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| African Elephants -- Public Domain (AnimalGalleries.org) |
Part Four of a Four-Part Post
Awww, who are we to say "NO!"? And who would
listen? Not the shadowy purveyors of shark fins or elephant tusks and rhino
horns. Not the oil-soaked barons with their winsome promises and frankenfrack
realities, or the tinkerers of witches' brews that foul our soils and bodies. Not
legislators who feed at the trough of power.
And, of course, not because
of a few cranky voices; no NO is loud enough in itself to be heard and reckoned.
"They" have smirked a thousand times at NO.
But "NO!" is the
only force, the single word we have. The MLK "NO!". The Gandhi
"NO!". The NO that is fixed and immutable. Ground-swell NO. Finger-pointing
NO. NO that stalks with constant footage and solid rhythm and irrefutable
evidence. That notes the sullied by
their bloodied hands.
If. If
we care enough to do this kind of "NO!", to do this "STOP!"
Most of us, as I said, are consumed
by life's demands. But many of us are also blinded by our toys―and yes, our ploys. Oblivious to or paralyzed by the dying
of a natural world once rich and ripe―teeming with irreplaceable, unimaginable, breathtaking diversity: immune to the
magic of all things winged and finned and limbed―and the incredible variety of flora
that sustains them.
In this world grown pinched
and crowded, every tiger leaves his perfect pelt stretched upon each wall. Every doodad carved of ivory
gathers dust upon our shelves―totems
of the devil's delight for our triviamania.
Every lithe sea creature slicked and sickened by oil, or dragged from the waves
for senseless slaughter, ends up in our
boat . . . . All this will rebound upon
us all.
For this is the final
seduction: The shameless buying and selling
and reshaping of the human soul. The trinketing of earth that feeds our
vanities.
Enough is
not enough for us. Never. Not in the board rooms, nor the sullied halls of
congress. Not across the sweep of our society, no―not when bigger-smaller, newer-sleeker-better
is parked across the street. Or in our pocket. Or wedged into our living room,
where it fits so nicely and defines us so well, and matches the carpeting . . .
Or did, until the elephants
came, in single file, a dreg of rumpled ghosts.
We must make room for them,
these iconic creatures. Here in my home, and yours. We must weep for them, with
them; cry out, call out, trumpet in their singular voice, tell the dawdling
world of their distress, their demise . . . and make sacred space for them, safe
in their own milieu. Before the last of them lies butchered on the bloodied
soil.
Or it won't be long now.
Will we ride into history on
the back of our beloved "mastodon," the gentle
beast-nonpareil-progenitor on this Ark that is earth? Will we even know what we have forfeited? Noah is not waiting with
a gangplank and an open door. The boat is pulling away emptied.
Open
your door.
List
of Information and Statistics relevant to above:
*According
to the Wildlife Conservation Society,
96 African elephants are killed per day for their ivory tusks. This is called
poaching and is one of the primary reasons for their population decrease. The
other major component to their population decline is the loss of their habitat
due to human encroachment and deforestation. Nin Ninety-six
elephants are killed every day in
Statistic:
"More than 100,00 elephants were poached in Africa between 2010-2012.
(National Geographic Society)
Although it's technically illegal to buy and sell ivory from
freshly killed elephants, the sale of older ivory is still perfectly legal in
much of the U.S. -- including California.
And since it's so difficult to distinguish between new and old
ivory, the state's ivory market, the second largest in the U.S., has continued
to skyrocket. In fact, the proportion of
ivory offered for sale in California that is likely illegal has doubled in the last eight years. (NRDC)
---------------------------------------------
"Tiger numbers in the wild are
thought to have plunged from 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to
between 1,500 and 3,500 today." (http://bigcatrescue.org/tiger-facts/)
-----------------------
Bees
are a 'keystone species', and honey bees especially, are regarded as ‘canaries in the mine’
– an indicator of wider environmental damage and problems – a warning that
action needs to be taken to rectify a dire situation, one that potentially
affects not only honey bees but also other insects and creatures up the food
chain.
Honeybees are dying at astronomical rates in the
United States, Canada, and Europe, a phenomenon which could potentially have
dire effects on the world economy and agricultural ecosystem.
http://www.bees-and-beekeeping.com/honey-bee-deaths.html
