COTANGENT

By Daphne Cardillo

                               “We’re all In This Together”

                   A friend recently sent me a small flag with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) image of the earth in its dynamic state, a planet almost covered with swirling water indicating life.  Inscribed around the photo of the earth are words “We’re All In This Together” and the whole image is printed on both sides of the flag.

                   I’ve been analyzing what could the statement “We’re all In This Together” means.  It could be an admission of an error done on planet earth, for it is now a universal knowledge that our planet is becoming unfit for human habitation.  Or the statement could be a call for alarm, after having realized that an error had been made and therefore some necessary measures must be taken to correct the mistake.

                   There used to be a saying which goes that for the people in a village to unite, they need to be attacked by people from another village; and for the citizens in a country to unite, they need to be attacked by citizens from another country.  Thus must follow that for the creatures of the earth to unite, they need to be attacked by creatures from another planet.

                   The current state of planet earth however doesn’t need aliens for earthlings to unite.  We are our own worst enemies and the destruction we have caused to our environment would make this planet unlivable for all of its creatures in due time.  With human greed, climate change, and global warming, some animal species have already been made extinct while others are endangered of possible extinction.

                   The denudation of the forests, destruction of marine life, mining and quarrying, and the pollution of the atmosphere generally caused this ecological imbalance and have taken a snowball effect in so short a time.  First there came the floods, then, the stronger than usual cyclones and hurricanes, El Niño, La Niña, air and water pollution and the consequent influx of various kinds of diseases brought about by climate change.

                   Planet earth being under the laws of physics thereby follows its own natural course; getting overheated or frozen, winds becoming more turbulent, and the sea waters gradually rising irrespective of man and his many gods.  Global warming in itself is an ever-increasing menace for all living things, with the earth’s temperature slowly rising to intolerable level each year unless radical change in the environment is being made.

                   The moon likewise is an “arid, airless, inhospitable rock” and not fit for human habitation.  And the space beyond earth is dark and wide, un-navigable, and inhospitable for man and his pets.  While we also have not invented a vehicle that could transport us to other planets and galaxies so we can somehow survey for a possible living space.

                   We’re all in this together—destruction and preservation, and before we can destroy faster than preserve our only habitat the people of the world must unite to save the planet.  Let us save planet earth not only for human survival but more so because we do not own it through invention or commerce, and therefore must restore it to its natural state that is conducive to plants and animals, earth’s original inhabitants and rightful heirs of this planet.

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