The International Writers Magazine: Comment: Clean Air - Healthy Planet

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"An Inconvenient Truth" - Is the Prognosis Terminal • Michael Levy. About six years ago, I was vacationing in the Mountains of North Carolina. To my dismay, I discovered that the whole of North Carolina has some of the worst air quality in the USA . More and more people are suffering from respiratory illness.

Sixteen mostly coal fired power stations are polluting the air with ozone-forming Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Acid Rain is killing plants and trees. A national treasure is being poisoned and humankind’s apathy is reluctant to take the appropriate action. To date it has not gotten any better. This is only the tip of a very large iceberg. According to RF Kennedy Jr., 1,100 coal-burning power plants are burning coal illegally in the USA .
 
Millions of people all over the world are exposing their lungs to S O2 , mercury emissions and N Ox that can cause wheezing, coughing, asthma. and bronchitis.
• Fish in the oceans are becoming congested with mercury.
• Hurricanes are more prevalent and increasingly more violent in many parts of the world.
• Tidal waves are increasing more frequently.
• Ice caps are melting at an alarming rate
• The ozone layer is thinning at an alarming rate causing the suns rays to heat the oceans and parch the land beyond nature's natural rhythm
 
In spite of all the latest statistics it seems the greed for money is more influential than extinguishing pollution. The bottom line profits overcomes any real attempt to ease the pollution concerns ... appeasing stock holders taste buds, is the flavor of the decade, for much of corporate America.
 
A new movie "An Inconvenient Truth" gives a stark warning about global warming and the eventual destruction of life on earth. Al Gore no doubt has political ambitions of becoming the next president of the USA . Therefore, many people will question his motives for helping to make this movie. Non-the less, the facts are clear and a real threat to humanities survival. About half of all CO emission is of human origin. The other half forms naturally. On an Ariel view of earth, the Northern Hemisphere shows much more CO than the South.  However, pollution moves on a global scale all around earth.
 
The Chinese economy is going at full pace and with it more mass pollution. Within the next few years, many third world countries will also become more affluent and people in them will have more money to spend on things they think they require for a successful life. At the same time, their quality o f life will diminish with their lifestyle demands plundering earths assets. The natural resources will become more stretched and strained ... As peoples buying power increases, earths bountiful resources will diminish.
Unless world leaders start to learn how to deal from the top of the deck, not from the bottom, authentic quality of life on earth will become poorer and trashier; whist people’s lifestyle seemingly becomes more opulent and luxurious
 
The state of California is now complying with the Kyoto Agreement guidelines. No doubt conscientious citizens all around America will lobby their politicians to impact the political system in such a way as to get their states to comply with the Kyoto Agreement. A start in the right direction for all states would be the recommendations by many conservation groups, namely:
 
• Phase out or clean up dirty, coal-burning power plants.
• Phase in renewable wind, solar, and biomass power.
•Increase energy efficiency in homes, offices, and industries
• Create State Climate Action Plans that reduce and cap
• global warming pollution and establish a carbon marketplace.
Introduce Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) standards.
• Clean up black carbon from diesel engines.
• Reduce methane emissions from landfills and hog farms.
• Change personal habits. Simple things like turning off lights, taking shorter showers, and running your computer in sleep mode add up to big pollution, energy and money savings.
 
It is time to wake up the American media and let them smell the rotting stench of polluted ignorance for themselves. We have the technology to clean up the power plants and cut car emissions, so why is it not top priority? It is time for ordinary people to lobby the media and government... Let the people's voice be heard above the avarice of the millionaire polluters.
 
'Among these treasures of our land is water--fast becoming our most valuable, most prized, most critical resource. A blessing where properly used--but it can bring devastation and ruin when left uncontrolled.'
Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
Which begs the question; if the people who have the power to make changes in the way humanity progresses in the future are polluting their own minds and bodies with junk food, harmful drinks and erroneous negative thoughts, how can they ever make the appropriate changes to make earths pollution less severe?
 
A human body does not decay overnight by one cookie filled with trans fats and corn syrup. It does not get cancer by one alcoholic drink. One single negative thought does not depress the mind. However, over many years of misuse and abuse, the mind and body of a human beings will become irreparably polluted, decayed and grow extinct well before its intended shelf life was scheduled to end.
 
Likewise, earth does not become extremely polluted by a few erroneous actions by ignorant people. It takes a concentrated effort by greedy ignorance, to pollute the water supplies and make toxic the air we all breathe. It has taken earth’s atmosphere and surface a few hundred years to become so polluted that sever weather patterns are on the increase with increasing ferocity.
 
Therefore, it makes perfect sense for every person on earth to examine their own lifestyles and thought patterns whilst at the same time trying to help fix earths pending problems.
 
A few thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about a man who was imprisoned with chains attached to his head. He could only look forward and when he heard voices coming from the side and rear he could only see the voices coming out of shadows. He lived most of his life believing that shadows could speak. Then one day, when he was old and grey, he was released from his shackles and could slowly turn around and see the reality of who was speaking. The illusion of the shadows speaking was for the first time revealed for what they were. Just shadows of the real thing. How many beliefs in today's world are just shadows speaking?  Are the shadows of unenlightened people in power casting dark clouds of polluted thoughts over the whole of earth’s surface? If people cannot become united and speak with one voice, with universal truths, then all that will be achieved is lots of hazy, shadowy rhetoric and very little affirmative action.
 
Therefore, while people can declare that they are going to lobby the government to make the changes necessary, they should also determine whom it is in their mind that makes their decisions for them.
 
Who is it that has educated their mind since birth and how reliable is that information?
 
If they think they know the answer to whom their inner being is, then the question remains...How well has that inner-character looked after their health and happiness so far and is it giving them a significant, eloquent life?
 
There is one final thing we must all note. It is appropriate you have concern for the troubled world in which we all live, but nothing ever changes by worry, apart from the worrier getting weary and stressed-out. You have the spirit of all your ancestral loved ones within your very being and it is your job to keep them joyous. Therefore, the more joy you project, the more de-lights in your spiritual illumination ... The joy-filled power of constructive thought is projected all around the universe in many dimensions and eventually comes back to earth in other peoples thought.
 
A prosperous, authentic life comes about by doing good deeds every day. It could be something as simple as a friendly handshake, a kind smile, or a loving hug. It is the cumulative power of your daily actions and your wisdom, which will lead you to a fulfilling life. To help make changes in the world, first make sure you have transformed yourself to live without any self-pollution in mind and body.
 
Earths bounty provides an adequate supply for humanities requirements however; it can no longer sustain its insatiable avarice.
 
© Michael Levy. Syndicated columnist October 4th 2006
http://www.pointoflife.com/
Florida
USA

BIO
His inspirational poetry and essays now grace many assorted web sites, journals and magazines throughout the world. He is expert columnist for Positive Health magazine, the leading complimentary health publication in the UK.   Michael's articles are also a regular feature in the Royal Collage of Psychiatry's spiritually themed newsletters.
 
 
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