Earth: the bride of creationby Minister Masada | |
s the mystical marriage about to take place? Local San Diego governments sent out announcements of their long-awaited environmental compatibility by calling together a historic conference. Was this summit on Eco-Tourism, attended by about 200 representatives, a gesture of governmental agencies seeking peaceful collaboration with environmentalists? A few days before this summit, the San Diego Union Tribune printed an "eco-friendly" editorial called "Let Eco-Tourism Thrive." Only after decades of eco-bashing editorials, with seemingly no relief in sight, did this refreshing eco-evolution occur. Why the sudden 180 degree revolution of thought... and what are the motives? What would happen if this conception of compatibility should fail the Dow Jones test as an eco-commodity on the stock market? Abandonment or abortion? These questions must be analyzed, examined and answered to prevent stumbling blocks to "full term" compatibility. | |
| |
The Eco-Summit opened with a slide show of the exotic beauty of Costa Rica and the charms of Africa's coastal paradise, Madagascar. Ecological preservation has been practiced for millennia by indigenous peoples who instinctively, by observation and oral traditions, followed natural laws. There is plenty of unearthed evidence which points to prosperous peoples and civilizations which honored the earth in sustainable eco-agricultural societies. California, as an eco-agricultural tourist attraction, has already prospered, according to the San Diego Farm Bureau. One example is revenue generated by the wine country, with its numerous wine-tasting festivities and tours. | |
| |
On the very same day the Eco-Tourism summit was held, Pesticide Action reported a 129 percent increase in the annual use of the most toxic, cancer-causing chemical pesticides in California and a 54 percent increase in nerve toxins used in gardening, farming and landscaping. Agricultural runoff is now more than double what it was a few decades ago. How can eco-tourism thrive with permanently posted signs of pollution on the beach and this preposterous overuse of pesticides? Tourism took a nose dive in Milwaukee when the water plague hit a few years back, and they have never fully recovered. The city is being faced with numerous lawsuits. Scientists are still not quite sure how the crypto bug got into the water supply, but urban and agricultural runoff were viewed as the primary culprits. A survey by The Environmental Working Group found that 54 percent of treated tap water had cryptosporidium lurking in it including water in the City of Los Angeles; just a stone's throw away from San Diego. Since bugs are becoming more resistant to pesticides, and mutating in the process, isn't it time we cracked the ecological whip on the use of these pesticides? Hopefully, local governments will intervene on behalf of the citizens of California who are outraged and demand that House Commerce Committee leaders stop accepting bribes in the form of campaign contributions from its poison PACs (Political Action Committees). Little wonder there is so much "road rage" and violence in America. Pesticides and herbicides are dilute neurotoxins that damage the nervous system, equilibrium and our ability to handle stress. Our local governments must press the EPA to regulate these chemical and microbes and require all water utilities to monitor for the most dangerous. Right now, only 84 chemicals contaminants and treatment techniques are regulated, when there are literally thousands out there. | |
| |
Before there is any binding partnership, or vows of sacred consecration, there must clearly be clarity of communication. Here's why. San Diego is home to more plant and bird species than any other county in the continental United States. At the Eco-Tourism Summit, special attention was focused on bird watching and the potential for increased tourist dollars due to the "affluent, highly educated level of birdwatchers." However, the flip side of the biodiversity coin reveals that San Diego County is also home to more endangered, threatened plant and animal species than any other county in the United States. Wetlands, in addition to being home to endangered wildlife and birds, filter contaminants from water. Wetlands provide sponge-like storage for heavy rains that would otherwise cause damaging floods. Joel Victor, a medical and biological researcher, told me that "birds are weathervanes and indicators of a threatened ecosystem." With the second die-off of the birds at Salton Sea, a healthy eco-economic balance is also endangered unless the reasons for this and all eco-endangerment is actively pursued and prevented. This a prenuptial necessity, and it is ABSOLUTELY IRREFUTABLE. The other points of this prenuptial agreement are as follows:
Finally, in forsaking all others, the courtship of this covenant must be protected from the verbal abuse of ultra-conservatives who spew out their anti-environmental rhetoric. The blessings of earth's bounty serves them too. This covenant is binding. If it is agreed upon, guns will be hammered into plough shares, knives into sickles. Nations will not lift up weapons against other nations, and there will be no more war. The Spirit and the Bride say come. You are all invited to the Wedding Feast. | |
Minister Masada is a researcher and author. She has been a regular weekly columnist for local and out-of-state publications and has lectured at UCSD and SDSU. She has been an organizer of support groups for abused mothers and helped establish Battered Woman's Syndrome as a recognized point in Federal courts. Currently, she is Chairwoman of the Sisterhood of Zion, a mothers' advocate grou |