Pearl Diver: A wake-up call

Because, underneath all of this is the real truth we have been avoiding: climate change isn’t an “issue” to add to the list of things to worry about, next to health care and taxes. It is a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message—spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions—telling us that we need an entirely new economic model and a new way of sharing this planet. Telling us that we need to evolve.
–Naomi Klein

By now, the shocking images spreading on social media following the devastating mudslides caused by a glacial collapse in the Nepal-China border area should leave everyone horrified.

However, that horror should not stem from the ferocious, destructive power of the forces of nature. Mother Nature did not release a deluge of ice, water, mud and rocks upon unsuspecting villagers without provocation. She was compelled by human neglect, blatant complicity in global warming and climate change and, sadly, even denial!

Wealthy industrialised nations are the biggest contributors to global warming and climate change. While most of these nations have routinely pledged to reduce emissions, among other measures to tackle the man-made problem, one nation stands out depressingly in denial and shame.

The US government (led by the Trump administration), which loves to lecture other countries on practically every aspect of life, stands out as not only a major contributor, but also a primary denier of this phenomenon. The devastating result is that a poor nation like Nepal is unfairly bearing the full brunt of the problem while its contribution to climate change and global warming is negligible.

There is a song I love about human greed, materialism, and environmental exploitation that almost brings tears to my eyes. It is by folk singer-songwriter David Roth, and it issues a dire warning about our complicity and denial. There are lines like the following which are particularly evocative:

Dump their garbage overground
Invade the air with greed
Exploit the wind and use the land
For things that they don’t need…

And…

And I can taste the toxic waters
Hear every splash of waste
I see how man has used the sea
Diluting his distaste…

Also…

Now I am eternal witness
To the tide that man has turned
Pity he will never know
The things that I have learned…

I will leave the full song lyrics below the video. Enjoy, and spare a thought for our environment and the plants and animals that share it with us.

Full Lyrics

I was living very happy
When they came to me
Offered riches for the pearls
Way down in the sea
So I became a pearl diver
Held my breath as I went down
Caught my foot between two rocks
And drowned
Now I am sitting under water
Watching things fall in
Sinking with the weight of knowledge
Greed, desire and sin
Now I am eternal witness
To the tide that man has turned
Pity he will never know
The things that I have learned
The submarines go underneath
The battleships above
And the divers keep on coming
Putting prices on their love
And I can taste the toxic waters
Hear every splash of waste
I see how man has used the sea
Diluting his distaste
The fishes tell me they would like to
Throw a hook up on the land
Snag a man and drag him under
Put him in a can
Watch him fight to breathe the water
Buy him in a store
Cut him up to be their dinner
Throw the bones on shore
Dump their garbage overground
Invade the air with greed
Exploit the wind and use the land
For things that they don’t need
I was living very happy
Until they came to me
Offered riches for the pearls
Way down in the sea
My dream is to be cremated
Not swaying with the tide
But because I wanted more
Than God had given me, I died