The Ostrich Effect

by Chis Van Ingen
How much longer is the world going to suffer from the environmental Ostrich syndrome?
I saw a Ted Egan documentary made in 1985 that talked about the destruction of our rainforest but we still live in an environment of complacency in 2010.
Al Gore may have won the Oscar for his doomsday prediction but as soon as the cameras stopped rolling we put that inconvenient truth back in its box.
What we’ve failed to realise is that box has become a ticking time bomb for the next generation to defuse.
The good thing is every native culture around the world has already given us the answer all we have to do now is learn from the past and act for the future.
Since the beginning of time indigenous people have lived in harmony with the land then somewhere along the line we declared war on nature.
It is our consumer lust that drives the continued rape of this planet that gives us life and I must confess until now I have been an accessory to this crime.
The ancients knew survival depends on only taking what you need and then giving nature time to regenerate, a simple lesson we must learn before it’s too late.
If we want to save the planet each of us has to decide to buy only environmentally friendly organic free trade produces.
Until that day corporations will continue giving customers what they want so it’s time for a power shift.
Remember “keep the wheels of life turning in your direction.”