What have we done?

Imagine what this continent used to be. One vast green forest. Pure water in lakes and rivers. Think of the wolves beavers loons moose bears salmon heron whales pelicans buffalo in endless quantity. The possum frogs eagles squirrels raccoons rattlesnakes mountain-lions deer moving through the firs and oaks and redwoods and grasses. Picture the humans who lived there. 500 nations with cultures of great subtlety and long tradition. Treating everything as sacred. Honouring other species and even the rocks as brothers and sisters. Living in a way that could last another 10,000 years. The immense shimmering forest and the humans were one.

Look out over this land today. The vast forest is now clearcut. Gone. Everywhere the land is broken with fences and roads. The earth dug up, dynamited, paved over. The paved-over area is equal in size to Montana. Some species are extinct – they do not exist – not even one! The red peoples have been murdered and abused until there are few left. It is common for their youth now to sniff gasoline. Chemicals toxins and radiation is spread throughout land, water and air. Everywhere are machines of all kinds, whirling faster and faster. Machines that do not feel, hard and cold. It is all approaching one vast machine. And the people live mostly in their heads, ignoring emotions, their bodies, their intuitions. People who are withdrawing more and more from each other in fear and confusion. Surrounding themselves with the shell of the machine. Communicating with each other more and more through the machine rather than face to face. A culture that produces snuff films, school shootings, reality television shows, pedophile organizations, gated communities, intestine removal to prevent obesity. Who manage the little forest left for recreation and resources at maximum sustainable yield. Who have no connection to the earth and no sense of the oneness. Who think what they have done is progress.