Keepers of the Planet
Your Weather Sistah here in NY on Climate Change:I am at a loss, as many of us may well be, about those suffering from the impact of HurricaneMatthew, particularly on the island of Haiti. How much more can the people of Haiti endure?Eight hundred people and counting have died in Haiti as a result of Hurricane Matthew while theisland continues struggling to fully recover from the devastating Earthquake in 2010.
I feel blessed to have personally escaped Hurricane Matthew’s wrath here in New York. AfterHurricane Sandy, we know firsthand what a hurricane can do. Florida, and South Carolina werehit by Hurricane Matthew to different degrees but parts of North Carolina have beendeclared a national disaster. It’s an illusion to believe climate change cannot make it to thetheater of life where we are participants. Because even if a natural disaster does not physicallyhit home, you have got to know that what happens to one, happens to all of us on the planet.We all suffer the consequences of climate change in subtle and in not so subtle ways. It is atruth that when the earth is ill, its people become ill.
This planet provides all that we need from the earth: delicious and nutritious fruits, vegetables,and a plethora of herbs to nourish and heal us. From the sea, we cannot count the multitude ofmagnificent beauty and bounty. And from the floral world, we have the gift of experiencing themost dazzling array of colors and amazing designs and fragrances. All of this has been givento us by the Creator. It is ours to have, to hold, and to protect.In my humble opinion, however, we are experiencing a correction. When there are wild swingson the stock exchange, there is a correction. So too with the weather. We are witnessingextreme climate swings as the planet makes a correction, to deal with the devastation andpollution created by man. This devastation is the result of a voracious greed documented in therape, plunder and pillage of this planet. Quite simply, the extreme shifts are a backlash to thecutting down of rain forests, fracking of mountains, extreme drilling of oils, and the spillage of oilon the oceans. We cannot escape what has and is being done to this planet by the badbehavior of its inhabitants.I once saw a video of a fire that burns eternal, day and night in a river in Nigeria because of thelevel of oil and population created by a US oil company. Water and fire don’t hang togetherunless something is really wrong. That is an abomination. The people in the area have no cleanwater to drink, bathe, or cook with and the land is unable to provide sustenance for itsinhabitants. This describes the circumstances of people in Haiti where crops have beenwashed away this year and the island is suffering to support its people. These are poor people.What are they do? In Nigeria, they have no power to bring this oil company to justice or to evenrelocate. In Haiti, there is nowhere to go either.
Climate change impacts the earth, the availability and cost of food, even herbs, oils andbotanical elements worldwide. It affects how I run my sustainable business as a perfumer.Often I have felt powerless to do anything because I mistakenly believed there is nothing I coulddo that would make a difference.Do not let this feeling of powerlessness rule you. There are things we can do, big and small.Something as simple as offering prayers and meditation for those who have been impacted bythese tragedies can make a difference.In addition, we can all make sure we’re doing our part with conservation of energy, of water, offuel oil etc. We can refrain from buying fish on the endangered list, or meat that isn’t humanelyraised, seeded produce that is grown without seeds. We can seriously consider growing ourown food and herbs. If you have no land, consider joining a community garden.If you feel moved to help Haiti and would like a list of organizations you can trust, checkSupport Haiti. If you are already doing something, big or small, that helps sustain ourplanet, please share it with us here.