“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has
exceeded our humanity”-Albert Einstein. With the advances of technology many
things have advanced, including the economy, processing plants and human luxury
items. When looking at such advances, one often forgets what was really behind
all of that. What really starts the food chain, and the most valuable thing that
is taken for granted, that is nature itself.
Destroying habitats to build unnecessary buildings or roads, humans have
lost their sensibility towards nature because of their personal interests. When
perspectives are changed, caring for nature is not as it used to be. Before,
cultivating food and helping grow animals in a healthy way was part of the
daily basis. Now a days people prefer to go to a fast food, where the food is
processed and eat a fatty burger.
It is amazing when people start to do things that will
actually help nature in some way. Clearly shown in The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Mark, an unemployed musician that started a ‘relation’
with wild parrots. His ‘relation’ with the parrots is unique, he named the
parrots and interact with them day by day. Mark sets an example because he is a
man which is passionate of what he does, and doesn’t focus if he will get
recognize. Now a days, many people give money or others do a charity job only
once just for the recognize. It’s what Mark is doing that will lead to a
better state of nature, or at least preserve what it is. Having one person like
mark in every state or community would be awesome just because when the
government sees there is one focusing his life to promote a better cause,
somehow people tend to give economical help to promote the job the person is
doing.
As a citizen from Puerto Rico, I’ve experience changes in environment in the past 10-15 years. The problem picked its way up in the
2000-2007 when many companies started to build houses everywhere, destroying
the habitats of many animals. When the economy started to drop, many houses
where occupying the space of what used to be a habitat for many animals. People
are vicious for the money, and where they see a dollar sing, anything that’s around will get destroyed if they are able to take money from it. Every Sunday
morning when I ride bike from Bayamón to Dorado, I always get into thinking
that how is it possible for humans to destroy so viciously the habitats of
animals. It is true, that there must be roads for us to travel but it must stop
at a point. On my way to Dorado I always see more than 20 iguanas on the street
dead.
It is true that Puerto Rico is not the only place where
people tend to destroy the habitats, but when thought deeply, Puerto Rico is
an island. It could be one of the most beautiful paradises of the world if it
would’ve preserve more of its nature. I know that many factors are involved but
it is ridiculous that people destroy the habitat when it is a food and water
provider, in fact, everything the human needs, comes from the earth itself. One
positive impact for the island would be to start to grow coffee, plantains,
sugar and other products that grow in the island. By doing so, the promotion of
jobs would be created, nature will have back some of what we’ve taken from and
animals would somehow have more places to start their own habitats. It is a
movement that must involve many and to achieve the ultimate goal, genuine
determination must take place.
Judy Irving. Video Art, Inc. ‘The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill’. San Francisco. (2012).
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoZswU5H9LU.
