New Liberty Village

   The Earth

Until a relatively short time ago, mankind looked upon the Earth and its resources as a limitless supply of goods and materials which, if we worked hard enough, would always meet our needs and adjust to any of our  abuses.  We have begun to see that it is perilous to all forms of life to ignore that the riches of the Earth can be overdrawn, it's air and water polluted, and its intricate ecosystems unbalanced.

As entire species disappear each day directly due to human activity, we should be realizing we could well be next.  Then the long process of natural restoration might begin again . . .  without us.  Given the ability to do such things as quickly wipe out millions of acres of trees, fertile soil, and vegetation upon which we rely for the very air we breathe, the use, and the abuse, of natural resources becomes a question of human rights. 

Now the results of our past and present choices begins to stand out in unavoidable stark relief ... GLOBAL WARMING. By increasing the levels of green house gases, mainly CO2, by burning fossil fuels and spreading their products on our fields, in our streams and oceans, in a very short time the higher forms of life will not be sustainable at all, Hopefully the 'tipping' point has not already been reached. 

Does one person, or huge agricompany, have the right to destroy the biological life in the top few inches of soil or a forest or a chemical/ oil company when it will effect me and my neighbors and all who will follow us? We have to consider and answer these questions in meaningful and immediate ways or regret it.  Are there new social forms where these issues can be addressed effectively and quickly? And new alternatives to how we live in the earth that will allow continued life upon it's surface? 

Or is it already too late.  James Lovelock, the scientist who coined the term  "gaia" has recently declared that yes, it is too late to prevent the end of civilization as we know it and the only persons who survive will live within the arctic circle because of the warming of the earth in this century. There are scenarios that might well be occuring already that leaves only one open question ... will ANY life survive on the surface of the planet? 

A dream this web manager of New Liberty Village had years ago stated that the answer to this question is totally up to those who know what is occurring, and what they DO to see that as much life as possible survives the inevitable days ahead, not as predestined or fated, but as consequences already set in motion by our very human choices.

Whether or not these things do indeed occur, most of life serving actions performed now are of great benefit now, even under present conditions. Finding alternative ways of living NOW will certainly not be wasted effort or time.  

We can blame no one else but ourselves if we fail to do what we see to do, but of course, blame is not the answer.  Trying to always see clearer what we are doing, and what and how we can DO differently, then DOING it, is the answer. It is these steps which we wish to explore and discuss on this New Liberty Village web-site forum. 

Allan J. Yeomans

"It is very fortunate, as we shall see, that our civilization finally has the technology to totally and economically replace fossil fuels. But we must also have the desire and take the responsibility to do so. (see  PRIORITY ONE -- Together we can beat global warming )

We had better wake up, before it’s too late. If we endeavor to change our society to create an atmosphere in which the major greenhouse gasses are normalized back to near pre-industrial levels, as we must, we are then creating a frontal attack on the fossil fuel petrochemical industries. And they won’t like it. They have been happily fooling us for too long. And they like it that way, but…

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can not fool all the people all of the time."

Abraham Lincoln
September 8, 1858
We must hope! "

Allan Yeoman, Priority One, p.85

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before the Deluge   Jackson Browne  (19 ?  )

Before the Deluge

Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge

Some of them knew pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged loves bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in the moment they were swept before the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by
By and by--
When the light thats lost within us reaches the sky

Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by
By and by--
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

 

"How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? ...If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? 

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy  shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people....

 This we know: All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of  earth.  Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."

- Chief Seattle (b.1786-d.1866)

Villager's Contributions
 to The Earth pages

Global Warming - global warning?
Jerry B,
E V E R Y T H I N G

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