TREES OF LIFE:FORESTS IN PERIL
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March 29th, 2019

3/29/2019

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                         Domestication and Manipulation Impacts on the Natural World
 
Two weeks ago, I presented a message at church intended to alert people to the importance of the natural world and the necessity of re-establishing our sacred relationship with Mother Earth. The message started with the first book of the Bible, the story of creation and ended with the last book of the Bible, the destiny of creation. I have been troubled since with the inability or unwillingness of people to accept the devastating impacts we have had on the life sustaining elements found only in our natural surroundings. We have truly alienated ourselves from what has been labeled as “The Natural World.” With the aging of our society and the focus on individuality and the mechanization of our life style, nature has lost its reality and become almost a figment of our imagination. Something nice to talk about but not really anything to be concerned about. After all, earth belongs to us and we are the masters of the planet and everything on earth. I think about the few individuals that have been trying for the past decade to alert us, with little success, of the devastating demands we have been requiring from Mother Earth. It is apparent our 2020 election will intensify the debate over global warming and climate change, with several candidates already attempting to highlight these issues. Observing the raging debate within our Western society, resulted in my need to express how our attitudes and values effect our actions.
I began thinking that if we believe earth belongs to us and we are to take dominion over it and all lesser forms of life, then our highly developed intelligence can provide the opportunity to manipulate and change other species to meet our desires. It all started with early human efforts to domesticate a variety of plant and animal species to serve humans. Seemed like the right thing to do, after all they were simply lower parts of the food chain required for survival. Little did we know what domestication would lead to. Science and technology today, is just beginning to identify the positive and negative results of our historical domestication efforts. True, domestication has provided abundant supplies of grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts to feed the masses but are there adverse consequences? We are just beginning to learn that plants in the natural setting have a hidden life which allows them to communicate with other plants and animals plus care for and feed other adjacent plants. Domestication and row crop planting, destroys these natural social connections leaving the plant void of its hidden natural life systems. This is true of trees planted in plantations where all trees are the same species and age class. In addition to eliminating the plants social connections, we destroy the bio-diversity found in natural forest communities. We then exacerbate the problem by introducing non-indigenous species to increase growth rates or avoid disease problems. There are numerous examples of human manipulation by introducing non-indigenous species with devastating results. Here in Virginia, we have an excellent example of an introduced non-indigenous plant that is out of control, kudzu. Kudzu was brought to the southern states of American for soil stabilization in the 1800’s and has become a major problem as it chokes out other tree and plant species and can even completely cover houses and other buildings. This plant is so invasive it is frequently referred to as the “mile a minute vine.” Wild horses are another example of an introduced species able to expand their numbers thus requiring population control to prevent competition with domestic livestock and range land destruction. Observe what we have done to chickens by hatching and raising new chicks in incubators. Most hens today have lost their mother instincts and are unable to hatch and raise a brood of chicks.  
Examples of our ingenious efforts to domesticate and manipulate plant and animal life are numerous and inevitably lead to disastrous impacts on our natural world. We believe our intelligence is so advanced, we now are attempting to genetically alter several different species of plants and even animals. Vegetables are being altered to improve their appearance and increase storage life. I no longer recognize the variety of apples in the stores and tomatoes are brighter colored and the skins are so tough you have to peel them. Wheat has been altered to increase production, resulting in the medical field reporting the inability of the humans to digest modern day wheat and being the major cause of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Our advanced ingenuity has brought many interesting changes but what adverse impacts have occurred to our natural world? Has the natural world become so abstract, we are no longer capable of comprehending our human impacts on Mother Earth and the future of human life? The industrial revolution and advance scientific knowledge has flourished over the past 200 years but, what does the future hold?                   
 
       
 
 

       

 
 
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March 07th, 2019

3/7/2019

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FINDING SOLUTIONS TO COMPLEX PROBLEMS
                                                                                
 
We are continuously being bombarded with opinions over global warming and climate change. Seems to be two of the top issues for debate in the media today. Science continues to provide data supporting the gradual warming of our atmosphere and there are reports, almost daily, of severe weather conditions which are more prevalent than we can remember in our past. Even with the volumes of advanced scientific knowledge and technology, which has allowed us to measure changing conditions, the debate seems to intensify whether climate conditions actually are changing and if so, why? The next looming question is; if these adverse changes are occurring, can we do anything about it? This question highlights one of the major reasons why there is little desire to find solutions to these issues. No matter how hard we search, any effort to protect the natural world requires significant changes in our life styles. It will result in economic changes in the global economy and profitability for our corporate world. Deniers of global warming and climate change are deeply involved in the debate to protect their profitability rather than worry about prolonging life systems on our planet. To many of the environmental groups, organizations and individuals take extreme positions following the concepts of “Preservation”, as defined by John Muir, which would require unacceptable changes in life styles for the world’s population. Preservation may have had merit 100 years ago, but with 7.5 billion people now occupying planet earth, it is no longer feasible and our options have become more limited.
I believe the biggest reason the debate continues to expand is the two concerns involved are the results, not the problem. You must first define the problem and gain acceptance by the public if you hope to find solutions. The defining problems in this case are population expansion and deforestation. Both of these problems are on a course to continually expand if we fail to implement solutions soon. There are no new lands to discover and the demands we have placed on the existing land base in the past, has resulted in devastating impacts upon our natural world. Industrialization is continuing to accelerate the damage to Mother Earth. The U.S. Census Bureau has predicted an increase in world population of 2.5 BILLION people in just 30 years. The rate of deforestation is projected to accelerate as the demand for agricultural lands increases and urbanization continues to demand more land for homes and skyscrapers. How long can we ignore the reality of the destiny of creation before it is too late? Confirming population statistics is simple and modern technology provides easy access to the facts that define our remaining forest cover. It is time to stop debating the null alternative and focus on the two looming problems the people of Earth are faced with! Individualism must give way to a strong concern for the community, so together we can find the path to a more desirable future. Our political leaders have lost their way and are unable to see the vision our founding fathers had when they established this egalitarian democratic system of government, for and by the people! The first step is to define, present and gain acceptance of the two over-whelming problems - population expansion and deforestation! Only then can we join together to identify acceptable and meaningful solutions that will provide the path for future generations!
Our alienation with the natural world has resulted in it becoming an obscure thought in the back of our minds that receives little, in any, consideration of the important role it plays in all life systems. We are infatuated with our mechanical society that provides our daily needs and pleasures, but it is incapable of fulfilling our human life sustaining requirements. Earth does not belong to us and the natural world is an undeniable reality that demands stewardship and care by humanity! The story of Creation is magical, but without human stewardship and care-taking, Revelations presents the story of the destiny of Creation.  
                                                                                
 

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