Greener Planet

GREENER PLANET

History is a great teacher if the succeeding generations are good students . We were never , obviously , living witnesses to many events in our planet 's history . Thank God for books from where we learn how our forebears have lived before us . Hopefully we will think beyond their stories , learn from their experiences , improve on their ways , preserve their legacy and take care of what they left us with , like our world - their home once , now ours

Long before historic times our planet was one healthy , thriving natural environment

of different ecosystems . Trees populate our forests , our seas were home to different species of marine life , and birds flew everywhere when the air around us was clean and unpolluted . Every part of nature was in its pristine , original state since creation . Man 's subsistence was assured for life by nature , his prime source for food clothing and shelter . Life was simple and nature provided for us . Many centuries later and which is today and now , we can not say the same for ourselves , more so for the generations after us . We have erred big and we have to do something quick before it becomes way too late

Let me take you to Easter Island before it was discovered by the Europeans in1722 . It had a sub-tropical forest which in turn had Easter Island Palm trees . The palm trees were use to build the natives ' homes and sea-worthy canoes . They fished for food and subsisted on porpoise They had wood for fuel and materials for rope . They had a social structure , a government and a religion . They built statues 33 feet in height and 82 tons in weight , others 65 feet tall and 270 tons heavy These statues were built around 1200 to 1500 AD using platforms and ropes from the forest . It was at this time when civilization was at its peak . It was however not going to be great going for long . By 1400 AD the Easter Island Palms became extinct due to overuse and incapability to reproduce as quickly . Rats ate their seeds and the islanders had no means to reproduce and replace those they used up . With no more palms to build their canoes from , the natives can longer fish for porpoise and soon they fed on birds and mollusks . Land birds became extinct and migratory birds decreased substantially . Easter Island Forests were soon gone because of heavy human consumption for fuel wood and building materials for canoes and the disappearance of birds , which were the natural pollination agents and seed dispersers . There is only one of twenty two species of birds left that still nests at Easter Island With their forest went the quality of life of the islanders . Water sources dried up , crop yields declined with the erosion of top soils Since wood was no longer available grasses were used as fuel . The statues were abandoned , the people were hungry , and chaos ensued . When the Europeans arrived in 1722 , they found no trace of...