by Albert Midoux
The cost of compromise and the price of loyalty can usually be determined by ones perch on the rungs of the economic ladder. We see this form of subtle treason, not in the aid to enemies of our country but in the betrayal of our planet. At the upper rungs of the ladder are the industrial corporations whose greed is exceeded only by their ambitions. In many cases these ambitions to grow larger and more powerful far exceed their ability to control the environmental hazards, which also grow larger and more prevalent.
Rules are ignored, laws are bent and the moral issue is non-existent. No one seems to give a damn. On the middle rungs of the ladder are the leading citizens of any community, the main street persons from the dollar store to the local lumberyard, the mayor, council people and local banker.
One would think the forceful voices of such individuals would rise in opposition to the transgressions of industry but does not. They remain silent, very docile and non-confronting.
The financial as well as community standing of these people depend for the most part on the apples which fall from the corporate tree. The bigger the tree, the more apples they can catch. There is no mystery why they prefer the shade of the old apple tree.
The bottom of the ladder is reserved for the rest of us, the aspiring peons who harvest for the most part the worms from the corporate apples.
But hey! Were the nice guys right? Wrong! We just don’t cost as much to compromise. We clear-cut timber from hillsides to plant grass to feed one more cow, which will cause extensive erosion of our topsoil. We will plow as close to the rivers banks as possible to grow one more bushel of corn or beans and some will continue to contaminate our ground and surface water with excessive use of over abundant animal waste.
We use pesticides and herbicides and seldom read the instructions for proper use. Our passive acceptance of “Frankenstein foods,” which is the genetic tampering of our food crops and food animals, for witch we have only the assurance of safety from those who profit. Most foods we consume today have been genetically altered and un-labeled as such. Their safety for the long term unknown, or the effects of cross-pollination and mutations of our flora and fauna are a gamble of utmost danger.
We as the “low rungers” are accepting without question, without input or hazardous pay, the role of a laboratory monkey.
Trash of every variety is strewn along our roadways, streams and camping areas, even parking lots are not immune. Volunteers will clean an area of trash only to find the same conditions in a few days. The politicians and their appointed heads of enforcement agencies seem so docile and un-motivated that one must wonder, are they enforcing laws or picking apples?
Man has resided on this five billion year old planet for 500 thousand years. Those of us living today have brought it to the brink of disaster in a mere fifty years. If we continue at our present momentum and continue to remain silent, how long can it be before “all is silent, deadly silent…”