Resilience And Recovery

This little watercolor I did represents the mountains, light, and colors of the desert. I hope you enjoy.

I love the desert and the desert mountains. I guess if you lived in Phoenix all your life you get used to seeing all this. Every time I look at the mountains, especially at sunrise and sunset around the White Tank Mountains here, I am awestruck. I can't believe how impressive they are. 

This big blue rock we live on is a beautiful and resilient place. It can bounce back from just about anything.  Remember Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 It's much better now - or is it? 

We've come a long way since I was growing up with ecological awareness, and taking action, but, unfortunately, we continue to damage our world.  As more and more sapiens crowd our planet, the problem isn't going away. It's getting worse.

I watched the BBC feature documentary "Drowning in Plastic" last week. It is tragic. The conveniences we've produced by the introduction of plastics have had horrible consequences. 

The rubbish we dump in the sea affects every body of water on the planet. Even in the most remote places. If we continue to do this, I fear what the world will turn into; perhaps even in our generation. 

Brilliant minds are working on the problem, but, really, this needs to be solved by everybody everywhere. I don't have solutions. I wish I did. I'm glad where we live, we can recycle plastic, but it doesn't even scratch the surface of the problem. It's scary.

The images of plastic pollution floating on rivers and stream and in the ocean are appalling. There aren't enough regulations in the world to stem the plastic tide. The resulting pollution beggars all description. 

Sometimes when I'm out for a walk, I try to count how many steps I can take without encountering some piece of trash. Sometimes there are stretches where I see a bit of garbage every two to three steps and sometimes I can get almost 20-30 steps before running into a bit of rubbish.  

If we continue the way we are, we will likely choke every living thing on this planet with plastic. In the end, we have to realize that we, us sapiens roaming the earth, will be the architects of our destruction.  We are building our graveyard one stone at a time. The planet may recover from all this, but the pity is it might take a billion years. 

Survival of our species is not mandatory for the earth to survive, but if we want to survive as a species, we all need to all do our part. THoughts must become actions.

People, in general, are so careless. It's just the way we are. We want the conveniences and we hardly ever think of the consequences. It's time we got our head around this and did something.  

Pick up a piece of trash on the road if you see it on the way. I will do my best, and I hope you do too. We've all got to think about what we can do to turn this tide of plastic. 

Picking up a piece of trash or recycling a plastic bottle may seem like nothing but our only real hope is if everybody gets on board. 

Remember what Gandhi said. "Be the change that you wish to see in the world."  Everything starts with people the good and the bad. Be the good that happens to the world. 

We cannot give up. 

Until next week, I wish you peace. 

---