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Whistling in the Wind

I find that one of the most frustrating things in life is caring deeply about something and yet not being able to do anything to stop what it is that is upsetting you - there just isn't anything you can do to stop it from happening. It is a sort of torment that takes place right in front of you whilst you have your hands tied behind your back - a real nightmare of a situation.

That's really how I feel about the destruction of the environment. I often write about it but all that really achieves is the release of my own frustration - like skimming a pebble on a pond or shouting into a canyon and being the only one that hears the hollow echo of your own voice as it fades away into nothingness.

Of course the major problem is that the things we care most about are in fact managed by somebody else, and that somebody else has different goals, different criteria, and ambitions and motivations. A simple example of this is American politics - so many American Politicians preach to their constituents about saving wild life and the environment quite openly - yet in their private conference rooms they understandably concern themselves more with the national budget, energy, the price of oil and electricity. All vital to the nation and - all contradictory to their promises made in public.

The other problem is that the things that Europe and America did a century ago to enrich themselves and to enable them to progress to the positions that they hold today as super powers, are now being copied by third world countries - For example in the 14th Century - England, Spain, and Germany were all covered with Oak forests - In England at the time of King Henry VII forests covered the land from end to end. But to advance agriculture and to supply the Navy with the great fleets of ships that gave Britain its Empire, all the Oak trees were cut down. And then to advance into the industrial age, the steel mills and factories plus the steam trains all burnt wood and coal - which resulted in the dreadful London fogs of Victorian times.

Now it is Indonesia and Brazil that are cutting down their great forests, and China that is burning coal in its factories to fuel its industries, and which now causes pollution similar to that which we ourselves caused before World War II - and consequently the West is screaming that they have no right to cut down their forests like we did, or use coal like we did - and they say, why not you did so why can't we; how else can we achieve what you have achieved?

And whilst countries like America criticize China and Japan, it is America that at the end of the day refuses to sign conservation treaties; and it is America that is going ahead to make plans to begin drilling for oil in places like Alaska to feed its insatiable need for more energy whilst at the same time telling Canada they mustn't cut down trees etc. . . It really all boils down to greed - and don't do what we do, but do as we say !

When I attended conferences on energy many years ago I soon discovered that one of the major problems with America was the fact that they are not really a United States - so when it came to signing treaties, what was acceptable for Texas was not agreeable to California - and New York can never seem to agree with Alabama. And then there are the Unions - all of which run to their own policies, and the President is never able to please everyone, so it is better to abstain.

It is little wonder that Australia, New Zealand, Europe, The Middle East, Russia, China - and even the British public - often cannot comprehend what is happening and how to consolidate and agree what is best for the future of the world - when we are all confused about it ourselves and often can only see our own greedy goals - Little wonder that we feel at a loss when we read tragic headlines in the world press about more and more destruction of the environment almost every day of the week!

But although greed must rank high in the list of reasons for the creeping death of the world's environment - as people hoard and scheme for the personal needs of both themselves and their families - the changing world condition, education and the media also play an ever increasing roll.

For example, social change and deteriorating morals also play a major part. Increased individual wealth has resulted in more holidays, more travel, more motorist, more aircrafts etc. And add to this the changing attitudes in family life; where in the past families stayed together no matter what and children didn't leave home till they got married. In today's world one house is not enough to house a family - a separated couple need two houses and kids over eighteen want a place of their own. . .it is not uncommon for a family of four to eventually want four separate places to live - which is both mind boggling and dreadfully wasteful.

In the West approximately fifty percent of people living together are not married and one third of the children are born outside of a marriage- and the single parent is fast becoming the backbone of the community.

Added to this we have excessive usage of chemicals getting into the food chain - and sexually transmitted diseases - which is a problem in the West; and at epidemic proportions in the East.

And last but certainly not least you have population growth - At the time of building the Great Wall of China, less people lived in China than there are currently live in Hong Kong ! And today's population of London far exceeds the total number of people living in the whole of British Isles at the time of King Henry VIII. And of course the population of America now - as compared with five hundred years ago must show similar trends. I imagine that the current population of New York currently far exceeds the total population of the continent of America at the time of Christopher Columbus' arrival.

How can anyone escape these facts and the resulting effects and consequences ... once upon a time tribes we called backward lived by respecting the land and only taking from it what they needed - Those days can never return , to turn back the clock and is out of the question. Re-education is a forlorn hope, to try to confiscate modern invention and so called progress is hardly likely . . but we can try to modify it to some extent, assuming that we can eventually get governments to take some of our concerns seriously -

But in fact it is democracy that will eventually be our biggest obstacle in controlling our future -everybody being equal and everybody having an equal say will ultimately put the less informed majority in the drivers seat at the ballet box and the politicians will pass laws according - Ironically it is only when the few manage the many, rather than the present situation of the greed of the many fuelling our system, that speedy change is possible. But those days are long gone - how do you educate people to buy less, travels less, enjoy themselves less, whilst governments continue to urge the majority forward to the ultimate destruction of the world they live in -

So here we are back where I began an hour ago - I suppose we must continue to skip our pebbles across the ponds of this world and shout into the canyons in the hope that a different voice will one day come back instead of our own fading echo.

Albert Gazeley.