Oil Protest

[Zoe Mal Doran]

As I'm sure we all know, the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is getting worse and I weep for the world.
A number of people on DeviantArt are submitting protest images to show their utter disgust.
I would be among them, but I got a 2-week suspension on an unrelated matter. I will be putting it on DA when I get the chance, but I'm not going to let it sit idle.

Here it is (drawn and coloured by hand with lightning bolts added in PaintShop Pro 8)

[tempman]

Just gotta say that I don't agree with a lot of this on both sides.

Mother Earth doesn't exist. The earth is just a rock flying in space, our impact on the planet is nothing compared to what it does to itself, or what other rocks from space can do to it. Or even what distant exploding stars or even our nearest star can do to us. Mother Earth will be fine, she always will be. It's the human race that is at risk.
It's a bad thing yes but I find a lot of the protesting going on to be quite extreme.

[Aiko]

Just gotta say that I don't agree with a lot of this on both sides.

Mother Earth doesn't exist. The earth is just a rock flying in space, our impact on the planet is nothing compared to what it does to itself, or what other rocks from space can do to it. Or even what distant exploding stars or even our nearest star can do to us. Mother Earth will be fine, she always will be. It's the human race that is at risk.
It's a bad thing yes but I find a lot of the protesting going on to be quite extreme.

That's an... interesting viewpoint. One that does not concern itself much with life of any kind. Life, which BTW makes this particular rock called Earth quite unique in the universe we know so far.

[nachtjaeger]

Great picture. I'm reminded of the traditional saying, "if Mama ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!"

My Lady Wife says that the Earth is like a big, shaggy dog, and we humans are the fleas. So long as the fleas don't cause too much trouble, the dog ignores them. But if they start biting too hard, the dog will scratch, roll in the dirt, or go jump in a pond. Bad for the fleas in any case.

Whether or not you believe in the literal existence of a creator/creatrix, if we abuse the planet too much, it will withhold its blessings of food, fresh air, pure water, etc. Either way, if we screw things up too badly, we as a species are in serious trouble. Don't know if we could eradicate our own species if we tried, but we could sure kill off 90-95% of the population and fall back to the stone age. Some peoples believe that that has happened over and over throughout prehistory.

[Zoe Mal Doran]

Great picture. I'm reminded of the traditional saying, "if Mama ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!" .

Thanks *hugs*

[tempman]

That's an... interesting viewpoint. One that does not concern itself much with life of any kind. Life, which BTW makes this particular rock called Earth quite unique in the universe we know so far.

But as made famous by Michael Crichton - "Life finds a way". It doesn't matter what happens with the oil spill, life will continue and flourish. If we nuke each other and poison the land, bacteria and deep ocean creatures will continue just fine.

At any point now "Mother nature" may decide to erupt Yellowstone Park (it is overdue, after all) and that's it for the US. Complete eradication. All the electric cars, oil spill protests and Al Gores of the universe will mean absolutely nothing.
Not that the oil spill is bad. It's very very bad. But on the scale of global catastrophe, it just isn't there.

[nachtjaeger]

Maybe we could drill under Yellowstone instead, and use the heat from all that magma to run a (hidden underground) pollution-free powerplant. What could possibly go wrong?

That's an... interesting viewpoint. One that does not concern itself much with life of any kind. Life, which BTW makes this particular rock called Earth quite unique in the universe we know so far.

But as made famous by Michael Crichton - "Life finds a way". It doesn't matter what happens with the oil spill, life will continue and flourish. If we nuke each other and poison the land, bacteria and deep ocean creatures will continue just fine.

At any point now "Mother nature" may decide to erupt Yellowstone Park (it is overdue, after all) and that's it for the US. Complete eradication. All the electric cars, oil spill protests and Al Gores of the universe will mean absolutely nothing.
Not that the oil spill is bad. It's very very bad. But on the scale of global catastrophe, it just isn't there.

[Nessie]

When you have as close of a relationship with Mother Earth as I do...to be honest, though, I get closest to her when and where she's the soggiest...

And I don't really believe in any supreme beings, supernatural entities, or a creator, creatrix...and I guess...I don't actually think of Earth as being a mother...

I've still developed a strong appreciation, respect, and love for my environment. I spend considerable time in the earth's soggy embrace but I also spend a significant amount of time in Nature without sinking at all. Sure, a meteor could crash into us and end it all any second, but why help matters along with our own stupid, self-centered, short-term-thinking behavior?

It is a meaningful drawing, Zoe, and I hope hits some folks in the emotion department. Thinking of Earth as Gaia and personifying her in this way does express the way I feel about Nature even I don't think Nature is literally a woman. I hate to see even a beer can in my bogs, or trash littering my parks. In this sense the tears attributed to her really ought to be ours, and the scars on her skin a thing that we feel.

Perhaps an analogy which is closer to the literal truth would be to draw Nature as a house, and then you could add people inside to represent Humanity. Right now, the house is livable, but only sort-of clean...we got a crack here and there in the woodwork...and sooner than we think, a great big CONDEMNED sign just might be appearing over its barred door and boarded-over windows!

Trouble is...it's still not a literal truth...because we can't just go out and buy a new Earth like we could a house after we've trashed the one we've been living in.

Nessie

[Zoe Mal Doran]

Thank you, Nessie

I have to agree with your insights.
Regardless of whether we believe in a Supreme Being or not, we only have one Earth. We wreck the place, we die, and so do a whole lot of other things.
It is my hope that people can change before it is too late.

[Aiko]

At any point now "Mother nature" may decide to erupt Yellowstone Park (it is overdue, after all) and that's it for the US. Complete eradication.

I think that's quite an exaggeration, though it would be bad, and yes, much worse than the oil spill for the US. Yellowstone is there and waiting to explode and there's not really anything anybody can do about it. But just because nature MAY have some even bigger disasters in store does not really mean we should stop caring about the man-made ones.

I agree that life will go on one way or another, even in the Gulf of Mexico, though it will take years or more likely decades for the ecosystem to recover. Even so countless living beings will have suffered and died because of what man did there, and for no other purpose than maximizing profit by cutting on safety precautions.