“Maybe when the people have outdone themselves, then maybe, the stars will fall upon the land, or drops of hot water will rain upon the Earth. Or the land will turn under. Or our father, the Sun, will not rise to start the day. Then our possessions will turn into beasts and devour us whole. If not, there will be an odor of gases, which will fill the air we breathe, and the end for us shall come. But the people will bring upon themselves what they receive.” — a Zuni prophecy
Though science is scorned by far too many, I doubt that our ignorance of biology and chemistry alone is the reason many have denied for so long that global warming is basically the result of unlimited burning of fossil fuels.
We have been successfully brainwashed by the corporate world for so long we tend to believe whatever they tell us. And we have long lived in a society that stresses individual well-being over the good of the community. Vulnerability is not shared, but suffered alone or in small disconnected units, thereby increasing our anxiety to satisfy illusive societal standards western culture thrusts upon us. Furthermore, we have dedicated ourselves to achieving dominion over the Earth and its all resources. This combination is toxic to the Earth and to every living thing.
The oil companies, among many others, thrive on our human susceptibility to lies. BP, for example, hired an ad firm to design a way to convince us that we, not they, are to blame for the pollution that is causing floods, fires, disease and powerful storms. Voila, the admen invented the term ”carbon footprint” and released it in 2004. BP thought, oh, if only the little people could be comforted by trying to do better themselves, we can go on contaminating the atmosphere as they faithfully mount their solar panels and drive electric cars.
And, by gum, there’s money to be made selling solar panels that cover acres of farmland and destroy acres of forests … and we still get to generate the electricity for their cars as well! A total win. We bamboozled them again! (See Rebecca Solnit, Guardian, Aug. 23)
Of course, by naively succumbing to the temptations of so-called progress, I suppose we have to consider ourselves, to some degree, complicit. Though our individual attempts to decrease pollution are well meaning and admirable, we cannot afford to imagine the solution will ever rest with individuals alone or even with several countries alone. It is the whole planet, land and sea, that is being excavated and savaged for the immediate benefit of the very few.
I read recently that in the 1930s there were 2 billion people on Earth. In less than a hundred years we have almost quadrupled that number. It is an unsustainable number on a planet with a finite surface.
Though there are theoretical technological solutions being discussed, can we really ever provide enough food or water for 8 billion souls? Or guarantee it is shared equably among the entire world population? How do we mitigate the stresses any animal population suffers when crowded into a space too small to attain emotional and physical well being? That spawns violence and endless wars? Is global political power possible in a world where countries are succumbing to the rule dictators who lack conscience or mercy?
I know it is downright unAmerican to be pessimistic, and perhaps our minds simply cannot comprehend something as unthinkable as a final planetary catastrophe. Perhaps it is like trying to envision space-time, a quark, or the incredibly tiny size of the COVID virus that can so easily penetrate our lungs.
I don’t know, but on this clear blue September morning I fear the relentless demons of destruction are advancing upon us and that the prophecy of our Zuni brothers, wiser than we are to both the ways of the earth and spirit of community, could come to pass. And in the not so distant future.
Margot Fleck lives in Northfield.