Rent Past Due

RENT PAST DUE

by Marco M. Pardi

All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. All previous posts are open for comment.

Still unsure of why he had received the invitation to the Diplomatic reception, Tonio moved carefully among the guests, watching for the roaming servers with their platters of drinks and hors d’oeuvres. He well knew every one of the young and attractive women and men were professional intelligence officers, hearing and remembering snippets of conversation, assessing relationships, noting drinking behaviors. Tonio felt a bit out of sorts in a quickly rented suit, not quite the de rigueur uniform of the evening, but he told himself it would fit with his legend as a Doctoral student working on his dissertation. He would have to actually write one some day but a partially written manuscript and several overflowing notebooks had always proved convincing. He also felt unease after coming through the metal detectors and submitting to a thorough pat-down. He remembered those dreams of discovering himself naked while lecturing his class. But that search procedure was SOP in embassies these days.

He glanced up to see a pair of breasts, followed by a stunning young woman, enter the room. Her diaphanous gown, not helpful in the sukhoveyi blowing outside, obviated the need for pat-downs but her stiletto heels looked lethal. Pudgy diplomats, consular officers and aides swiveled as wives stepped closer to provide them with more attention than they had received in months. Tonio could almost hear multiple prostate glands awakening after long slumbers.

Tonio’s apprehension proved accurate as a man stepped in behind her. Expensively dressed, late middle-aged, and experienced looking, he was a rogue former officer from the Agency, lately rising to the top levels of international arms dealers and rumored to be shopping loose nukes. Tonio’s mark. Tonio wondered how much he paid to “rent” this young woman, for that’s surely all it was. He did not fear the man would recognize him as Tonio was one of only a handful of specialists who never entered headquarters or any American embassies. But then it came to him. Someone was watching for his reaction. Fortunately, as a child in the face of withering criticism from nuns, he had adopted the life-long mannerism of flat affect. Thank you, Sisters.

“You get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” Heard that one? Of course, I wondered who wants more flies? But we’ve noticed something; there are far fewer insects around. Pesticides, pollution, and climate change, all doings of humans. An international survey has found that from 1970 to 2010 world wildlife has declined by over 60%. And those insects? They are the bulk of the diet for birds and a multitude of other animals, large and small. The anteater is no small animal and not one we normally see roaming our yards, but we think of ants as pests to be stepped on, sprayed or baited with poison. Yet an ecological history of the world clearly shows us that we and most large animals would not be here were it not for ants, who continually churn the soil, preventing it from baking solid and becoming inhospitable to the plants which form the bulk of the diet for animals as large as elephants and as varied as primates, of which we are one. Ants also play a major role in cleaning the environment of decaying matter, reducing the probabilities of pathogens developing among the microbes forming the greatest magnitude and variety of life on the Earth. In fact, looking at the world as an ecological unit we see a fundamental principle at work: To get something, you must be prepared to give something in return. We humans have gotten much from this Earth. Sustenance, comfort, the ability to move great distances, the ability to reproduce in alarming numbers. We have exploited countless animal, vegetable, and mineral species. What have we given in return?

I have written several times of the damages we have caused, and which are accelerating day after day. Any readers who are even dimly aware are more than familiar with the seemingly endless examples and proofs of this abuse. I won’t repeat that here. Instead, I want to examine three popular positions which are at least impeding efforts to rectify the abuse and demonstrably worsening its continuation.

By far, the oldest position is that held by the religions jointly known as The People of the Book: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While it is true that there are enlightened individuals* within each who are aware of the damage being wrought, (information appended) the fundamental premise held by all three is that a Supreme Being – by various names – created the Earth and all that is upon it and gave humans Dominion over it. Yet, while this mandate is made clear, there are few or no discussions of operating rules and instructions beyond the Go forth and multiply known to so many – too many. Whether there is or isn’t such a supreme being is for the reader to decide; the issue of concern here is the use to which this being is put in the furtherance of those behaviors which result from ignorance, stupidity, greed, gluttony, quest for power, or just the basics of what is considered a comfortable life.

Unlike the various pantheist belief systems found throughout the world, the People of the Book invented a mythology which accords an immortal soul, or spark of divinity to humans, but not to non-human life forms of any kind. This distinction became the foundation for utter exploitation, unspeakable cruelty, and extinction causing damage to any form of non-human life. (Unnoticed by many, while in the Garden Adam and Eve were apparently vegan.) Even today there are “scientists” who subscribe to the view that humans are the pinnacle of creation.

Underlying this foundation is the insidious belief that human presence on Earth is just a trial, a place to learn some divine curriculum so we can then progress to our true home, which is not of this Earth. And each of these three mythical systems has its End Times literature involving the apocalyptic misery and death of all life on Earth. Just passing through. We can’t be concerned with the destruction in our wake. And, a small but vocal element particularly within Christianity, believes that the supreme being will intervene – Divine Intervention – before the Earth is totally ruined. After all, in their view the entire universe is only a backdrop for the prized creation we call Earth.

A second position is held and espoused by people who seem possibly to have had a Physical Science course in junior high school. Maybe. Or, in reading their comic books and watching old Flintstones cartoon re-runs they were exposed to simplistic “geologic history”. They learned of geologic epochs, major extinction events, radical shifts in climate and, for the really advanced learners, periodic wobbles of the Earth on its axis. Thus armed with “indisputable evidence” they proclaim that the climate changes we are now seeing are simply part of natural cyclical events and are not the result of human activity.

While the evidence of natural events, including cycles, is obviously there, any trial attorney will tell you the value of evidence lies in the hands of the user.

A third and rapidly growing position is one which is very likely unknown to many people. It could be said to be an extension of the second position, cited above, were it not for its applications elsewhere. It is known by the term applied to its followers: “DOOMERS”. Haven’t heard of it? Go ahead, Google Doomer. I’ll wait………..

Doomers have been around perhaps as long as humans have noticed threatening events in their environment, whether volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, comets, or politicians. In recent times we’ve seen them build crude to elaborate bomb shelters during the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, we’ve seen the stupendous market value of Survivalist paraphernalia including dehydrated food, bottled water and firearms, and the surge in off-road capable vehicles – 95% of which never leave the roadway except by accident. None of the aforementioned materials were cheap, so there is likely a certain amount of welcome to the dire reports coming out frequently about environmental collapse. So, having missed out on Divine Rapture, nuclear winter, and invasion by foreign job seekers focus may then be turned to planetary environmental catastrophe. The position is that, whether through the divine fury of a loving god or through the natural processes of an uncaring Mother Nature those guys on the streets with The End Is Near signs are right. This justifies keeping all that material in working order. See, I told ya’.

The economic benefit Doomers provide by buying expensive stuff and building safe rooms and shelters is offset by the damage wrought by their message. Essentially, they are saying that regardless of cause there is no use in trying to contain or reverse environmental damage. It’s a Dance ‘Til You Die message. And, it’s based on an extremist interpretation of the data. The Environmental Defense Fund, in reviewing the latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, quotes: “Accurate transference of the climate science has been undermined significantly by climate change counter-movements, in both legacy and new/social media environments through misinformation.” The EDF goes on to say, “The scientific community agrees that we already have the solutions and technology necessary to tackle climate change and, if we implement them quickly, we can avoid worst-case scenarios. Over 97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming. It may be surprising, but many Americans still don’t know that there is so much evidence that humans are causing global warming that scientists have stopped arguing this point. In fact, most studies find around 97% consensus among publishing climate scientists. And the greater the climate expertise, the higher the consensus.”

Although they may not always realize it, all three of the movements, groups, institutions cited above are well funded and supported by the industries most responsible for the damage being done to our planet, most notably the fossil fuel industries. They are knowingly playing to the tendency to say, “It isn’t my doing. What I do can’t make that much difference. I might as well enjoy life while I can and let someone else worry about it.”

Well, let me introduce myself: I’m that someone else. As a parent and grandparent I will not hand my descendants the damage caused by my inaction. As a resident of this planet I will not destroy the home shared by innumerable other residents, be they human or non-human, animal, vegetable, or mineral.

We’ve been living on this planet rent free for millennia. Our LandLady, Gaia, is serving us notice: RENT PAST DUE.

These posts are read in several countries though the responses tend to come from a steady group. If you are uncomfortable with or afraid to post a comment I would like to ask a small favor: Please forward this to someone who might respond.

Just one of many faith based organizations addressing climate change honestly. *Interfaith Power and Light
672 13th Street Suite 100 | Oakland, California 94612
510-444-4891 | info@interfaithpowerandlight.org