So many things have happened over the past week or so, and most of these leave me with a surfeit amount of unanswered questions. As much as I would love to relentlessly type away on this keyboard, I am forced to take a pause and reflect on what has come to pass.
Multitudes of people all over the world have been waiting patiently for the 17th edition of the Conference of the Parties, and the meeting of the parties within the Kyoto Protocol, which combines to bring out the conference, now ordinarily known as COP17/CMP7. Over the years countries globally have come together at these gatherings to ponder, debate and try to come up with solutions to the ever persistent phenomena that we face, which is Climate Change. With these meetings, they look back on progress, solutions, and obstacles, and set out future targets and goals for the ongoing battle between human survival and preservation of the natural environment.
What came to mind, though, is the fact that humans have done so much to make this fight against environmental degradation not a only difficult one, but one that is so challenging, it requires unconditional application and focus from every individual in the world.
Environmental degradation is a phenomenon that goes way back to the 1800’s, when the world’s giants were out in full force; trading, competing, fighting and thriving to be at the top, above everyone else. What they did not consider was the simple fact that humans will always be the same. Despite our differences in standards, priorities, needs and wants, we all fall under the same banner or group: human beings. We are beings who live only to die one day, in a simple, natural and understandable way. No matter how much one may try to stand out and be superior, when all is said and done, he or she is still a human being. Those out to become renowned super heroes, villains and inimitable mercenaries simply find themselves victims of what we call destiny, and for every living thing on this earth, its simply the art of saying goodbye to this world.
What these nations did was a scramble for riches and wealth, driven by an injudicious and egocentric need to grow bigger and better, no matter the circumstances. As the slavery days had lugged in the years preceding, slaves were used to toil and grind the lands until there was nothing left to bring forth out of the earth. They became rich, and those that were weaker were pushed out of territories with the power of the machine gun and the thick, evil barrel of an AK47.
With this need to grow came the degradation of the environment, as poisonous gases were emitted into the atmosphere from industrial sites, and residual waste in liquid form was deposited into reservoirs and natural water sources. The earth started losing its fruitfulness due to continuous abuse, right in front of their eyes, but they could not see it, because they were too busy piling up on riches and pride of being the rich and the powerful.
As much as what we are faced with now can never be left as an issue to be solved by those responsible for it, those who remain the cream of the global village have an obligation of helping the less fortunate regions of the world to face and fight the problem. Wasn’t it a result of continuous manipulation of weaker countries that they have come to be so rich and powerful? The least the world can do is come together to face the problems we have. Like I said, at the end of the day, one can be rich or strong, or even think he is above everybody else, what remains is the fact that they are human beings. This fight will never be won by a single country, let alone an individual. If all nations come together and discuss the problem at hand, solutions might be closer than we think.
Let us not make the same mistakes our predecessors did. Let us not be a self-centered generation, that has no vision what so ever for the future. The future generations need us to pave a brighter life for them, and we can only do it today, because our ancestors failed to look a few steps further into the darkness in front of them.
All I am hoping for is a positive and fruitful COP17/CMP7 in Durban, South Africa, and may everyone humbly swallow their pride in an effort to save what is left of the world. It is not ours alone, but for even those being born as we speak, and those that will follow after them.
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