A planet inhabited by humans, but how human are we?
The Amazon Rain Forest, also known as the “Lungs of the World”, is the vessel holding a massive amount of the world’s oxygen. The Amazon was our greatest warrior against the fight with Global Warming, for its ability to absorb carbon from the air and produce more than 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. However, last August, a drastic news was brought to the entire humankind, the Amazon was burning for weeks, and nobody was there to save it.
When the world was set aflame, everybody shunned. People was more raged by the news about the cancellation of Spider-Man by Sony due to its conflict with Disney, that it was the no. 1 trending hashtag on Twitter. The news about the burning Amazon? The #PrayForAmazon? It only came 3rd.
Forest and villages left in turmoil, a home of thousands of species, plants and the Amazonian Tribe; and the reality is that we live in a world where selflessness is a scarcity and cynicism is aplenty. Now conspiracy theorists and some scientist believed that the Amazon Fire was not due to natural events but due to the President’s own selfish motives.
Brazil Tops Again! – Brazil is considered to be the largest exporter of beef next to India, that their level of beef production is at 9.9 million metric tons per year. Now rumor has it that this could be the main reason why the Amazon is burning, to have larger pastures and have an increase of their cattle production. And I do agree about this, because selfishness is what drives a human to go beyond this level of evilness.
But what makes it sad? Rumors are nothing but rumors until proven true, and what proof do we have to accuse those people in well tailored suits, guilty? What power do we have to stop them?
Nature has always provided us with more than what we need. Nature let us have the innovation we desired even if it meant losing parts of herself. We took more than what we need, but again, Nature never bat an eye. And now, when Nature started to cry, humans went to slumber.
I am just a mere student with nothing but just my words, my voice. All I could do is be heard, tell stories as this one, spread awareness, and maybe provoke the hearts of the believers and fight against this exigence. For the people who has the chance, the power, and the potential to do something, have shunned and closed their eyes for our Nature’s outcry.
All I could say to Nature is, forgive us Mother for we have sinned. If destruction and death is what awaits us as your revenge, it will be a bitter pill but we could only do much – to swallow.
Rachell Anne T. Capaning 