Page 114 - ECOlogic Book

we’ve been promised, the result of global warming. (More; update) The
highly respected Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC)
reported in 1995 that “certain aspects of the Earth’s climate have indeed
changed over the last century,” 138 citing a 0.5-1.1 degree F. Rise in average
surface temperature over the planet since the late 1800s; the fact that all of
the 10 warmest years on record since 1860 have occurred in the last 15
years; a 4-20 inch rise in global sea level in the last hundred years; and
more frequent and longer-lasting El Nino effects. (Update – Al Gore’s movie,
Inconvenient Truth) Mainstream media such as Newsweek and the New
York Times are now beginning to link these extreme weather patterns to the
warming of the atmosphere by manmade atmospheric CO2 “Be worried. Be
very worried.”

While cause-and-effect explanations are readily available, we might ask, on
another level, why is this happening? Are the elements in revolt? Are they
having their revenge on us for failing to respect them, demanding our
respect, whether we care to give it or not?

We are not primal peoples. We lack their sensitivity to natural things. To
what might we turn for guidance?

In his book Return of the Thunderbeings, Iron Thuderhorse notes the
evolution of a new shamanism in which a fifth sacred element is emerging:
creativity; the creativity found in the unfolding of the cosmos and the
unfolding of human consciousness. Viewed from the perspective of the long
development of humanity on Earth, there appears to be a dual nature to this
element, as we have found in the other four.

Human creativity can invent marvelous things. But when it’s separated from
the wholeness out of which it emerged, it can cause irreparable damage to
the natural world. This can be seen not only in the loss of other species and
their habitats, but now, it appears, in humans as well. The hormone
disruptors and copy-cats that are playing havoc with our endocrine systems
constitute a dire threat to this generation and, even more, its progeny. Our
grandchildren will continue to pay for many of the things we have created to
make our life easier. Chemical insecticides and herbicides, plastics, and
industrial solvents, are just a few of these.

The price we are paying and will continue to pay is that of birth defects,
learning disabilities and infertility. It’s as if the Earth is saying, “Alright. You

138 Goetze, Barren, “The Climes they Are A’Changing,” S[romg, 1996 Nucleeus.

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