The Ghost Wanderer

A Chance at Life

                 We are veiled and intertwined in life with death.  That which encloses and wraps our bodies is no longer living tissue.  The outer layer of our skin is dead.  We prize the look of our hair to attract others and bring them near.  Yet it is not living tissue.  We consume plants and animals after we take their lives.  It is easy to see we are surrounded by death.  Perhaps this is the reason why we accept it so readily.
                 The tiny planet which has given us life is but an oasis in space.  We as a species desire to search the rest of the heavens for other life.  Why search for what is already here.  The biosphere is so diverse it boggles the mind.  Life can exist in the coldest of cold.  It exists in heat that would burn our own skin away.  The lands and oceans of our planet are all we have.  It is all that life has for millions of miles in any direction except where we call home.
                 Our greed for profit and more of more for we know not what, but feel we must have is consuming the planet.  Other beings have lost their habitats as we continue to encroach upon their world on land and sea.  We have become like locusts consuming anything in our path.  We must find balance back in our lives.  We must learn to respect other beings that share this planet with us.
                 Extinction has visited Earth many times in it's past.  I've read that 99% of all species on this planet have become extinct.  Scientists have numbered many as extinction level periods.  We are currently in an extinction level event.  We all must save what we can in our protection of life around us.  Give back the lands and waters.  Give back the habitat they use to call home.  Death will come to us all, but why rush into what we know will come.  Enjoy life's journey.  Let other beings enjoy life's journey.  Give them the same chance we all desire.  The chance at life.

Searching

Sand floating flakes falling from the sky

Each like a person waving goodbye.

They search for some answers and go their way

thinking of tomorrow but forgetting today

The choices they've made might not have been best

Our pain still exists not yet finding rest

But we too must make choices and we too must pay

For there is no forever

There is only what's now

If we search for tomorrow

Then we haven't learned how

Polar Bears Moving Higher into Arctic as Ice Declines

          Recent generations of polar bears have been observed moving higher into the Canadian Arctic in response to climate change and the melting of Arctic sea ice.  Using DNA samples, U.S. Geological Survey researchers found that some clusters of polar bear populations have migrated over the past 15 to 45 years to islands off the Canadian Archipelago, where sea ice is more stable.  Lead researcher Elizabeth Peacock says the bears have chosen those areas because they are " where the sea is more resilient to summer melt due to circulation patterns, complex geography and cooler northern latitudes."  She and colleagues conclude that the regions closest to the North Pole could serve as a last refuge for the bears, which need the ice to travel, forage and mate.  Arctic sea ice has declined in autumn by more than 9 PERCENT PER DECADE since 1979. Climate models predict that even the northernmost parts of the Arctic will BE ICE FREE BEFORE 2050.

Earthweek / Steve Newman          

                                                                                                         

January 17, 2015   The Plain Dealer A2     

                                                                                           

                   " Arctic Time is Melting Away by 2050.  That's only 35 more years." -D.B. Clay

Man Has 'Slapped Nature in the Face'

"I don't know if it (human activity) is the only cause, but mostly, in great part, it is man who has slapped nature in the face," he said.  " We have in a sense taken over nature. I think we have exploited nature too much," Francis said, citing deforestation and mono-culture. "Thanks be to God that today there are voices, so many people who are speaking out about it."

                                                                            Nicole Winfield  /  Huff Post 2-1-15

The Four Cardinal Virtues:

        Prudence
        Justice
        Temperance
        Fortitude              

Use these virtues in your everyday being towards the planet and all our fellow beings that we share the planet with.  Be one of the voices Francis talks about.  I am not Catholic but I respect and admire this man.

Pope Francis on Climate Change: "Man has 'Slapped Nature' in the Face"

Helios

Helios, by D.B. Clay

Caption Contest Winner(s)!

Thanks to Jocelyn Lee & G Diddy for the great comments. Both are winners and will be receiving their prints shortly.