March 5, 2005
The Third World War
When the fresh water of the world became insufficient for the wants of all
The satiated privatized it, declaring it henceforth to be a need, not a right
When food shortages became rampant, the well-fed replaced small farmers
With technologically sophisticated but much less efficient mega-machinery
When the most massive extinction of species in 65,000,000 years was under way (a)
The egotistical raided rich tropical lands in search of species they could Aown@
When explosive population growth threatened to negate all betterments of life
The narrow-minded advocated against the right of women to have abortions
When the effects of global warming were wreaking havoc among the innocent
The Adeveloped@ denied it was their duty to curb their own carbon emissions
When increasing millions were dying of fully avoidable hunger and malnutrition
The obese focused on inserting flounder genes into the genome of strawberries (b)
When malaria, tuberculosis, yellow fever and dengue were making a resurgence (c)
The healthy demanded that only their own brand-name drugs be on the market
When the HIV virus was decimating young adults among the black and yellow
The whites determined this was a moral issue B lack of chastity before marriage
When pathogens were threatening to devastate monocultures world-wide
The profit-minded encouraged the planting of only a few, fast-growing species
When the debt incurred by the poor=s pro-Western dictators was at crushing levels
The rich insisted it be paid, even at the cost of curtailing health and education services
When cheaply and easily preventable, yet untold misery reigned across the globe
The untouched saw space as another commodity which they could own and control
When the earth became mildly radioactive due to the use of nuclear weapons
The scared built a nuclear-powered missile defense shield for their own country
When oil became scarce, drying up, and soon to elude the reach of even the haves
The greedy used it to kill all destitutes still adamantly refusing to become vassals
The Third World War is being waged by the indifferent against the defenseless
The powerful plan to survive B at the expense of humanity as we know it today.
References
Foster, John, The Vulnerable Planet B A Short Economic History of the Environment (Monthly Review Press, New York, N.Y.), 1993/1999, pp. 24-25.
Biologist Edward Wilson estimates that the extinction of species is now occurring at the rate of 27,000 species a year B 74 every day, 3 every hour. He considers that up to 20 percent of the world=s species could become extinct before 2023, a level of extinction not experienced since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65,000,000 years ago.
There may be 30,000,000 species alive in the world today, only 1,400,000 of which having been identified and catalogued. To lose entire species is not only to reduce the diversity of life on earth, but also to lose the genetic library which might provide new foods, new cancer-fighting drugs, and other beneficial products.
At present, human beings rely on only 20 species for 80 percent of their food supply, yet some 75,000 edible plant species are known to exist, some of which with enormous nutritive value.
Anderson, Luke, Genetic Engineering, Food, and our Environment (Chelsea Green, White River Junction, VT), 1999/2000, pp. 11 and 41.
The arctic flounder can survive at freezing temperatures. Genes coding for anti-freeze chemicals have been taken from it and spliced into the genome of other fish, and in fruits and vegetables, in an attempt to enable these species to tolerate colder weather and expand farming into northerly regions.
Dengue, known commonly as Abreakbone@ fever because of the pain it causes, is a severe flu-like viral illness that is sometimes fatal due to internal bleeding.
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