Authors: Lawrence Anthony
Babylon's Ark (28 page)
Our inability to think beyond ourselves or to be able to cohabit with other life-forms in what is patently a massive collaborative quest for survival is surely a malady that pervades the human soul.
And speaking of the soul, will the unthinkable happen if we continue down this road to nowhere? We are activating so many survival suppressors against life that if we carry on in this way our future as a species may no longer be taken for granted. And then, what next? What other order could possibly host the human spirit? The religious implications alone are profound. Ensuring that our home planet is healthy and life-sustaining is an overwhelming priority that undercuts all other human activities. The ship must first float.
Our failure to grasp these fundamental tenets of existence will be our undoing. And one thing is for certain: No cavalry is going to come charging to our rescue; we are going to have to rescue ourselves or die trying.
Workable solutions are urgently needed. Saving seals and tigers or fighting yet another oil pipeline through a wilderness area, while laudable, is merely shuffling the deck chairs on the
Titanic.
The real issue is that our elementary accord with Earth and the plant and animal kingdoms has to be revitalized and re-understood.
Titanic.
The real issue is that our elementary accord with Earth and the plant and animal kingdoms has to be revitalized and re-understood.
The burning question is, How?
The prophets of doom are already saying it is too late, that the crude and uninformed impact of man on the planet's life systems is just too great and that we don't have enough time to turn it all around.
I don't happen to agree, but I do know that we are entering the
endgame. Unless there is a swift and marked change in our attitudes and actions, we could well be on our way to becoming an endangered species.
endgame. Unless there is a swift and marked change in our attitudes and actions, we could well be on our way to becoming an endangered species.
I recall my initial reaction to all this as one of overwhelming helplessness, and I found myself slipping into comfortable apathy about it all. Perhaps this was just the way life worked; species do, in fact, come and go as part of life's grand design and
Homo sapiens
is not meant to endure forever. Massive global extinctions have already taken placeâseveral times, in fact. There have been plenty of ice ages before. The Sahara Desert was once tropical.
Homo sapiens
is not meant to endure forever. Massive global extinctions have already taken placeâseveral times, in fact. There have been plenty of ice ages before. The Sahara Desert was once tropical.
In fact, it appears that dynamic, sometimes devastating, change is part of nature's weft and warp; death nurtures life and that life must continually morph its survival mediums and evolve new species as part of its overall strategy to endure. But this time around it may not be a natural phenomenon; it may well be ignorance and neglect of the natural world that will prove to be our undoing.
This is no fun subject to brood over, and closing my mind to it all and simply focusing on Thula Thula and some very special wild elephants was to me a very attractive alternative indeed.
But something niggled at me. The popular cry that overpopulation was the cause of our environmental woes didn't ring entirely true. It appeared too simplistic, too primary, and I felt that it somehow disguised the truth.
I started researching the subject extensively, and I now believe that overpopulation is just an excuse that the prophets of doom are using to embrace the hopelessness of it all. Fast-developing advances in science and technology have the potential to ensure we stay fed, housed, and clothed, and in any event the birthrate in First World countries has already dropped substantially. In some cases it has gone into negative numbers.
I believe the merchants of fear are wrong, that the planet can be turned around. If people are responsibly informed and allowed to grasp for themselves what is actually going on, a great many will act. A friend of mine put it in a way that has stuck with me: “When
one registers the fact that our very own survival depends upon the wellbeing of
all
life on our planet, one starts to understand that we are the ones responsible for the state we find Earth in today.”
one registers the fact that our very own survival depends upon the wellbeing of
all
life on our planet, one starts to understand that we are the ones responsible for the state we find Earth in today.”
Individuals. It's all about individuals. Huge corporations and governments may appear to be impenetrable juggernauts, but individuals run all organizations. Individuals make the rules, set the pace, and individuals can change their minds.
The time is right for new conservationists to come together and dispel the tarnished “greenie” image, awaken people to the reality of what we are up against, and build ethical bridges linking commerce and industry responsibly to the environment. I have no doubt a lot of people will embrace such an initiative.
Using what my experiences in Baghdad and South Africa had taught me, I decided to do something. The symbolism of saving a handful of war-traumatized, starving animals in a square-mile tract of land was to me far beyond the actual significance of the zoo itself.
I felt I should take it further. When I returned from that walk in the wilds in honor of a slain tiger in faraway Iraq, I sat down and drew up the outline for a new conservation society that I would call The Earth Organization. I would get together an international group of like-minded people with the ability to get things done, and we would strive to foster ethical treatment of our planet.
Ethics is the key theme. Ethics are essential to establishing a granite moral code as an environmental touchstone. That the animals of the Baghdad Zoo had been left starving and critically dehydrated was grossly unethical; that much was obvious. But what I wanted to get across now was the equally obvious fact that unless we treat our entire planet ethically, the consequences could be apocalyptic.
The Earth Organization, founded on hard lessons learned in a war zone, will focus on the most vital and mystifying question of our age: Why do we so mindlessly abuse our planet, our only home?
The answer to that lies in each of us. Therefore, we will strive to bring about understanding that we areâeach one of usâresponsible for more than just ourselves, our family, our football team, our
country, or our own kind; that there is more to life than just these things. That each one of us must also bring the natural world back into its proper place in our lives, and realize that doing so is not some lofty ideal but a vital part of our personal survival.
country, or our own kind; that there is more to life than just these things. That each one of us must also bring the natural world back into its proper place in our lives, and realize that doing so is not some lofty ideal but a vital part of our personal survival.
People may feel angrily powerless in trying to stop rain-forest logging in faraway countries, but they have huge power to assist in life's survival on their doorstep. As I discovered in Baghdad, a few people on the spot can make a huge difference. There is only one way we are going to hold together this little island we call home, and that is the hard way, making as many individuals aware, one by one, of what is at stake.
Trustworthy news and reliable information about what is actually going on around us is a major priority. Man's traditional links to nature, which once formed part of all cultures and used to be passed down generation to generation, have now become lost in a sea of “civilization” and technology.
The Earth Organization will rigorously help and defend our life-giving environment, and there is a crucial need for this. We will set up carefully selected projects that will make a real difference and we will see them through to a successful conclusion.
There will be additional objectives, which will include raising awareness of how life-forms need each other to persevere. Individuation from our association with nature is one of the root causes of our planet's problems and needs urgent attention.
It is also vital that our relationship with nature and the environment be included in our education systems. This is no longer something cute or nice to do; it is now a singular imperative. I would start with my nearest school board and encourage others to do the same.
Religious leaders who hold sway over billions of people now have a moral obligation to join in and play their part. I have researched the writings and teachings of many religions, and without exception there is reference one way or another to the importance of nature. If we are to attain spiritual emancipation, we have to have a healthy, life-sustaining place to attain it from. Interaction with spiritual leaders will be a particular focus of The Earth Organization
The Earth Organization will also create a definitive guide of what can be done in our personal lives to make a difference.
There is, unfortunately, no magic wand, no easy way out. We are going to have to face up to this and do it ourselves, each of us playing our part, each setting an example for others to follow and demanding of our leaders that they do the same. The future has its price and pay it we must. We have a lot of catching up to do.
And what is the alternative? Well, isn't that what we have right now? For in the absence of a workable understanding of how life survives and our part in it, placing a consumer or financial value on other life-forms and the environment has become man's only real motivation for condoning their existence. If it's worth money or has a use it survivesâotherwise, why care? Just how wrong can you get? Dead wrong.
Thankfully, progress is already being made, and I have found that there are more than a few people around who share these ideals and want to do something about the situation. But we need many more of us to get on board to make a real difference. The focus may be on what individuals can achieve for themselves, but there also has to be a collective will in treating our planet ethically. We stand, or fall, together in the most crucial battle of the twent-first century.
Consequently, The Earth Organization will now take this fight directly to the United Nations. We will strive for the creation of an international environmental agency with cross-border teeth to police and enhance biodiversity in each land and ocean and to ensure the balanced existence of every facet of the natural world. Such a global agency will be charged with ensuring the optimum survival of all life forms in all lands.
We truly do live in a global village. The oxygen we breathe today or the pollution darkening our sky can come in overnight on winds from a country thousands of miles away. The wholesale destruction of nature on huge tracts of the planet's surface impacts on everyone, everywhere, and must now be impeded by sensible international laws. There is no higher imperative.
And as we all know that sadly the human race will never stop waging wars, we will also campaign for zoos, menageries, game reserves, animal sanctuaries, and veterinarian facilities to be classified alongside hospitals and schools as illegitimate targets of war in terms of the Geneva Convention.
There must under no circumstance be a repeat of what happened to the Baghdad Zoo.
Of course, I am aware that I am being optimistic. I know that we have an enormous uphill battle, even in overcoming skepticism. For there are many who have not yet grasped what is actually going on, and others, who even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, still believe mankind has an inalienable right to abuse the environment and suppress other life-forms. We ignore such people at our peril.
But succeed we must, and we have to start somewhere. So much of our world has been brutally wrested from us; we now have to say enough. No more. Perhaps if enough individuals find out what is actually going on for themselves and start doing something about it, then maybe we can stave off the fast-advancing crisis and create a beautiful, healthy, livable planet where all life flourishes and man is free to rise to greater heights.
And I hope against hope that the battle for the Baghdad Zoo, no matter how humble, was a line in the sand.
MY GRATITUDE GOES TO THE FOLLOWING: Rod Macleod, who made the expedition possible. Martin Slabber, without whom I would never even have got into Kuwait. Tim Carney, the consummate diplomat whose guidance was crucial. Dr. Fahad Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah and Dr. Mohammed Al Muhanna in Kuwait, who gave their official support. Col. Jim Fikes and Maj. Adrian Oldfield, whom I badgered mercilessly to give me military access into Iraq. Capt. Larry Burris, Lt. Eric Nye, Ed Panetta, and the brave men of the Third ID. Sarge for the Baghdad Café. Dr. Al-Assam Faris, Baghdad's deputy mayor and a friend, who lost his life for working with foreigners. Dr. Abu Bakker, for finding the Arabian horses. Liz, for her friendship and help with an impenetrable military administration. Sarah Scarth, who sent in the cavalry. The “bodyguards” for their protection; Dave and Sandy Hodgkinson for their great company and advice. David Jones of North Carolina Zoo for his financial support and advice. OB Mthethwa, a true friend. Minister
Ihsam in Kurdistan; Terry Jastrow and Anne Archer for their interest and friendship; Kelly Preston for the use of her quote; Susan Watson and the staff of CC for their care; Bruce, Barbara, Dennis, and Bunny for believing in the story. Barbara Wiseman for throwing her weight behind me; my editor, Peter Joseph, for his guidance; Gavin, Mandy, Laurie San, Boom Boom, Terrie, Paul, Cameron, and of course, Graham Spence for the use of his talent; Lisa Hagan for her confidence; my sons, Jason and Dylan, for their precious support, care, and assistance; and humanitarian and environmentalist L. Ron Hubbard, whose works offer practical solutions for the problems facing the plant and animal kingdoms and the planet we live on.
Ihsam in Kurdistan; Terry Jastrow and Anne Archer for their interest and friendship; Kelly Preston for the use of her quote; Susan Watson and the staff of CC for their care; Bruce, Barbara, Dennis, and Bunny for believing in the story. Barbara Wiseman for throwing her weight behind me; my editor, Peter Joseph, for his guidance; Gavin, Mandy, Laurie San, Boom Boom, Terrie, Paul, Cameron, and of course, Graham Spence for the use of his talent; Lisa Hagan for her confidence; my sons, Jason and Dylan, for their precious support, care, and assistance; and humanitarian and environmentalist L. Ron Hubbard, whose works offer practical solutions for the problems facing the plant and animal kingdoms and the planet we live on.
We would like to thank Gracia Bennish for permission to include her photographs of the Baghdad Zoo and its inhabitants. She has been a photographer and painter of wildlife for twenty-five years. Her art has been featured in a U.S. billboard campaign, “Some Things Can't Be Duplicated,” and in publications such as
Audubon
magazine and
Africa Geographic,
plus an international limited-edition publication,
A Monograph of Endangered Parrots,
which showcases twenty-eight of her paintings. To see more of her photographs and other artwork, please visit
www.graciasart.com
.
Audubon
magazine and
Africa Geographic,
plus an international limited-edition publication,
A Monograph of Endangered Parrots,
which showcases twenty-eight of her paintings. To see more of her photographs and other artwork, please visit
www.graciasart.com
.
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