By Frosty Wooldridge

Ever hear of the old saying, “You can’t fool Mother Nature!”? “What comes around goes around!”  “You get what you pay for!”  “You get what’s coming to you!”  “Life teaches you lessons; but if you don’t learn them; life teaches with greater harshness the next time around.”

In the last 100 years, ever since Henry Ford introduced the automobile, humanity waged and continues waging its destructive onslaught of Mother Nature. 

Humans kill billions of animals.  Mankind injects 70,000 chemicals into the land, water and air 24/7 that wreak havoc with the web of life.  Humans cut, burn, drain and destroy forests, wetlands, ground water and anything else in their path.  They blow off the tops of mountains for coal while they drill for oil in deserts and beneath the oceans.

An artist named Schimmel while visiting the South Pole said, “Antarctica has come to symbolize the last of the wild places.  But no place is sacred in Man’s eyes.  In this pristine wilderness, greed would find a haven for devastating industry.  For God’s sake, with a planet full of beings such as ourselves, even the stars aren’t safe.” (Book--An Extreme Encounter: Antarctica by Frosty Wooldridge)

In an excellent piece by Abbey Kennedy, Winter 2007, in the www.populationconnection.org , “The Perfect Disaster: Man vs. Nature”, Fact Sheet, she illustrated how Mother Nature cannot be fooled and what goes around comes around.

“On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, leaving hundreds of dead and thousands of homes destroyed in the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history,” Kennedy reported. “The aftermath of Katrina laid bare the catastrophic consequences of irresponsible population and environmental policies that our nation has carried out for decades.”

Loss of coastal wetlands intensified the tragedy left in the hurricane’s wake.  The Gulf waters continue their march inland.  Every half hour, a piece of land the size of a football field vanishes beneath the Gulf. Human development destroys the balance of nature on the coast.

“This development has had the devastating side effect of disabling the natural sediment distribution system that created the largest contiguous area of wetlands in the United States,” Kennedy reported. “Before the large-scale construction of the levees began in the 1930s, the Mississippi River changed course within a 200 mile wide arc. It deposited sediment as it shifted, creating huge expanses of wetlands.”

Levees destroyed the national processes.  Time Magazine columnist Nathan Thornburgh said the levee system turned the Mississippi River into the “world’s largest high-pressure hose.”

“As a result, the wetlands and marshes of southern Louisiana are disappearing at a rate of 25 square miles a year, roughly an acre every 33 minutes, for a total of 1,900 square miles since the 1930s,” Kennedy reported. “As wetlands, that act as speed-bumps for storms, disappear, with them go the wildlife habitats and systems of natural protection against storms and floods that have proven exceptionally difficult and expensive for humans to replicate.”

As oil use shot skyward faster than a spaceship launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Gulf Coast suffered a human population surge beyond its carrying capacity. That surge destroyed the natural systems on the coast.   In one year alone, 10.1 million people visit New Orleans, adding stress to overwhelmed ecosystems.

On the construction side, 1,540 new single-family homes gain permits for building in coastal counties every day!  Since 1980, growth jumped by 75 percent.

While Katrina wreaked havoc on humans and their economies, few paid any attention to the environmental toll.  Louisiana features an almost diabolical chemical alley, that for years, poisoned humans, plants and animals with equal obliteration.

“Chemical and biological contaminants from submerged cars, human feces, dead bodies, uprooted chemicals and oil facilities filled the flood waters,” Kennedy reported. “The Coast Guard estimated seven million gallons of oil spilled into southeast Louisiana. Toxic sludge remains…now that this toxic sludge is drying out; these toxic particles are being carried into the air, creating a toxic dust bowl.  This extremely polluted air is going to result in long-term illness and disease for people who live in the region.”

Has the U.S. Government learned any lessons?  Apparently not!  They continue funding runaway building and construction that creates endless human hyper-population growth.

“Diverting river water, manually depositing sediment, and other anti-erosion projects can help revitalize the wetlands,” Kennedy reported. “But any long-range strategy to protect our nation’s ecosystems must address the root cause of destruction.  Otherwise, we will just be sticking our finger in the dike and waiting for the next flood.”

Look across the United States for accelerating evidence of human devastation of the land.  With an added 3.1 million people added annually on our way to adding 100 million in 25 years, the natural world doesn’t stand a chance against human onslaught.  However, you cannot fool Mother Nature over the long term.

She will bring new and harsher lessons for humanity.

Visit www.populationconnection.org for more information on what you can do to make a difference.

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If any of us, no matter what our race, creed or color might be, refuse to engage our U.S. Congress as we have not for 30 years as to the immigration equation—our children will find themselves living in a terribly degraded America where the American Dream will be described by the history books as a ‘fleeting fantasy’ from the era of 1950 to 2010.  These are several of the top organizations where you can take collective action to change the course of American history. Take collective action at www.numbersusa.com ; www.fairus.org ; www.capsweb.org ; www.thesocialcontract.com ; www.populationmedia.org ; www.worldpopulationbalance.org ; www.populationconnection.org ; www.quinacrine.com ; www.familyplanning.org/ , www.skil.org ; www.growthbusters.com  ; www.populationpress.org and dozens of other sites accessed at www.frostywooldridge.com.

Must see DVD:  “Blind Spot”   www.snagfilms.com/films/title/blind_spot/  , This movie illustrates America’s future without oil, water and other resources to keep this civilization functioning. It’s a brilliant educational movie!  www.blindspotdoc.com

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Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as six times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border.  In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece.  He presents “The Coming Population Crisis in America: and what you can do about it” to civic clubs, church groups, high schools and colleges.  He works to bring about sensible world population balance at www.frostywooldridge.com  He is the author of:  America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans.