home of the wildlife conservation environmental
and freedom activist
Today's environment news articles
environment news 		for all environment news articles

 
from the Environment News Service www.ensnews.com
excerpt from: Healing Our World: Weekly Comment
 
 
The World Game Institute tells us that we could remove all land mines from the Earth in 10 years for $2 billion per year.
 
We could provide shelter for everyone on the planet in 10 years for $21 billion per year.
 
We could also provide health care and AIDS control worldwide for a $21 billion per year investment over 10 years, and eliminate starvation and malnutrition worldwide for $17 billion per year over the same time period.
 
There are many individuals in the United States who could write checks for these amounts today.
 
The cost of eliminating starvation and malnutrition is 2.4 percent of the world's total annual military expenditures or 1.9 percent of the world's annual expenditures on illegal drugs. This amount is also about 55 percent of what Americans spend on weight loss programs each year.
 
 
What will history tell of Earth Day 2001? A cynical entry in a newspaper 100 years from now might read like this:
 
On the 31st anniversary of Earth Day in 2001, many festivals and craft fairs were held. The street performers were good. A few beaches got cleaned up for a few hours. People went on hikes and many farm animals were petted. Yet while these cute festivals were happening, the following took place, in the United States alone on that day:

  • 200,000 tons of edible food was thrown out - more than usual because of the festivals.

  • 313 million gallons of fuel was used - a lot of it driving to the festivals - enough to drain 26 tractor-trailer trucks every minute.

  • One-quarter of the adults on this planet could not read or write.

  • One out of every five people was hungry and malnourished and did not have housing.

  • One out of every five people lacked clean drinking water.

  • One of every three people lacked adequate health care.

  • Worldwide, 60,000 children under the age of
    five died from bad drinking water.

 

There were some scattered protests, but for most of the leaders of the United States, it was just another day at the office, counting the lucrative revenue from the day.

 

On Earth Day 2001, maybe more than ever before in history, we need to reflect seriously on the fact that time may really be running out for our planet's life support systems - and for us. 

Maybe Earth Day should be a day of national listening - listening, as Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn says, for the sound of the Earth crying. If we really heard that sound, we could not help but act. 

 
 
The Earth Day website lists hundreds of Earth Day activities around the world. Crowds will gather on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, the second highest peak in the state, for a festival powered in part by wind and solar energy. There will be some excellent discussions and conferences.
But nowhere could I find the protests or marches that marked the birth of Earth Day 31 years ago, when 20 million people said, I want a better way to live - not a better way to party.