I CAN’T begin to explain how my heart breaks whenever I see or hear another story affecting this beautiful planet.
When, exactly, will we all come to our senses and start realizing just how important every single one of the amazing animals we share this planet with is to our existence?
I was deeply saddened to hear that ‘Sudan’, our last male Black Northern Rhino, had recently passed away. Apart from the incredibly talented and dedicated people who work tirelessly to try and save Earth’s multitude of threatened species, does anyone really care?
Why aren’t governments around the world doing something about this? And why aren’t we individually and collectively putting pressure on global governments to change laws, rules and regulations? If we persist in ignoring what is happening around us, how long will it be before it’s too late to do anything—or even worse, to save the entire planet?
We’ve become a species totally driven and brainwashed by the fleeting joy and superficial satisfaction of greed and money. Rather than focusing on and savouring the amazing planet we’re privileged to live on, we seem hell-bent on destroying our environment—
our oceans, rain forests, marine life and wildlife. All of these are at our mercy and only WE can stop the destruction. Why? Because we triggered it in the first place!
Our selfish attitude is shameful. We think we can’t live without all the ‘things’ we believe make our lives happier. But, in reality, we can. Of course we can. We’re just spoilt—and very often emotionally detached from people, nature and the beauty of the world around us; the things that actually matter and give real meaning to our lives.
And given the runaway epidemic of mental health issues besieging millions of people across the globe, being obsessed with material things and ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ is doing us way more harm than good.
The more I talk to people, spanning a wide range of ages and demographics, I’m finding an underlying unhappiness. But what, specifically, is causing it?
On a daily basis we’re being put under more and more pressure—brainwashed, as we are, into living life in the fast lane. And, often, we simply don’t have time to take a step back and consider the potential damage and negative impact such a lifestyle is doing to and having on ourselves and our planet.
Surely it’s time we stepped up to the plate, took responsibility and changed the way we live our lives, in a bid to rebalance, regenerate and protect the environment.
So, what can be done? For starters, we can ramp up our protests to shops and supermarkets to clear plastic from their shelves. We don’t need it and are perfectly capable of shopping without bags or plastic wrapping. It’s just ridiculous! Let’s break open the packaging, where possible, remove the goods we want and leave the plastic for the shops to dispose of responsibly. Or, better still, buy all-natural products which don’t require such packaging in the first place. Why are we paying the shops to take home all their rubbish? Are we stupid?!
We can campaign the government to set up a properly thought-out and organized nationwide recycling program. Clearly every council has different ideas, so why not put all those heads together to come up with a uniform plan? How about having same-colour bins and depots where all the materials can be sorted and shipped to the appropriate recycling centres?
It’s madness for every council to have different rules—and it also costs a lot more money. Bring it all under one roof and get the Minister for the Environment to take control. What, I ask, is hard about that? If we show the way, then the idea can be shared across the globe.
Next, let’s look at what’s happening to our wildlife. There are a huge number of species under threat of extinction. It’s already too late for the Northern Black Rhino. But how many more are we set to lose if we don’t buck our ideas up?
It’s time to stop putting the onus and responsibility on the animals to keep their species going. It’s the governments who allow their citizens to go out and brutally slaughter these majestic creatures for rhino horn, elephant tusk and fur. They are the guilty ones and should be held accountable.
Rhino horn is supposed to be an aphrodisiac. Really? Who even believes that? Where is the evidence? Greed has driven the desire for objects made with horns and tusks, and as a result they’ve become a highly sought-after commodity and attract large amounts of money.
Who decided that shark fins would make a good soup? How utterly appalling is that? Not only are these savages slicing off the shark fins, they’re also then cruelly tossing the butchered bodies back into the ocean, where the sharks will either drown or die a slow death over several days, as they’re eaten by other fish. How can people, in the 21st century, possibly think this kind of behaviour is acceptable? It’s a travesty and must be outlawed.
It’s not enough for western governments to make feeble attempts at stopping these atrocities by making the buying of ivory or rhino horn illegal. Of course that would help, but the problem needs addressing at source. Introduce the death penalty for poachers who are caught. That would make others think twice and surely be an effective deterrent.
And why should they be allowed to destroy our lives, which ultimately is what they will be doing? Take the Chinese to task over their killing of sharks for their fins. It’s an absolute disgrace and has to be stopped once-and-for-all.
No human life will change if they can’t eat shark fin soup, have ornaments made from ivory or rhino horn or indulge in sex minus a rhino horn aphrodisiac; if people are actually stupid enough to believe the latter will offer any real benefit on that front.
The rich indulge themselves in big-game hunting, encourage the horn and ivory trade with their wealth, but clearly have little respect for nature and the natural world; everything the latter offers to enrich our lives, our environment and make us better people.
Animals and wildlife are such an important part of our ecosystem, what do we imagine will happen to the planet without them? In chopping down the rain forests we’re eliminating natural habitats and causing massive disruption to creature life cycles. The planet is warming and weather patterns are changing. Rain now doesn’t come when it’s supposed to, and there are huge droughts. The polar ice caps are melting and polar bears are under threat because they can’t access the food they need to survive.
All of this is OUR fault and OUR responsibility. And surely not even necessary. I mean, how is chopping down rain forests even justified? What is it actually achieving?
This planet has been here for millions of years—but we as humans, a supposedly intelligent species, will be the cause of its very demise in a relatively short period of time if we don’t change our ways.
We have to act NOW and STOP the slaughter of wild animals; STOP the polluting of our oceans and marine life; and STOP the destruction of our rain forests.
Collectively we can do the right thing – the ONLY thing – and help SAVE this precious planet which has been entrusted to us in good faith.
Until next time,
Granny FlapjaX.
GRANNY FLAPJAX 