Monday 28 January 2013

What can we do?


What can we do to keep what is left of the air, water, land? Can you drink the water from the river near you? How many die from cancer-related deaths from breathing the air in your area? Cancer rates are amongst the highest in Southern Ontario - as are the pollution stats! Doesn't a light go off when you get "smog days" in the spring [or ANY time?!!!].

What can we do when politician "work" for the large corporations, such as the oil industry - as this poster reveals at a protest last Spring about the shipment of Tar Sands bitumen to Ontario:

But let us not complain if we drive everywhere and make a market for fossil fuels. Surely they will come from the Middle East instead. And let us not forget the estimated 2,000,000 who died as a result of attacks from the U.S. Perhaps we need to think of the dying children, women, men, plants, air, etc. as we demand convenience and ease!

"Give me convenience or give me death" they chant! Isn't it odd that church goers [or temple goers or shoppers or us all!] forget that James, the brother of Jesus condemns living in luxury and self-indulgence [James 5:1-6 NIV]:

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Wow! And most of this cult-u-r-e worships wealth and unlimited "growth"! Oh, and sales....yet this speaks to the demand of justice - fair treatment of workers! Farm labourers have all-ways been ripped off! Hence, even more so the need for unions/protection. And we need to demand their rights - and be willing to pay more for food and other goods - so that the workers don't have to cry out to God in agony. 

Using chemicals also leads to more suffering of the workers as they usually don't have protective gear. Regardless, chemicals devour the organisms in the soil, pollute run off waters and then we eat them. Hmmm - do you really trust someone who is making money off these when he says "Oh don't worry, the amount is so small...". Of course this ignores the cumulative effect of many different sources of them and the combinations of them! Common sense: if the chemical kills insects, weeds, etc....hmmmm. how can that be good for me [or the soil, micro-organisms, etc]?!!!

So....let us bow in shame and change our selfish ways! [And demand our politicians, businesses etc. also do - get involved - change yourself and the world!]. Don't bury your head or body in the dirt like Mr. Toad! Or you or others [if you are the rich] will be devoured - metaphorically like this chipmunk!





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