We meet each other on the street without recognizing each other. We see each other without shaking hands and we even talk to each other without greeting each other properly. We are often alone, and we don’t hear the words of others, we have rejected any way of trying to understand each other.
John Elvis Vera S.
History continues to teach us that we can only progress towards our collective goals and dreams when we are united and organized. When we are not united, we are not as strong. The fact that we are divided only strengthens the cause of those who would prefer to see us defeated, and those who would use their weapons to oppose the changes which would benefit mankind.
We cannot allow our society to continue to change without making a deep rooted change so that everybody can be equal. We cannot let time pass by without taking action. We cannot act as if we are already defeated.
We are faced with a global crisis, a crisis which is made up of other smaller crises. We are faced with an economy which goes from one downturn to the next and has had a negative effect on the wellbeing of billions of people around the world. More species are becoming extinct than ever before.
War continues without an end in sight. Entire peoples are displaced due to war and for environmental reasons. In short, we are in a very delicate situation which we don’t recognise. People want to be seen as going down in history without actually doing anything.
In 2014, the UN declared that 2.2 billion people were living in poverty and that another 1.2 billion were on the brink of poverty. Today there are 795 million human beings who do not have enough food to live a healthy life. 24, 000 die every day and 75% of them are boys and girls younger than five years old. 4,500 children die every day because they do not have access to clean water. All of this is down to extreme poverty and lack of social equality.
In 2007, 150 species became extinct every day. Today scientists tell us that that number has gone up to 200. All the while, according to the WHO in 2012 12.6 million died as a result of pollution and in our continent, 847, 000 human beings were victims of this plague.
According to UNHCR estimates, in the next five decades there will be between 250 million and 1 billion environmental refugees. Every minute there are at least 60 people who are displaced because of environmental disasters. Asia and the Americas are the continents which are affected the most.
All of us, in whichever part of Colombia
we live, must remember the threat of overmining, dams, pesticides, deterioration of natural water sources, unsustainable levels of tourism, monocultures of pines and eucalyptus trees, extensive farming and over urbanisation.
We must continue the dialogue. We must agree on the basic fundamental points. We must make our suggestions well known, we must all work together to advance together. It will need relentless efforts… We must meet to grow stronger, we must unite to build the society which we desire. *Ambientalista. John.evis.vera.suarez.1958@gmail.com – Photos: Pixabay
(Translated by Peter Savin petesavin@icloud.com)
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