MEDIOAMBIENTE

Ecocide in the biosphere Ecocidios en la biosfera

Clearly the sad “model” of our globalized societies and our capitalist, extractive-based and inhumane economy, are beginning to cause an environmental collapse of unpredictable consequences.

Here in Patagonia, we are experiencing a suicidal looting and shortterm logic, carried out by a number of corporations that accelerate the extraction of essential natural resources with the complicity of democratically-elected governments.

It's as if suddenly our unique, galactic shelter has become a war chest for a handful of mercenaries, the 1% who control at will the fate of the Biosphere. The causes are multiple and complex.

The harmful compulsive consumerism and an increasingly cyber, virtual and urbanized society is causing a loss of cultural identity and connection with local ecosystems all over the planet. Add to that an alarming lack of “urgency” that time is working against us. Other factors? Decision-making power on environmental matters granted to alleged “experts,” allowing us to remove ourselves from our individual responsibility. The reigning materialism also clouds our sense of the sacred, not that which has to do with religion, but rather with the deep sense of respect for the exuberant biodiversity of which we are a part.

It is also good to remember that homogeneity, production, and sometimes even recreation, at the expense of other essential values, often exceed the “carrying capacity” and “resilience” of a natural area. And this situation results primarily from a lack of understanding about the fragile and subtle balance maintained in every ecosystem.

We are not helped either by watching every BBC documentary or reading manuals on ecology, in order to “hear” the sounds of the forest or “feel” the energy that surrounds us when walking silently through the woods ... and if we do not hear, nor feel, further still will we not understand their importance or mobilize to protect them.

We spend day and night subjugated by false, inaccurate and inadequate information, and despite the evidence that is before our eyes we refuse to address the problem. Or we assume that science or technology will save us.

But the worst part is, despite living on the brink, witnessing a mass extinction of species, the warning voices heard around the world remain weak, insufficient, or even resigned to what is happening. And unfortunately, except for a handful of small conservation organizations and brave citizens, the cries of outrage are being reduced to a collection of protests that are quickly becoming invisible, discredited or suppressed by governments that do not wish to seek alternative solutions for fear of damaging their economies.

But let's not forget that every individual contribution and every collective action is balancing the scales. Just as the joining of one cell to another determines the formation of an organism, changing individual attitudes can lead to a transformation away from a way of life that is as much unsatisfactory as stressful. But for this to happen, we need the commitment and participation of all those who have felt at some point in their lives the immense privilege to be alive and surrounded by so much mystery and beauty.