As I write this in Boston, Massachusetts, where I am visiting, a snowstorm has hit the Northeastern United States. Winter has overtaken the fall in October!
Millions of Americans are affected, with power lines down and transportation crippled. It’s too early in the year, but a blanket of white is covering the entire northeast.
Truly, Nature can paralyze the most powerful countries in the world. But then again the effects of climate change has no boundaries.
As the unexpected snow falls here, Bangkok on the other side of the planet is still underwater, and in Africa a shortage of water looms.
This is the world today. It is clear by now that the planet cannot sustain the present development model. The state of the world’s ecology and economics is testament to this.
Countries are facing tough and stringent austerity measures imposed on them by their governments through the International Monetary Fund. How long will this last? Why should they suffer for something over which they have no control and for which they are not at fault?
I see many more Arab Spring movements on the horizon, as well as major climatic disturbances.
With the many pressures the planet has to face, the continued pollution of carbon dioxide escalates from not only the development model but also the world population of 7 billion.
These pressures will bear heavily on the planet and its ecosystems—and all of us will suffer.
Why has there been no clear road map on the reduction of greenhouse gases? Why do mining and extraction go on unabated despite a slowdown in the economy? Why does the price of gold show no signs of stabilizing? These are questions that need to be answered.
Traditionally, the price of gold will rise if the currencies are uncertain, and they are. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has not produced a protocol that will reduce greenhouse gases because it is controlled by transnational corporations that will not sacrifice their bottom line.
Mining and extraction are subsidiaries of transnational businesses and will follow the bottom line.
It is the business-as-usual attitude that prevails and will kill the planet’s ecology and the world’s economy.
—ANTONIO M. CLAPAROLS,
president,
Ecological Society of the Philippines,
53 Tamarind Road,
Forbes Park, Makati City