 |
 s the mystical marriage about to
take place? Local San Diego governments sent out announcements of their
long-awaited environmental compatibility by calling together a historic
conference. Was this summit on Eco-Tourism, attended by about 200 representatives,
a gesture of governmental agencies seeking peaceful collaboration with environmentalists?
 A few days before this summit, the
San Diego Union Tribune printed an "eco-friendly" editorial called
"Let Eco-Tourism Thrive." Only after decades of eco-bashing editorials,
with seemingly no relief in sight, did this refreshing eco-evolution occur.
Why the sudden 180 degree revolution of thought... and what are the motives?
What would happen if this conception of compatibility should fail the Dow
Jones test as an eco-commodity on the stock market? Abandonment or abortion?
These questions must be analyzed, examined and answered to prevent stumbling
blocks to "full term" compatibility.
|
| |
The Eco-Summit opened
with a slide show of the exotic beauty of Costa Rica and the charms of Africa's
coastal paradise, Madagascar. Ecological preservation has been practiced
for millennia by indigenous peoples who instinctively, by observation and
oral traditions, followed natural laws. There is plenty of unearthed evidence
which points to prosperous peoples and civilizations which honored the earth
in sustainable eco-agricultural societies.
California, as an eco-agricultural
tourist attraction, has already prospered, according to the San Diego Farm
Bureau. One example is revenue generated by the wine country, with its numerous
wine-tasting festivities and tours. |
| |
On the very same day
the Eco-Tourism summit was held, Pesticide Action reported a 129 percent
increase in the annual use of the most toxic, cancer-causing chemical pesticides
in California and a 54 percent increase in nerve toxins used in gardening,
farming and landscaping. Agricultural runoff is now more than double what
it was a few decades ago. How can eco-tourism thrive with permanently posted
signs of pollution on the beach and this preposterous overuse of pesticides?
Tourism took a nose dive in Milwaukee
when the water plague hit a few years back, and they have never fully recovered.
The city is being faced with numerous lawsuits. Scientists are still not
quite sure how the crypto bug got into the water supply, but urban and agricultural
runoff were viewed as the primary culprits. A survey by The Environmental
Working Group found that 54 percent of treated tap water had cryptosporidium
lurking in it including water in the City of Los Angeles; just a stone's
throw away from San Diego.
Since bugs are becoming more resistant
to pesticides, and mutating in the process, isn't it time we cracked
the ecological whip on the use of these pesticides?
Hopefully, local governments will
intervene on behalf of the citizens of California who are outraged and demand
that House Commerce Committee leaders stop accepting bribes in the form
of campaign contributions from its poison PACs (Political Action Committees).
Little wonder there is so much "road
rage" and violence in America. Pesticides and herbicides are dilute
neurotoxins that damage the nervous system, equilibrium and our ability
to handle stress. Our local governments must press the EPA to regulate these
chemical and microbes and require all water utilities to monitor for the
most dangerous. Right now, only 84 chemicals contaminants and treatment
techniques are regulated, when there are literally thousands out there. |
 |
Before there is any binding
partnership, or vows of sacred consecration, there must clearly be clarity
of communication. Here's why. San Diego is home to more plant and bird species
than any other county in the continental United States. At the Eco-Tourism
Summit, special attention was focused on bird watching and the potential
for increased tourist dollars due to the "affluent, highly educated
level of birdwatchers." However, the flip side of the biodiversity
coin reveals that San Diego County is also home to more endangered, threatened
plant and animal species than any other county in the United States.
Wetlands, in addition to being home
to endangered wildlife and birds, filter contaminants from water. Wetlands
provide sponge-like storage for heavy rains that would otherwise cause damaging
floods. Joel Victor, a medical and biological researcher, told me that "birds
are weathervanes and indicators of a threatened ecosystem."
With the second die-off of the birds
at Salton Sea, a healthy eco-economic balance is also endangered unless
the reasons for this and all eco-endangerment is actively pursued and prevented.
This a prenuptial necessity, and it is ABSOLUTELY IRREFUTABLE.
The other points of this prenuptial
agreement are as follows:
- The soil is sacred. Therefore, every day is Earth Day.
- The earth will not be viewed as an "eco-industry,"
to be seized, plundered and polluted by "corporate capitalists."
- There will be no eco-hierarchy of the rich; not after
all the grassroots activists have done to preserve this earth for all the
children of creation, including the rich ones.
- Governments on all levels must promote non-chemical alternatives
to pesticides in order to restore to the people the invigoration and euphoria
of well-being and thus a reduction of violence.
- The earth is not your property. She belongs to the Creator.
You are her husband-by-proxy. There is nothing you can do to repay her
for all the bounty she bestows upon you. But you can shower her with graciousness
by honoring, respecting, and obeying her natural laws.
Finally, in forsaking all others,
the courtship of this covenant must be protected from the verbal abuse of
ultra-conservatives who spew out their anti-environmental rhetoric. The
blessings of earth's bounty serves them too. This covenant is binding. If
it is agreed upon, guns will be hammered into plough shares, knives into
sickles. Nations will not lift up weapons against other nations, and there
will be no more war. The Spirit and the Bride say come.
You are all invited to the Wedding
Feast.  |
