We have a huge responsiblity to the earth — its vegetation, animals, and fellow humans, and we have failed miserably in keeping it safe and sustainable.

Instead of cherishing and protecting the beauty, majesty, and wonder of Planet Earth, we have all but destroyed it.

Reprehensible describes the decapitation of peaks in the Appalachain Mountain range, especially in West Virginia, so that greedy mining companies can easily access low-sulfur coal reserves. Left over rock and dirt are dumped into adjacent valleys, destroying streams, vegetation, wild life habitation, forcing animals to flee, and oftentimes, because of noise, explosions, and dust, humans have had no alternative but to leave their towns and their homes which have become valueless.

Reprehensible also describes the destruction of Belize’s Macal River Valley, an eco-terrorist act carried out by Fortis, a Canadian company based in Newfoundland. Despite begging, petitions, demonstrations, disruption of shareholder meetings, the project went ahead, thanks to the 3-2 decision rendered by the UK Privy Council. Thisa panel of three, who had all the facts before them, ruled in favour of the plan, even though the Macal River Valley is one of the few biologically rich and diverse areas left in Central America, that it is home to several endangered species (the jaguar, tapir, and the last 200 scarlet macaws in Belize). Profit and greed win again!

Even beautiful Scotland has fallen prey to greed. I was shocked to hear that permission was recently granted to a foreign company by the Highland Council to allow a huge expansion of Glensanda, the largest quarry in Europe, approving the extraction of an extra 400 million tonnes of aggregate. This permission also allows for the removal of a mountain peak, the Mam and Lochan Lag A Mhaim, and not a whimper was heard from government to a proposal that will, in essence, destroy forever a virgin wilderness, contaminate loch waters, destroy vegetation, and the peaceful co-existence of man, animal, and plant life. This ugly assault on the Scotish wilderness can be seen from many of the neighbouring highlands and islands, thus destroying the majestic beauty that is the life blood of Scotland’s tourist industry.

Greed is ugly. It is criminal. Those who allow the destruction of Planet Earth are, themselves, criminal.

I’ve cited three examples; there are countless others, each as devastating to the environment as those I’ve mentioned.

Once mountain peaks and rain forests are destroyed, once streams are buried under rubble, there is no turning back. The damage has been done, and a chain reaction occurs wherein plant life is wiped out, animals are forced to flee their natural habitat, and humans often have no alternative but to follow.

How long can we allow this rape of the earth and its once plentiful resources to continue? What will this planet look like in ten or twenty years from now? What will be left for those who come after us? And how can we justify to future generations the mess that is left for them?