A GOOD QUESTION?
WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL, FOOD OR MONEY?
Without plants such as Ocean Plankton and leafy Trees to create Oxygen, all Oxygen breathing creatures will suffocate. You included. The reason is simple. Many plants absorb Carbon Dioxide from the air and then they release Oxygen as a bye product. Oxygen breathing life on Earth need plants to survive and the question is are humans returning the favour? Are we doing enough to protect nature? That is a good question?
To perpetuate themselves, not all but many land and water based plants create flowers to attract insects for pollination. Once pollinated, a flowering plant creates seeds which drop off and down close to the parent. When the Earth warms in Spring, a seed will grow roots to create another plant and the process of life on land begins again. It will unless the ground needed for new plant life is saturated with Asphalt and Cement. North American cities have become polluted garbage dumps and nothing grows in Asphalt jungles! Asphalt, Glass, Steel and Cement dominate our cities and the race for money neglects what is most important...Oxygen producing plants.
Life on this small Blue planet is dependant on plants and Millions of people today enjoy flowering plants because flowers create peace of mind and are linked to both life and love. Flowers are distributed around the world and flowers in full bloom have more power than Atomic Bombs. Flowers represent love and life and are metaphorically opposed to guns and bombs. Everybody uses flowers and only a small minority of maniacs create and threaten to use Atomic Bombs.
Are Atomic Bombs the worst threat to life on Earth? No! The worst threat to life on Earth is out-of-control industrialism. In North America and Europe millions of cars producing the deadly gas Carbon Monoxide continue to roll on Asphalt and/or Cement roads. The conversion to Electric non-polluting vehicles is dangerously slow!
The abundance of highways and roads on the Western continent often lead to suburban industrial developments. Except for cleaning staff at night, no human beings are allowed on the premises of these super large industrial buildings. The same goes for shopping centres where in daylight business hours, thousands of cars are parked outside the buildings as consumers rush in to buy almost anything, however, at night...nothing! Empty spaces both inside and out! In Winter, unlucky Itinerants can freeze to death if they are unlucky enough to be stationed outside of these massive empty warm buildings where the doors are heartlessly locked tight. This can and must be modified for the better.
For lower middle class people there may continue to exist a few rental apartments. For middle and upper middle class people there does exist: single house units, town houses, duplex buildings, quadruplex buildings and Condominiums. When space is limited the all pervasive and tall Condominiums pop up to dominate the landscape. Condos are created and sold by corporations who don't rent but sell the apartments and as a consequence the land to build more Condos becomes scarce! Arable land becomes a precious commodity. Natural forests always cease to exist near these buildings. Unless protected by government, precious arable land and Green spaces are often sold to corporate land speculators. Elderly farmers who want or need to retire often sell out. When poverty stricken home owners no longer have the physical strength or the economic means to maintain their homes, they also sell out! When apartment block owners are faced with the daunting task of renovating old fixed rate apartments, they often sell out to make room for Condos. Land owners who can't pay taxes often have no choice but to sell out to exploitive companies who chase profit.
There are millions of Oxygen producing Trees in North America being destroyed to make way for profit making Condos. At least in Europe Trees are treated with respect and in Africa, in central Congo, millions of Trees continue to exist but they also need to be protected. Why is the Congo different from North America? Because through the central Congo Jungle there is only one swampy and extremely dangerous dirt road. The poor people of central Congo are desperate for one decent road. They can survive by living with and by the Jungle as opposed to destroying the Jungle but they need at minimum one good road which will lead to a hospital. They could use a good cement road or better yet, a train line through the jungle from village to village leading to a hospital. Conclusion! North America has too many roads while Central Congo in Africa has almost zero roads! The Congo has millions of Oxygen producing Trees while North America is not doing enough to protect their forested lands!
World Industrialism is creating global warming and slowly destroying flower producing life on this Earth. For centuries mankind protected himself from the cold in Winter and the heat in Summer by destroying forests and using the Trees for building houses and villages and cities and today that mind-set has to stop! We need to think upwards or downwards as opposed to outwards. For example, we can easily build sky scraping Condos with a Hydroponic garden on every fourth floor. Garden floors will provide much needed vegetables and Greenery for apartment dwellers and with today's new technology, these buildings cold be self sustaining with Solar Panels covering the outside of the buildings and Wind Turbines providing Electric energy from the roof. They could also provide limited employment for those in need of work.
After upwards, downwards becomes feasible. Our municipal governments can and should plan downwards with underground sleeping rooms for thousands of people, including itinerants. Living and sleeping areas can be filled with natural light using fiberoptic cables. Today, industrial parks and city sky scrapers are used solely for business and industry and they remain warm and well lit but also inhumanely empty at night! For the average person, expensive and crowded Condominium buildings have replaced apartment buildings and are now almost everywhere without a thought for Trees and Green spaces and for people who cannot afford to buy a Condo apartment!
Profit is the driving motivation! These buildings are destroying Nature and leaving lower class people on the streets without shelter. They are literally creating itinerants!!
WE HAVE CUT DOWN FORESTS WITHOUT REPLACING THE TREES AND WE HAVE AND ARE POISONING THE AIR AND WATER TO MAINTAIN INDUSTRIAL PROFITS. MONEY HAS REPLACED FOOD PRODUCING GARDENS AND IN SEARCH OF MORE MONEY, INDUSTRIAL PARKS TODAY ARE EATING UP LAND SPACE IN NORTH AMERICA. WE ARE LOSING ARABLE LAND FOR AGRICULTURE AS WELL AS OXYGEN CREATING FORESTS FOR OUR BASIC SURVIVAL. NATURE DOES NOT CARE IF YOU ARE RICH OR POOR AND WEALTH WILL NOT PROTECT YOU FROM A FLOOD OR FIRE!. IT IS ONLY RESPECT AND CARE FOR NATURE WHICH WILL PROTECT YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN AND HOPEFULLY, YOUR GRAND CHILDREN!
The need for arable farm land creates cruel and devastating territorial wars and it is far passed the time we humans created life enhancing social and political solutions. Thanks for reading!
Signed: Nelson Joseph Raglione
human4usbillions@gmail.com human4us2.blogspot.com
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