THE CRUX OF IT: Life (that isn’t your own) Is Cheap
Several stories were presented in today’s news that were demonstrative admonitions of the Earth-born virus that is Humanity.
The first piece focused on the largest ivory burning to ever take place.
In Nairobi, over 100 tons of ivory was set ablaze. That tonnage represented approximately 10,000 elephants, most of which were killed in Kenya by humans to fuel an industry of expensive gifts.
In the years between 2010 and 2012, 100,000 elephants were poached. Those lives weren’t lost for food or for the sake of self-protection but for profit; for trinkets and bobbles. Roughly 70 percent of this illegal bloody white-gold makes its way to China.
90 percent of Africa’s elephants are already gone and the last three northern white rhinos are guarded by men with guns 24/7.
That fire destroyed any potential to profit from the illegal slayings. That is as it should be.
The next story was both disturbing and also morally dubious.
In Canada, an Inuit hunter shot and killed a rare Grolar or Pizzly bear. No, that is not a typo. The combination of Polar and Grizzly is identified as either Grolar or Pizzly. The name of the hybrid bear depends on the father: If he’s a grizzly, the baby is a grolar. If he’s a polar bear, he’s a pizzly. The two species are mating in an almost “best available option” scenario due to expanded grizzly habitats linked to global warming.
The moral ambiguity of it stems from the fact that the bear was legally killed as part of a program that allows Inuit to practice subsistence hunting. I begrudge no one their sustenance or their traditions; mostly.
I understand and respect that, but, I would, if in the same situation, consider the rarity and set my sights on other prey. I accept that it’s also one of those easy-for-you-to-say moments.
The last that will be highlighted is the fallacy of bio-degradable plastics.
The fact is that these so-called greener materials do not degrade in the ocean.
The U.N. estimates that global plastic production grew 4 percent from 2013 to 2014, exceeding 311 million metric tons. At least 8 million metric tons — the equivalent of one garbage truck every minute — leak into the ocean each year, according to the World Economic Forum.
Lemon shark with plastic bag caught around its gills, in the Bahamas
It absolutely does not have to be a case of weepy liberal Tree-Huggery to consider some people and companies and industries a blight on this planet with only profit as their compass through existence. These observations of gratuitousness should simply be considered base logic.
The thing that should be taken from all of this is that any other cause of such wanton destruction and detriment would be quickly excised or euthanized with little to no discussion.
