Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Let’s Get It

Toronto, Ontario

Earth’s population reached the 7 billion mark. I propose it’s not Earth shattering to hear that. An acquaintance of mine, she remembers when she was young, that the 4 billionth kid was born in 1987. Imagine, in such a short time we’ve blown up to an incredible proportion. Poor Mother Earth, poor us.

To hear about the rate of human population growth gives me the creeps. I don’t know what it does to you. I personally feel a concern, like you, about the overload of energy consumption, and the subsequent waste thereafter. I picture in my mind an Earth ravaged in the not so distant future, of trees leveled and wild life carcasses found everywhere for lack of food and space.

In the time that our guru, Srila Prabhupada was with us for a decade, from the mid 60’s to mid 70’s, the topic of population explosion did arise from time to time. Back then he dissuaded us from being alarmed, when it was then a concern. He argued that the Earth can accommodate many people. He’s right. The problem is who we are as a species and what we do with precious Earth. We are a destructive lot, expert at the ruination of our habitat. We’ve proven to be so, and we are not correcting ourselves at a fast enough rate. For instance, China and India, who have well over a billion population each, are supposed to be in an economic boom, but reportedly these places are being divested of good air and water to hold their astronomical supply.

The problem is that we Earthlings, more particularly, humans, just do not have our priorities straight. Going deep into matters is not our strong point. Going into our selves is not our norm, and yet, to be introspective is a gift we have over all other life forms. We shouldn’t expect them to correct our wrongs. At some point in time, Goddess Bhumi (Mother Earth) and Bhagavan (Father God) will say, “Enough is enough. We flush you all down.”

Isn’t it better to pay heed to warnings than to selfishly pass on our crap to the next generation? It would allow us a better karma to contend with. I hope we get smart. I hope we ‘get it’. I’m also guilty of contributing to the mess like everyone else. I hope I ‘get it’, and become a better guardian of my place, the Earth. She’s too sacred. Let’s enjoy her a whole lot more and walk upon her soft and hard soil, giving her the massage she deserves, and let’s watch the pollution.

10 KM