I may be telling you something that you are well aware of, but I think it well worth voicing it again for the benefit of those who have been too busy to take time to contemplate. I for ever seem to be amazed at the way in which the world and we within it, have come about; that from a ball of highly heated gas, we could arrive at where we are today. The way in which nature has accommodated and used the differing aspects of terrain and weather, to provide habitats and nourishment for all the species that have arrived in the various areas, over decades and millennia, is nothing short of a miracle The Hummingbird, with its long curved beak, arrived at by the mutation of the genes, and the basis of the survival of the fittest, is just one feature of millions of cases. The arrival of creatures with heavily armoured exteriors, for no apparent reason that I have heard of, in itself is remarkable. And so, with a combination of the survival of the fittest, mutation of the genes, plus the continuous changes in weather, and habit, the world has been the home of a vast number of different species, many long extinct, and worse still, many in the process of becoming extinct.
I think it is reasonable to assume that when man first appeared as a reasoning animal, he would have had little effect on his environment, and like the rest, he would have to hunt to live. But the problem has been that man is a reasoning being, understanding cause-and-effect, able to make tools and use them for his own benefit. The result of this was that he had an advantage over all the other creatures to such an extent, that in certain cases he was responsible for making some of them extinct, and that process which might have been by necessity initially, is now one based upon greed, avarice and so-called leisure. Greed and avarice was stretched to the extent that sophisticated man used other races as a commodity, without forethought of the long-term disadvantages. This general aspect of man has appeared in every walk of life, such as the mindless waste of oil reserves in United States, purely in the enhancement of the wealth of individuals. I don’t need to progress along these lines, we are all aware of the way in which big business often operates to the detriment or the majority. Wars, generally started by a few ,with high ambition, lays waste disproportionately to any possible valuable outcome. The use of Napalm is a glaring example.
Having lived nearly 90 years, passing through periods of calm, pleasurable enjoyment, to absolutely crazy mayhem, which were no more use than mindless destruction and set us back 30 years, I find that man is still wrecking not only our environment, but the atmosphere above us, through short-term, untried, policies, rather than careful thought along the lines of cause and effect.