When I see sidelines on the covers of my favorite outdoor magazines like “Top Ten Places to See Before They Vanish”, it sends chills up my spine. It leaves me pondering questions like “Just how many top ten places have already vanished? Is anyone keeping track? What top ten are next in line? If they are so great, so valuable, so worth seeing, why are they vanishing and why would we let them?
Once they’re gone, will we ever be able to replace the beauty, wildness and sacredness that have been destroyed? What kind of mindset do we have that makes something man-made more important than the beauty of places yet untouched, but scheduled for demolition? It reminds me of a carnival barker, “Get your tickets here folks. See the rare and beautiful Arctic Tundra before it melts. Exclusive tickets, just step right up and see it before it’s too late. Only a lucky few (and probably wealthy) will have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Don’t miss your chance. See it now”.
As my stream of consciousness about this continues, I wonder how long it will be before there are no more “Top Ten” places for us to see before they have vanished? Currently it seems that Antarctica is at the top of the list of things to see these days. There are a range of tourist opportunities to “experience” the beauty of a polar ice cap before it completely vanishes.
You can take a cruise along ice peninsulas, helicopter rides for ice reconnaissance, shore visits with scientific experts, dog sled adventures, etc. Within myself I sense that there is something inherently wrong with this mentality and way of perceiving our world. We’re anxious to get a first hand glimpse of our own demise. So much so that we are actually willing to pay for it!
The truth is we are completely unable to integrate that watching a polar ice shelf the size of Rhode Island break off into the ocean and melt away forever, (though probably an awesome and spectacular sight), is like cutting off the tip of our earthly pinky finger. Little by little we are whittling down and cutting away all things that sustain us as a living organism on this planet.
We’re killing ourselves and other species at an unprecedented rate and strangely, we want to have front row seats at this event. It’s like driving by a car accident. We have to slow down and look. We are actually willing to pay to watch Rome burn. We’ll enjoy good food, have an adventure, take photos and return home, providing slideshows to our friends so that they can live this demise vicariously through us.
I think I’ll coin this “Ecological Voyeurism”. A sort of sick fascination with watching the planet in its death throws. We find it exciting. In some ways an “exclusive” experience that few get to see, making those of us that did experience it, unique, perhaps special. And in the end, when we are old and a grandchild sits on our lap, we can describe this to them in detail. “You should have seen it honey, it was truly grand. I’m so sorry that this beauty isn’t around for you to see and experience for yourself. But I was lucky, I got to see it before it was gone and I can at least show you the photos and tell you about it”.
Hmmm. How special is that?
More cool stuff on Celsias:
As the sun continues to slumber, the ocean cools and the polar icecaps grow as time goes on it becomes more and more evident that global warming is simply a money making scam that ignores the environment and does almost nothing to help it.
www.twawki.com
Written in April 2010