The Athens Review
Athens —
The tragedy unfolding in the Gulf waters should be a wake-up call for every human being on earth.
We humans are in the co-dependent partnership with the environment. The relationship can be likened to a marriage. Yes, man is married to the environment, and the two partners of the union are jointly responsible for supporting each other.
What we are witnessing in the Gulf is a marriage gone bad. The legal settlements will be costly. The physical and emotional suffering will be long-lasting. And, like any broken marriage, forgiveness may be impossible.
Some may say they don’t see the marital relationship between man and the environment.
And, I would ask, how long have you been blind? The air, the water, the food that sustains your life is provided by your environmental spouse.
The dissolving relationship in the Gulf is a high-profile case with continuous media coverage. However, man has been taking his environmental partner for granted for many years. The attitude being that the environment could and would endure any and all spousal abuses. In other words, the marriage has been on the rocks.
We humans have become lax in our obligation to the partnership. We have unconsciously used our environmental partner for monetary profit. We have become physically abusive to our environmental spouse. We have rolled down our car windows and dumped trash all over our environmental spouse. We have pumped and poured every toxic chemical imaginable into our environmental spouse. Rivers and lakes that once provided fish for our recreation and diet are now no more than waterways for chemical disposal. We have by our inhumane actions said, “Just die because I don’t need you.”
In a marriage, there is shared dependence, and likewise, shared responsibility. And, when one partner continues to act irresponsibly, the marriage explodes. Such is the case in the Gulf of Mexico. In other words, the horse is definitely out of the barn, and the gate is off its hinges.
But, we must accept the fact that British Petroleum was not the first environmental abuser. They may have played fast and loose with precautionary measures, but not inconsistent with the prevailing attitude around the world.
The wake-up call is staring us in the face. Our attitude must change. Otherwise, our partnership with the environment will cease in the unkindest manner. There will be no second chance. There is only one environment. When the relationship is destroyed, that’s it. No more air. No more water. No more food.
We will learn to live together, or we will kill each other. If any marriage was ever worth fighting for, this is the one.
Jerry S. Phillips
Athens
