APRIL 22 is Earth Day and it behooves upon all us the sons and daughters of Mother Earth (called in Latin as Gaia) to now reflect on the state of the environment.
For the ecological people (farmers, lumads and fisherfolk) who for decades were taking direct actions (human barricades) to protect Gaia, we firmly believe that protecting God’s vanishing creation is the highest form of worship. But armed goons of the loggers together with their cabal of vested interest had been mobilized against us.
As the leader of the barricaders, may I share this simple reflection on why we have dared to put our lives at risk for the love of Gaia.
Grenades had been thrown at us, harassments, arrests and cases were filed but these had no match against our determined will to fight for Gaia. Indeed, love is the supreme force in the universe that commands all obedience.
Her name is Gaia (Mother Earth) and today Gaia is in deep pain and hemorrhaging without let-up and is now dying. We are now on the 18th year of the 21st century but we do not know whether we can reach the 22nd century which is only 82 years from now. Yes, the unimaginable is becoming imaginable: the end of life on earth. Let us now diagnose Gaia.
Her “lungs” (the forests) are almost gone. In the Philippines, only eight percent of that “lungs” remain as the 17 million hectares of dipterocarp forests have been ravaged, causing the massacre of all life forms that dwelt in the forest ecosystem for billions of years.
In the uplands of Cagayan de Oro, Lanao and Bukidnon, the 200 thousand hectares of dipterocarp forest had been totally logged without let-up for five decades by six logging companies that had violated all the environmental laws prohibiting them to log in areas with altitude of more than 1,000 meters above sea level or in slope with more than 50 percent gradient.
All areas logged by the loggers were within these prohibited zones. They did not even do their obligation to do replanting. The DENR must be made accountable why that office did not enforce the environmental laws in the past years.
Her “veins” (the rivers) are either drained or heavily polluted as 25 major rivers in our country are biologically dead. We have already lost 75 percent of our mangroves (the spawning grounds of fish) and only 5 percent is in excellent condition. Our coral reefs, that delicate gift from Providence have been heavily destroyed through dynamite fishing and “muro ami.”
How stupid were we when during the time of the dictatorship, the Philippines entered into an agreement with Japan (the RP-Japan Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation) which allowed the Japanese computerized trawlers and fishing vessels to literally rake our seas. The Philippines was described then as the “center of the center of marine life on earth.” Now gone forever!
Her “fever” (global warming) lingers, causing Her so much discomfort, i.e. colds (storms), sneezing (typhoons), shakings (earthquakes), and deliriums (tsunamis). Her “stomach” (the oceans) is now so upset as the seas rise and the glaciers melt.
Her “skin” (the 6-inch top layer of the earth – the soil that gives life) has been scalped through mindless mining operations and “blood” (the water table) has been injected with toxic chemicals through conventional agriculture.
In Mindanao alone, the 200,000 hectares of plantation are intensively applying chemical fertilizers and pesticides that as if some 2,000 dump trucks are unloading chemicals to our water table everyday. In fact, based on studies, of the 14 types of chemicals, 8 are already banned abroad. That is why so many Filipinos are dying of cancer.
All told, Gaia has been sacrificed to the altar of greed and profit based on a flawed development paradigm, giving credence to money must grow principle called neo-liberal capitalism. Unbridled materialism and consumerism has given way to the over-eating and obesity in the North while billions of people go hungry in the South.
We are now facing an alarming ecological crisis that unless soon averted will lead to an impending ecologically-based political, economic and social collapse.
As sons and daughters of Gaia, let us feel Her pain and grieve with Her and we must now have the compassion to suffer with Her even just on Her Day.
Most importantly, we must now act as one collective countervailing force to serve notice to one and all that we have awakened and that, as responsible citizens of the earth, we will not allow anymore the rape of nature to continue which is only ours to protect for the coming generations.
Yes, we did not inherit the earth from our parents but we owe this to our children. But at the rate that we have exploited the resources, we have robbed the future generations of their inheritance.
Let us now stop the dark forces that are infecting more wounds to Gaia through extractive economic system. A paradigm shift should now be in the offing towards cooperative economy whose DNA is one of values, service, cooperation and sustainability.
We must now debunk the present financial system that serves only the interest of a few elite, many of whom cannot moderate their greed: some even vied for elective positions to protect their financial interest. Money must be used to enhance life and the well-being of the people and not to buy votes or fool the electorate.
Let us now heal the wounds of Gaia. Let us forge our oneness, firmly committing to stop her bleeding and if we may, declare in one voice (please shout so you can be heard by Gaia) that, “WE LOVE YOU GAIA.” Indeed, we must love and heal Mother Earth or we will all perish!