Humans versus The Planet!

There have been three  forces of nature within two weeks.

An earthquake affecting the island of Taiwan and also one in New York City, plus an eclipse seen by millions in certain parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Taiwan is an island situated in what is known as the Ring of Fire, which is an area of seismic  faults which runs around the Pacific Basin and includes many countries stretching from Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand,  areas of  South America, U.S.  Canada and many more. These areas are therefore at risk from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

It was not a complete surprise when Taiwan experienced an earthquake, as tremors are recorded frequently, but it was the worst one for twenty five years.

There was much damage of course, with casualties and fatalities, but considering the scale of the earthquake, it could have been so much worse. The fact that it seemed to be concentrated on the east of the island which is less populated, most definitely kept the injury figures low.

On the other hand, New York City is not known for seismic shifts, so this came as a big surprise.

Fortunately, there didn`t appear to be any major damage, but the population was unsettled by it happening.

The eclipse was a more positive experience, and was widely anticipated.

To be able to witness a total eclipse first hand, must be truly amazing. 

Watching on T.V. cannot do it justice as not only is it a visual experience but also a physical and emotional one with temperatures dropping within minutes, and total blackness descending only to be quickly reinstated.

Like so many wonders of the natural world, it is such a perfect feat of celestial choreography, that it is hard to comprehend.

Once again, we must marvel at Mother Nature and argue with her at our peril.

It should make us stop and think of how we are dealing with our environment.

It really doesn`t matter which school of thought one belongs to, whether the changes in our climate would have happened anyway as  evidence  suggests that climatic change is ongoing, or whether man is totally responsible by damaging the atmosphere, the fact remains, the climate we are used to is changing, and we must make changes too.

The world has been around in various forms for millions of years and has seen heat, ice and many other permutations  in between.

It has altered its shape by creating land and frozen masses, mountain ranges and oceans, and due to climates of the time, various forms of living things have appeared and adapted to the environment.

These include vegetation, insects, marine life, birds  animals and humans. In other words these living things can live in the air, the earth and the sea. These are the things we are aware of, but who knows what unseen things may well be present?

These living things vary in life span, but are not immortal. They live, they produce, they die and over time they mutate in order to survive. Some will continue in an altered form whilst others become extinct.

It appears that the one constant is the world or universe itself. It has the power to set the agenda which it does. 

It can disrupt areas by eruptions and earthquakes, flood areas with water, burn areas with fire, freeze areas with ice and destroy areas with wind and wipe out living things.

It also creates things of incredible beauty and colour.

As humans we simply cannot compete nor should we try.

We can prepare for natural disasters, but we cannot  prevent them happening.

We are just little pawns who are on the chess board of life for a very short time.

The universe is our home, and one which  we should look after.

Instead we have abused it by dabbling in things we know very little about.

We seem more interested in researching what might be going on in other planets rather than looking  after the one which looks after us.

We have poisoned the oceans with effluent and plastics without truly understanding how they work and the wonderful world that is under water.

We have damaged the earth by applying chemicals, and extracting minerals and not appreciating the unique qualities that the earth possesses to sustain our production of vegetation and food.

We have damaged the atmosphere by allowing toxicity from industry and other sources  to alter the fine balance and natural alignment of elements.

As humans in the western world, we have totally lost our way.

We no longer pay attention to the world which provides us with everything we need, but follow a ridiculous path of greed and striving for things which we think we want.

We have become materially rich but spiritually and mentally poor.

Not content with  that, we are now inventing a sub human element to it all in the form of Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Engineering, which although may have huge benefits  can also  distort the truth so that we can no longer believe what we see or hear.

Without sounding too doom laden, many sophisticated civilizations  throughout the world, appeared to have reached the pinnacle of their intelligence and creativity, only to be wiped out.  The Maya civilization and the Roman Empire are two good examples.

We may be next!