By Caitlin Johnstone
The US Air Force is clearing out jungles in the Pacific and replacing them with airfields for its coming war with China,
because there exist people on this earth who look at a jungle and think, “This should be replaced with an airfield to prepare for a war with China.”
There are people on this earth who say, “You know the world would be a much better place if all these trees and exotic insects and birds were replaced with long stretches of concrete lined with nuclear bombers on high alert.”
There are people on this earth who see bulldozing rainforests to make way for war planes as much simpler and easier than just making peace.
There are people on this earth who would spend their entire lives making up new excuses to fight new enemies, and then tear up every inch of the biosphere looking for ways to defeat those enemies.
There are people on this earth who would rather wipe out all biodiversity than allow for any diversity in world leadership.
There are people on this earth who would rather rule supreme over a wasteland of irradiated dust and ashes than see the rise of a multipolar world.
There are people on this earth who would rather annihilate everything than take a brief moment to pause and look inward.
There are people on this earth who would rather stare down the barrel of nuclear armageddon than turn and stare at themselves.
There are people on this earth who would light the skies on fire before they’d take even a minute to just be here now.
There are people on this earth who would rather destroy everything than make peace with anything.
There are people on this earth who look at the staggering beauty of the natural world and think how wonderful it would be if they could tear it all down and funnel it into a factory to make Tomahawk missiles.
The biosphere is dying,
and we are hurtling toward nuclear war,
and it is so very, very heartbreaking,
and yet even in the midst of that heartbreak
nature shines as majestically as ever,
and some moments all you can do is take in the beauty
and take it as your solemn, sacred duty to appreciate it while it lasts,
and look at the trees and the bugs and the birds and the critters
who never had anything to do with this madness,
and bow as deeply as your body can bow,
and say I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry.
Caitlin’s articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out herpodcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. New book! Lao Sue And Other Poems, available in paperback or PDF/ebook. – All works co-authored with her husband Tim Foley. https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au
Views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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