"The laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The Element have no forbearance. The Fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the Earth buries..."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow thought abuses of nature would lead to inevitable consequences as nature is “unerring in her judgments.” We must admit to the diminishing health of the natural world. We must recognize the need to begin restoration by nurturing and addressing those abuses that have put us all in jeopardy. The correct way to protect our children’s future is to perform our obligations to nature right now.
The way to protect the minds of the young people of the world is to give them vision and purpose. Certainly, what we see in the environment should arouse guilt in the average adult. The North and South poles’ melting, oceans heating up, coral reefs dying from heat and disease, hurricanes and typhoons getting higher and higher category numbers.
Our balance of Nature is now at risk as CO2 gains strength in the atmosphere, now surpassing 400 PPM. Ice core samples going back over 100,000 years suggest this is the highest figure in that time span. With the melting of the Alaskan and Siberian permafrost, more CO2 and methane will drive these figures higher, much sooner.
The oceans have gyres swirling in relentless circles, up to 3,000 miles in diameter, picking up shipping containers and all matter of flotsam on a journey with no destination.
In the past history of mankind, the hope was to leave our children a better world than we found it. Now we have simply not lived up to the challenge of our fiduciary duty in protecting the Earth for those to follow. Our stewardship is failing. But now there is hope because of President Joe Biden. He has rejoined the world’s environmental causes. His positive U.S. legislation will give our children hope environmentally. Stay tuned, stay engaged.
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