Who owns nature?
By Dr. Kristine Kevorkian
"The Crying Indian" 1971 anti-littering PSA from Keep America Beautiful and the Ad Council
I ask myself this question all the time. When there’s an environmental disaster such as the BP oil spill in the Gulf, or deforestation in the Amazon, who gets to make these decisions to destroy or save? Obviously it’s the person or persons with the most money. But don’t these people owe us any sense of responsibility? After all, the resources may be bought, but they are required by all of us living on this planet.
Have you ever driven by your neighbor’s house only to see him/her or the gardener watering the sidewalk or driveway? Shouldn’t that homeowner be held responsible to conserve water for all of us? In a perfect world, perhaps that would be the norm. I live in Los Angeles, and that is far from the norm here. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a saint, but I am becoming more and more conscious of the lack of resources available to us, and wonder what others think when they literally waste water and other resources. Will our world consist of only wealthy people in the coming generations, those who can afford precious water and oil?
“I grieve the loss of ecosystems and our natural environment.. what I refer to as environmental grief”
And why haven’t we stopped using oil? For goodness sake! We’ve been dealing with the oil issue forever now, but continue to play into the hands of the rich and powerful who seek to keep us forever at the bottle of oil. Grow up people and stop sucking from that bottle and move on to alternatives!
When we continue to support these destructive behaviors, we are basically signing our own death certificates. If our world is unhealthy, so will we be, and are already. Rather than grieving the loss of our lives, I grieve the loss of ecosystems and our natural environment. I react to this environmental destruction with what I refer to as environmental grief. This is the grief reaction stemming from the environmental loss of ecosystems caused by natural or man-made events.
When the BP oil spill destroyed, and continues to destroy the Gulf region, BP is asked only to pay for damages. How can one put a price on these damages when we have NO idea how long the damage will continue since it has not remained in one place. We’ve learned enough about the human body to know that when one organ or bone is injured or damaged, the rest of the body is also harmed, trying to find a way to compensate which may cause more damage in the long term. And yet we allow the wealthy to lose a small portion of their interests when ALL our interests and health are at stake.
Animals and ecosystems were damaged and some destroyed and yet there’s no one really taking responsibility. When will we learn that money won’t make it all better? All the money in the world isn’t going to create healthy drinking water for an entire planet. Nor will money create animals, and plants that we’ve destroyed. We can live without money in some areas, but no one can live without water.
Environmental grief puts a name to a vague feeling most of us have had for far too long. Sadly, more of us may come to react this way to the news telling us about more environmental destruction, more habitats and ecosystems being lost due to natural disasters, mostly due to humans ever expanding and growing into areas once left for the wild.
What can we do? For those of us dealing with environmental grief, we can speak with others and share our grief to find support and understanding, similar to what we look for when we’ve lost any other loved one. And we can harness that grief to make changes in our lives to help our fragile planet. We can’t change others, but we can change ourselves.
Remember when everyone used to smoke? How often do you see people smoking these days? It’s getting less and less because people are becoming more aware of the damages that smoking does to the body. Perhaps with more and more of us talking about environmental grief, we may get to the point where people become conscious of their own actions and make changes themselves.
Imagine that our atmosphere is our own lungs. If we did that, wouldn’t people pay more attention to the cars they drive, and the pollution in the city in which they live? What if the oceans were similar to our own bloodstream? Wouldn’t we want our oceans and rivers clear of debris, no blockage to stop a healthy flow of blood? Let’s clean our oceans, and gather more people each day/week/month to do so.
A call to action is the prescription for those of us afflicted with environmental grief. If we band together, occupy if you will, we would make a HUGE difference in our communities and for our planet.
Who owns nature? We all do! And we must therefore make sure that our voices are heard in order to speak for those who aren’t able to speak for themselves. We must carry on where others cannot and educate those who have money and power since they are afflicted with shortsightedness and greed. We can heal all through education and compassion.
Let us not forget that:
“Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.”
~Cree Indian Prophecy
Dr. Kristine Kevorkian holds a doctoral degree in thanatology, and is the leading authority on environmental grief® and ecological grief®. She is an adjunct professor at Antioch University in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Kristine has presented her research in the United States and abroad. She lectures and teaches classes on end-of-life care, death, bereavement, grief and loss to medical and mental health professionals and students. Kristine lives in Southern California with her dog ZORRO! www.drkkevorkian.com
