

>emissions than the automobile industry. You see, Al may drive a Prius but he

>likes his burgers.

>

>

>This is why the big organizations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club will

>not say a thing about the meat industry. Last year I saw Greenpeacers

>sitting down for a baked fish meal onboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza

>while engaged in a campaign to oppose over-fishing.

>

>

>When we pointed out that our Sea Shepherd ships serve only vegan meals, the

>Greenpeace cook replied, " that's just silly. "

>

>

>We see what we want to see and we rationalize everything else.

>

>The oceans have been plundered to the point that 90% of the fish have been

>removed from their eco-systems and at this very moment there is over 65,000

>miles of long lines set in the Pacific Ocean alone and there are tens of

>thousands of fishing vessels scouring the seas in a rapacious quest to scoop

>up everything that swims or crawls.

>

>

>This is ecological insanity.

>

>

>The largest marine predator on the planet right now is the cow. More than

>half the fish taken from the sea is rendered into fish meal and fed to

>domestic livestock. Puffins are starving in the North sea to feed sand eels

>to chickens in Denmark. Sheep and pigs have replaced the shark and the sea

>lion as the dominant predators in the ocean and domestic house cats are

>eating more fish than all the world's seals combined. We are extracting some

>fifty to sixty fish from the sea to raise one farm raised salmon.

>

>

>This is ecological insanity.

>

>

>Yet the demand for shark fin is rising in China. Ignorant people still want

>to wear fur coats. In America, we order fries, a cheeseburger and a " diet "

>coke.

>

>

>Ecological insanity folks.

>

>

>Last week a reporter called to ask me if I had really said that earth worms

>are more important than people. I answered that yes I had. He then asked how

>I could justify such a statement.

>

>

> " Simple, " I answered. " Earthworms can live on the planet without people. We

>cannot live on the planet without earthworms thus from an ecological point

>of view, earthworms are more important than people. "

>

>

>He said that I was insane for suggesting such a ridiculous idea when people

>were made in the image of God, and earthworms were not.

>

>

>What we have here of course is a failure to communicate between two

>radically different world views. His which is anthropocentric and sees

>reality as human centred and mine which is biocentric and sees reality as

>including all species equally working in interdependence. He sees us as

>divine and better than all the other species and I see us as a bunch of

>arrogant primates out of control.

>

>

>But that's my two cents worth for Earth Day 2007.

>

>

>Consider the humble honey bee and remember that the little black and yellow

>insect you see flitting busily from flower to flower is all that stands

>between us and our demise as a species on this planet.

>

>

>We better see to it that they don't disappear.

>

>

>

>May be freely published and distributed

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>Captain Paul Watson Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation

>Society (1977- Co-Founder - The Greenpeace Foundation (1972) Co-Founder -

>Greenpeace International (1979) Director of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)

>Director - The Farley Mowat Institute Director - www.harpseals.org

>

>

>

>

> " Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only, Reckless O soul, exploring, I

>with thee and thou with me, For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared

>to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all. " - Walt Whitman

>

>www.Seashepherd.org Tel: 360-370-5650 Fax: 360-370-5651

>

>

>

>Address: P.O. Box 2616 Friday Harbor, Wa 98250 USA

>

>

>

>

>------ End of Forwarded Message

>

>

>

>--

>Mail sent to you keeping in view your interest. Hope u enjoy it, if not

>let me know.

>Yours Sincerely

>Vispi Jokhi

>Mob 09323351529

>Res 91 22 32440710

>

 

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