What effect are humans having on the environment: What we are doing versus what we should be doing

Humanity is currently the only species capable of having a significant influence on our home planet, the earth. We have considerable power because of our conscious mind which gives us the ability to think and reason.  This enables us to change/influence all that we contact by utilizing technology and mechanization to our advantage.

This is not necessarily a good thing, and it is unfortunate that at this time in our history we are choosing to spread like a destructive virus over the face of the Earth. We are actually causing harm and damage to almost all environments that we interact with.

However, it does not need to be this way!

Instead, our role should be that of a benevolent caretaker to the planet and all life that co-exist together with us.

How Are Humans Impacting The Environment?

Currently, there are many ways in which humankind is destroying our environment on an ongoing basis with complete disregard for the long-term effects. Some of these activities include deforestation, the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima, acidification of the oceans, indiscriminate industrial fishing practices killing all they touch, massive land and sea pollution with human waste, and the destruction of the ozone layer.

What will it take for the majority of people to wake up and see that at our current rate of ‘progress,’ we will soon be responsible for destroying this beautiful planet?

This will ultimately lead to our own downfall because as yet, we are unable to find and then migrate to other habitable planets. This is fortunate for any habitable planets out there because unless we evolve in consciousness, we will just end up destroying them as well!

As individuals, we all contribute to this ongoing environmental assault by either actively participating in, or by inactively refusing to acknowledge and act upon the harmful aspects of our society’s mass consumerism. This problem is further fueled by the continued accelerating world population growth rate as well as by the desire of individuals to consume more and more products and services.

Let’s just look at one issue more closely to understand how our behaviors are affecting the environment we live in.

Plastic is an example of short-term convenience over the long-term health of the environment

We are surrounded by many different types of plastics and they are present in every aspect of our lives these days. It is hard to imagine how we can exist without them anymore. So much progress has been made because of the advent of so many products with plastic, and they have allowed for much business growth and development as well as many new forms of recreation.

However, the convenience and relatively inexpensive nature of plastics does not come without a cost. Plastic has become a major problem due to the vast amount of it that we produce and dispose of without regard to the harm it causes to the environment.

According to https://www.ecowatch.com/22-facts-about-plastic-pollution-and-10-things-we-can-do-about-it-1881885971.html

• Only a small percentage, (approx. 5%) is recycled and the vast majority of it ends up in landfills or as pollution, most of which eventually ends up in the sea, to make up 90% of all rubbish floating in the oceans. Currently, there is a giant swirling vortex of plastic twice the size of Texas floating in the North Pacific Gyre of the coast of California. It even has its own name: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch!
• 50% of the plastics we consume, we use only once and then throw away. This includes the mostly unnecessary packaging used to make goods more attractive and salable: most of which immediately enters the rubbish pile when the goods are unpacked.
• Annually, approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. This equates to more than one million bags being used every minute (2014).
• One million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually by plastic in our oceans.
• 44 percent of all seabird species, 22 percent of cetaceans, all sea turtle species, and a growing list of fish species have been documented with plastic in or around their bodies.
• 10 tons of plastic fragments enter the Pacific Ocean each day in Los Angeles alone, including grocery bags, soda bottles, and straws.

Virtually every piece of plastic ever made, (except the small percentage that has been incinerated) still exists in one form or another.

It takes 500 to 1000 years for plastic to degrade, and during this process, it is broken down into smaller and smaller components, most of which are microscopic and therefore undetectable to the human eye. It is these particles that can be absorbed by biological life, including humans, and they have been found to alter hormones and have other negative health effects.

Plastic chemicals absorbed by humans include bisphenol A (BPA) and 93% of Americans aged 6 and over tested positive for its presence. BPA is known to disrupt the endocrine system and has been linked to breast cancer, infertility, heart disease, nervous system damage, and obesity.

Alternatives are available, but the vested interests in maintaining the status quo are deeply ingrained in both those who produce the plastics and those who are purchasing them. It will take each one of us to stop purchasing cheap disposable plastic products to send a message to the producers that these items that are polluting our environment no longer serve our long-term best interests.

For more information, check out Anna Kucirkova’s article at https://www.iqsdirectory.com/resources/solving-the-plastic-packaging-problem/

We are part of the environment, not separate from it: So why are we knowingly destroying it?

The cost of man’s ‘progress’ must take into consideration the whole environment and all other forms of life as we are intimately connected to the energy of this world and all the nature she contains.

However, it is unfortunate that often when discoveries are made that would be of benefit to all mankind and the environment, they are aggressively opposed by those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo.

By way of their vast wealth and influence, a minority of people and corporations, (less than 0.0001% of the population) shape the direction that we are heading as a species- not for our benefit, but for theirs alone.

Those who wield power are always opposed to any true creative solutions to man’s problems that do not maintain their privileged status, and will often act in ways to obstruct and discredit alternatives that will unsettle their massive profits.

It is fortunate that the real power ultimately lies with the consumers due to how they spend their dollars. Producers will not produce products that do not sell. It’s that simple! If we as consumers refuse to buy products that are harmful to life and the environment and they will stop being manufactured.

So, will you choose to use your dollars in a way that supports the environment, all life on earth, and ultimately our long-term survival?

Ever-increasing world population and affluence means more consumerism and therefore more destruction of the earth

We need to be more considerate of the long-term social and economic costs of the ever-increasing world population. Previously large families may have been desirable when there was a high mortality rate and labor was needed to work farms, etc.

However, even now with the existing population of around seven billion people, the cost to the environment of having large families is beyond the natural ability of the environment to maintain an equilibrium. This is due to the extra resources required and extra waste produced by each individual due to an ever-increasing population.

Also, as people become more affluent they tend to spend that wealth on consumer goods and services which further impedes the ability of the environment to remain healthy and balanced for all species that she supports.

“What is the difference between like and love?

Like a flower…. Pick it,

love a flower, water it daily.

One who understands this understands life.”

Buddha.

If we like our home, the Earth, we will continue to act recklessly without regard to her needs and keep taking what we want. When we have changed our ways to consider the impact we have on all other beings we will realize that we have arrived at a point where we can say we love our home, the Earth, and the multitude of life that she supports.

What can you do? If you love the earth you will want to support her general health and wellbeing

Even though the world, in many ways is a mess right now, there is always hope for a better future. The biggest problem now is that there are too many takers whose main focus is always on what they can get. However, we can be the remedy to this problem.

It is by becoming SELF-conscious as individuals that we can each make a difference and show that there is a viable alternative to the current prevailing mentality of selfishness and greed. We each can begin to inspire real change in others if we led by example.

It is by us evolving one by one that the ‘higher potential’ of living in peace, abundance, freedom, and harmony with all beings can eventually be achieved.

For many, this may mean making compromises to their lifestyle, and this can be very challenging for someone who still believes they are an individual person. The ego wants and wants, and this can make it difficult to get the best outcomes for all so sometimes making it problematic to live in harmony with others.

However, understanding that we do not live in isolation is a fundamental key to realizing that our overall well-being is dependent on the health of the whole collective that we share our homes, communities, countries, the planet, and ultimately the universe with.

We are social creatures and learning is achieved by sharing ideas, experiences, thoughts, and emotions with others. Therefore, if our neighbors are suffering it is also a part of our experience to see it, hear it, and feel it with them, which makes it directly a part of our experience. So, while we all have our individual roles to play, humanity and all life also have a collective destiny and it is together that we bring about an era of peace, love, abundance, and harmony for all.

Are we beyond the point of no return? Are the ecosystems of the earth already damaged beyond repair?

Due to the untold damage that has already been done physically and energetically to the Earth, it is possible that we may have reached the point of no return for humanity’s survival.

However, the possible catastrophes that we may soon be facing should not be considered bad, but instead looked on as necessary to ‘clean up’ the mess that we are continuing to create.

The Earth has existed for around four billion years now and has gone through many cycles of expansion and destruction and as such is not beyond repair. She will heal herself and return to a naturally balanced state of being in her own way, in her time, with or without humanity as a passenger.

As individuals, we can evolve ourselves to aid this process of change for the betterment of all life. Or we can continue to keep our heads buried in the sand and deny that we are in any way facing problems on a planetary scale due to our over-consumption of resources. Humanity has been continuingly taking for too long now and has offered nothing substantial back to Mother Earth in the way of compensation.

By refusing to see with open eyes what is really going on, we are, by choice of self-imposed ignorance complicit in our own ultimate downfall. Humanity will reap what we have sown as determined by The Law of Attraction.

Why do we continue to destroy that which gives us life? How can you make a difference?

Fear of death, no matter how illogical, keeps up striving to survive at all costs. Rather than face up to fears that we may reap the consequences of our actions, which have been selfish and not for the benefit of all life on earth, our ego continues to deny the obvious and fights to retain control.

Our ego (separate self) does not want to die and also does not want to face its karma. However, both are inescapable, as the same natural universal laws govern all of creation. Why is it that the majority of mankind is oblivious to the fact that we are also governed by these laws? There is no escaping the fact that we will die, and we will reap the rewards of all of our thoughts, words, and actions!

Unlike man-made justice which is changeable according to who is making up the rules at any given time, universal law is truth, unforgiving, uncompromising, incorruptible, and unbreakable.

Even though death is inevitable for all physical bodies, those with metaphysical awareness of a greater purpose in life do not fear death. Instead, they embrace it with the understanding that it is another opportunity to learn and experience more by transitioning into something different and even greater if that is what our deeds have manifested for ourselves.

Are you ready and willing to receive according to that which you have sown?

The remedy to our problems lies buried deep within ourselves

It is foolish to continue to live life purely from a physical perspective with all the ignorance and limitations that this entails. This is the path of continued suffering and death. By raising our consciousness and then helping others to do the same, we will evolve and therefore be able to survive any changes that may come with understanding and acceptance.

However, our ego try’s everything possible to deny the existence of our spiritual nature, which is aware of the energetic mess we are creating and could be used as a voice of reason to stop the madness.

We need to wake up and see the madness in our limited way of thinking! Some local laws may be necessary to control the stupidity of mankind, but do not for an instant consider them to be anywhere near as important as the Natural Laws of Creation that all life is subject to.

Ask yourself, ‘why do I want to continue to survive?’

Is it to preserve your selfish ego, or do you truly want to evolve your-SELF so that you may be of service to all other life in the journey back to health, abundance, joy, love, and ultimately the oneness that encompasses all of creation?

I challenge you to evolve your consciousness to become more unselfishly loving, kind, and respectful, of all other life……for the sake of ALL LIFE.

Please leave your thoughts below in the comments section. I would love to know what you think about the current state of life on earth.