The destruction and survival of a Beautiful Planet

By Malcolm Beck

Communications and speed of travel has squeezed our beautiful and life-sustaining space ship down to neighborhood size. With modern electronics we can speak to, look at and spy on anyone around the globe as if we were visiting across the yard fence.

Instead of using these miraculous inventions to study, improve and protect his environment and generate neighborhood fellowship, man is constantly quarrelling, warring and killing each other because of jealousy, envy and greed. .

There are uncountable numbers of live species on earth. All of these species are programmed to only be what they are and do what they do. But man has a free will. Free to work or play, be happy or sad, be trim or fat. He can also be productive or destructive.

Man has the thought and brain power to learn, design and invent. And even discover how the earth is designed. But, with all of this vast knowledge man does not seem to understand the very system that supports and makes his life possible on this planet.

Soil, the very earth, man walks on, supports all life. The quality of the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe is determined by the quality of the topsoil. But, man mostly ignores the soil and treats it like dirt.

Twenty percent of our planet is dry land, but only eight percent is suitable for agriculture. That eight percent is the most abused part of Nature. What is not being paved over is dumped full of chemicals and then over tilled which exposes the micro soil life to the sun rays that destroy more of them. The soil life, from earthworms to microbes, is what keeps the soil healthy, plant life thriving, which in turn keeps water pure and air clean.

Only healthy plant life can collect carbon dioxide from the air and process it into energy-loaded carbohydrates that furnish food and energy for all other life forms. The dead and decaying plants are just as important. They furnish the energy and environment to the soil life that creates the good soil structure, so badly needed, for soil and water conservation.

Six percent of the earth is covered with ice; the remaining seventy four percent is covered with water. But, of all that water, only three percent is fresh, the rest is salty. The supply of that three percent is getting less and less each year.

The average annual rainfall has even gone up some in the past 100 years. But, the structure of the topsoil is so poor from the lack of organic matter that the soil can’t properly accept and hold soaking rain. Then the water rushes off, in raging floods, carrying topsoil with it to join the salty sea.

If man, with his free will, and supposable intelligent but sometimes arrogant brain, doesn't learn to be neighborly, stop warring, and start respecting the dirt under his feet, he will destroy the planet for himself and most other, species. Then planet earth will be giving back to lowly soil creatures. The microbes, will once again, start Earth on the path, to become fertile, beautiful and habitable.