Tag: environment

Yes, is the short answer. We are clearly insane.

There are only two northern white rhinos left in the entire world. And they are kept under 24-hour guard in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

What an appalling indictment of the state of our world today. What on earth have we done? What the hell are we playing at?

I was watching David Attenborough on the BBC – in his Seven Worlds, One Planet series the other day and there was a clip where he visits the Ol Pejeta Conservancy to see the rhinos. What got me more than anything else was the look of utter despair and resignation on his face as he spoke of their fate. Here is a man who personifies everything that is decent, selfless and knowledgeable about our natural world. He speaks with authority and sincerity. If he says it’s bad – it’s bad. I knew things weren’t great for rhinos but I didn’t realise just how terrible their plight was.

Image credit: The Independent

Not two thousand, or two hundred. Two left. Both female. Kept under 24-hour guard to protect them from their deadly predator – humans.

Their names, if we can at least grant them some last dignity, are Najin and Fatu. Mother and daughter. The last male, Sudan, died in 2018. After they’re gone – that’s it – short of a miracle, they’re finished…

Extinct.

Let’s pause for a second and allow that word and its implications to sink in.

Feel the loss. Feel the outrage. Feel the collective shame. After millions of years – gone forever.

Yet another species to disappear from the planet thanks to the devastation the human species has wrought upon the environment through poaching, culling, deforestation, urbanisation, mining, farming, building, polluting, industrialisation etc. You know the list as well as I do. Only around 29,000 rhinos remain in the wild – and of the white rhino species, the northern white rhino – a sub-species – is teetering on the brink of extinction. It’s happened countless times before with many other species on every continent and will no doubt continue.

Now I don’t doubt for one second that any half intelligent person reading this news feels as equally appalled as me at this shocking fact. Who wouldn’t be? It doesn’t feel good, does it? To know that we’re part of that – all be it unknowingly – unintentionally. But we are one. We are collectively responsible – whether willfully or through ignorance. There’s no ducking out of it. We are all connected. The butterfly effect, the ripple effect. We read this shocking news and feel an overwhelming sense of despair at humankind and our collective stupidity and sheer blindness to the trail of devastation. This then adds to the general malaise and and general quiet dissatisfaction that we hold towards ourselves as a society. We ask ourselves, what is the point, what is the use, what can we do? There is just no hope. We might as well just give up. It’s too much to change this – so we may as well give in – just let them go extinct. What can we do. After all – it’s too late now. And anyway – it’s all down to poachers isn’t it? Nothing to do with us.

So we move on to the next problem instead. Besides, we’ve got more important things to sort out in the world right now haven’t we? – coronavirus, economic crisis, war, corruption, terrorism etc. It’s not that we don’t care, we just don’t know what to do. It’s too overwhelming. Move on. Scroll on.

But hold on a minute. Back up there. Move on to what exactly? Move on to fixing things and getting on with our post-covid 19 world so we can be getting back to our obsession of “more-faster-cheaper” mass consumption and its devastating affect on the natural world? More of that?

We are driving ourselves to our own extinction and taking other species with us.

Nobody in their right mind reading this wants these creatures extinct. So why is this allowed to happen?

Why doesn’t anyone stop it?

Oh come on. We know why.

1. There’s no money in it. There’s no profits to be made in saving the northern white rhino (or any other near-extinct species). There’s no immediate tangible benefit that can be instantly monetised. The people who run our world genuinely aren’t concerned. They have their own agenda of control, subjugation and manipulation – and it doesn’t involve saving rhinos, or any other species, from extinction.
2. We are blind to the consequences of doing nothing because it is not immediately apparent what these consequences are and therefore the incentive is less. So we kinda see what the issue is but we don’t see a direct correlation between action and consequence. Or at least not enough of us do. Enough of us to make a real difference.
3. It would take a miracle and a heroic effort.

Right. So that’s that then. It’s a foregone conclusion. Case closed.

So they can’t be saved?

You’d think so. However, while you and I sit here, scrolling and browsing at our leisure, a miracle may well be happening. There are people who are trying to defy the odds and save this species from extinction. They are not taking no for an answer and they are taking action.

Check this out. This is incredible:

They are harvesting eggs from the two remaining female northern white rhinos, with the plan to successfully implant an embryo into a southern white rhino as a surrogate – as a last and incredibly heroic attempt to save the species from extinction.

Wow. Imagine being part of that team! Imagine waking up in the morning and having on your agenda for the day just one item – saving species from extinction.

I include a link at the end of this article so you can read for yourself of the amazing efforts of the conservationists and scientists who, with the support of the Kenyan government, are selflessly working to save this species from disappearing forever.

Latest news at the time of writing, is that these efforts have been hit by the coronavirus and travel restrictions. Elodie Sampéré – PR, Communications and Fundraising Consultant at Wild Communications – told me this week that the next ovum collection for the embryo project, due to happen in April, has now been cancelled because of it. They are hoping it will be rescheduled for August. No guarantee of course. And time is not on their side to save this species. As the females get older it will be increasingly difficult to successfully obtain eggs.

“If there is one message that I think people need to hear it is that conservation must go on. We must keep protecting these species regardless of the turmoil that is currently happening in the world. Actually we feel it is now more important than ever.”

– Elodie Sampéré (Wild Communications)

At this point, we might be tempted to say, well that’s ok – they’re doing something about it, so maybe it will be alright then and they will be saved.

Maybe. I certainly hope so – and so do you. But you know that’s a cop-out. That’s apathy. And look where apathy has got us.

Their work is far from done and the outcome is definitely not assured. And there’s obviously a bigger issue here. The plight of the northern white rhino is just the tragic tip of the iceberg. The issue needs to be tackled head on. We can no longer just ignore it. We are destroying our ecosystem.

Hello? Anybody listening? earth to humans? Literally: earth to humans?

Complacency is devastating

Those words were inscribed on the wall where I used to work and served as a constant reminder to be the best in my job – never assume, take responsibility, take action, step up etc. You know the corporate speak – we all do. It gets results. Great for business. Good news for shareholders. Well those words apply here too – in conservation and the preservation of our environment, the ecosystem and all species with which we share this world. And we ignore them at our peril.

We are shareholders in our environment but we invest nothing. We just take. 

So what does it say about us if we let this slide? If we just let it go – because we feel helpless and powerless to do anything? Is this good enough? Is this acceptable? Is this ok?

No – absolutely it isn’t. And we can’t hide behind coronavirus as an excuse. There’s always an excuse. And if it’s not coronavirus it will be something else. We somehow manage to avoid that difficult, awkward conversation that needs to happen globally and publicly:

How and when are we going to stop destroying our planet and endangering the bio-diversity of life of which we are part and which is fundamental to our survival?

It’s up to us. You, me and anyone else who is not prepared to put up and shut up about the way our world is run by a corrupt elite who don’t give a damn about the great mass of common humans – let alone the species we share our world with.

Now I’m not here to implore you to donate – though that would of course be amazing. We can all do that. This is not about money. It’s about changing the way we think, feel and live. We’re the problem. Not money. Money goes where we tell it to.

What on earth is wrong with us? Why are we like this?

We need to deal with the root cause. It’s down to us, as individuals and as a collective.

The bad news is there are billions of humans on this planet and we haven’t yet learned how to cooperate to utilise the planet’s resources in a sustainable manner that will allow us to peacefully co-exist with our fellow creatures without infringing on their right to live with the same freedoms we demand for ourselves. We don’t even know how to co-exist with our fellow humans. For more on this subject just read the entire world history of the 20th century.

This all just stems from ignorance. Our ignorance holds us back. This stems from apathy and a lack of self belief at both individual and societal levels. We fill our lives with materialism and consumption because our existence is devoid of any meaning and we don’t know what else to do. Our bodies are addicted to the natural chemical highs created by the brain in reaction to the experiences we choose to have. That’s why we mindlessly scroll through looking for the next dopamine hit. We are scared to look inwards, we are scared to be alone with ourselves. We are scared of what we might find. We are scared of a world without Wifi, without the internet or Netflix, or Amazon or toilet paper or pasta. We are scared of Without.

When we do this we demean ourselves as a species. We are better than this. We need to shape up.

“Welcome to planet earth. But I’m afraid there’s not much left to see.”

If ever extra terrestrials were to visit earth, I for one would not be afraid. If anything I’d be embarrassed.

“Hi. Yeah, sorry about this. This is a bit awkward. You’ve kinda come at the wrong time. We were hoping we could show you around and you could see some of the other animals we share the world with – but I’m afraid you’ve come a bit too late. They’re pretty much all gone. Give us a good rating on TripAdvisor though?”

Ok so this is no laughing matter but it is almost comical were the consequences not so tragic. And therein lies the greatest tragedy. It is our belief that we lack everything we need to feel whole and complete that has ultimately caused the devastation we are creating around us. We never have enough. We never feel we are enough.

Our belief in lack has stripped us of our potential to reach dizzying heights of compassion and cooperation that could turn this world back into a Garden of Eden – if we wanted. Just think what we could achieve with the aid of artificial intelligence and nano-technology if, instead of it now being used as surveillance and control of the population as we are increasingly moving towards, we instead invest even more in cleaning up our environment and speeding up research into solutions to maintain our biodiversity and our natural habitat.

Maybe it will be too late to ensure the continuation of the northern white rhino – but we can turn this around. We have to. It is immoral what we are allowing to happen.

I believe the human race is fundamentally good and at a general level we can cooperate for the greater good – otherwise we would long ago have driven ourselves to extinction.

We need to dig deep – not into our pockets – but into our souls, and return to our true nature – our true state of being, which is being denied to us by the economic and social slavery to which the majority of the world’s population are forced into in the name of progress. Whose progress exactly?

Perhaps the fate of the northern white rhino will serve as a wake-up call. By god we need one. We are sleep-waking towards our own extinction.

So let’s just do this. Ignore the naysayers and critics. Let’s start today. Let’s join those people around the world who are already trying to change things.

1. Be vocal. Make yourself heard. Include issues like this on your social media feed and change the conversation to include environmental issues. You are sitting on a goldmine with the potential to use your social media platform to transform the world – if you really wanted to. Millions of individual voices – all saying the same thing – enough is enough. Move this issue and others like it up the agenda.  This is about our moral integrity and our legacy. Make your legacy something worthwhile. Move the public attention on to these issues. Money eventually goes where the attention is.
2. Hold our politicians to account. Demand more from them. Demand that they follow the example of the Kenyan government and support the valiant efforts of scientists and conservationists worldwide, and show some compassion and respect for the environment. Politicians want to be seen to be doing the right thing. You decide what the right thing is – not them. We’re not stupid and it’s about time we took control back of our lives. Reverse this tragic loss of species diversity before it is too late. Our leaders need to be bold, daring and radical if we’re to reverse this environmental catastrophe. We, the people, need to set the bar high and insist they rise to the challenge – or make way for people who will. Saving the environment and endangered species should be an international policy worldwide – and not left to charitable donation. Our future depends on it. We are part of the ecosystem. Mess it up and we will be the ones teetering on the brink of extinction. Except there will be no one to mount 24 hour guard over the last human on earth..
3. Consume less. We need to stop competing with everyone, trying to keep up with our neighbours and peers. Just stop. Stop buying all this stuff in a futile attempt to fill up that void of emptiness inside.  Save money and help save the natural world instead. What a payback. Who wouldn’t want that? It’s a tiny step – but if enough of us did it.. that will go some way. Buy less stuff and be careful of what we do buy. Be selective – less is more. Quality – not quantity. Ethical, not immoral. Stop hiding your true self behind your possessions. And when we do buy, we should (where we can) check the supply chain of who we’re buying from  and where their suppliers are buying from. Everything comes from the earth as the ultimate source. Make it your business to know the impact of where you send your money and if in doubt – don’t buy. We’re not going to die because we own less things. It might even be liberating. Inert, money is useless. But put to use, money is power. Money is energy. You have money – you have power. Use it wisely.
4. Don’t try to change the world by external means. You can’t. Instead, change yourself inside and you change the world. You are part of this world. Remember the ripple effect, the butterfly wings? The survival of natural biodiversity depends on us – you and me. So change yourself then. Stop chasing money, people and things. Develop compassion, patience, deferred gratification, and a hunger for self-knowledge and development. Re-connect with this world as you are supposed to. If enough of us could do that, if enough of us turned our backs on this shallow, competitive, fake consumer-driven, alienating nine to five, twenty-four seven existence we’ve been hood-winked into, where we seek to validate ourselves through the acquisition of things, selfies and likes, and instead cultivated a sense of connectivity to each other and the natural world around us, we would, as a species, learn to cooperate with one another to our mutual benefit – and also to the benefit of those creatures (those that are left) with whom we share this world.

And guess what else – we would be happier!

Can we really do this? Can we pull ourselves back from the brink?

Yes. Of course! It’s a numbers game. It just takes enough individuals acting collectively. We just need to reach a tipping point and then there’s no stopping us.

And then, perhaps, we might tip the balance – turn the tide –  we might instead marvel once again, as our ancestors must have done, millennia ago, at the sheer wonder and beauty of the natural world. We are primordial beings still. We just  manipulate our environment excessively because of our ultimate fear of death and our need to distance ourselves from it through material consumption. But in exploiting our environment to this extent we are denying our true selves. It is making us sick. We must learn to cherish and nurture our true nature. We might then cultivate a future earth that is a fitting tribute to all that is noble and pure about humanity. A self-sustaining legacy of life in all its diversity. 

Why hesitate? If not now – when?

Nature endowed us with consciousness for a reason. We just need to put it to good use. Don’t be down about this. This is no time for self-doubt, anxiety and despair. This is a time for arming ourselves with knowledge and taking some action – and feel energised and good to be alive. We should be proud of who we are and what we are. We may have got it wrong at times but it is never too late to change. Find out where/how we can help, sort ourselves out and get our life priorities in order. With so much free information on the internet there is no excuse for ignorance. Ignorance or apathy is a choice. Let’s not make the wrong choice.

I, for one, am hopeful – the glass is always half full. Look at what they’re doing at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.  Is that not a lesson to us all? Enough people working together can make a difference.

Thank you for reading this. If you stayed with me this far, I salute you as a kindred spirit. Let’s take this message forward. Do it for the last two remaining Northern White Rhinos on earth. It’s the very least we could do.

April 2020

Paul Mahabir (England/UK)    Twitter: @PaulMabzi

More on this subject:

Donate to Ol Pejeta Conservancy

www.olpejetaconservancy.org/newly-created-embryo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-52228181

www.wild-communications.com

Please spread the word. Thank you.