Then players have to take it in turns to remove one brick at a time without the tower collapsing.
The other day (or rather night) I woke up in the wee small hours and switched on the radio: if there's something on that catches my interest, I am guaranteed to fall back to sleep before it finishes.
There was a programme on BBC World Service in which the presenter was being shown around London Zoo by one of the keepers. They talked about the tigers and gorillas I often show pictures of. The topic, though, was extinction of species. The keeper made an analogy that I found compelling.
Imagine, she said, a game of Jenga, but what we are removing are species of plants, insects, reptiles, mammals, fish. We don't know which will be the one that causes the rest to collapse - like the brick that collapses the Jenga tower - and we may suddenly find that our appalling stewardship of this magnificent planet has destroyed a vital ingredient and has finally led to its irreversible decline.
If humans are not causing climate change, but we behave as if we are, and clean up our act, the worst scenario is that we will have a cleaner planet.
If humans are causing climate change, but we behave as if we are not, and do nothing, we will have destroyed the planet.
There is NO excuse for doing nothing.
The problem is, too few people see the importance of doing anything, and those that do aren't making a big enough difference in the planet's climate. China is a perfect example. India as well. It's not just the arrogance of the USA. My boss is going to China this summer and I told him he was nuts. The athletes in the 2008 summer games were complaining about the horribly polluted air.
ReplyDeleteThe leaders emphasize the economic interest before everything else...Look what happened to Coppenhague!
ReplyDeleteLove the Jenga analogy. It's so true. We are in so deep, and over are heads. That some believe efforts are futile. I even struggle with it in my own home. I'm all for recycling but find my own children and husband mindlessly throwing things in the garbage that simple shouldn't be. While efforts are being made to teach kids in school about a greener tomorrow, it is being conteracted by commercialism and a all about attitude.
ReplyDeleteexellent post Val. very thought provoking.