Humanly speaking everything existing in nature from forests, minerals, oceans, water bodies, and other natural resources are seen as infinite by the human eye. Infinite in the sense that there are more resources to be mined or prospected for, more land to be utilised, a vast ocean and waterbodies that can handle enormous levels of pollution, vast underground water resources that can never be drained, and billions of fish to be caught.
Also check out why the annual climate conferences will not resolve the climate crisis.
The attitude that the earth has an unlimited capacity and the insatiable human nature to get as much as we can out of the earth for ourselves regardless of the harm we are causing the ecosystem is what I term as greed, and as the late professor Wangari Maathai once mentioned and I quote, “this human greed have created so many of the deep ecological wounds visible across the world today.”
The world marked Earth Day 2024 this april themed “Planet vs. Plastics.” The theme emphasised the need for collective action to repair and heal the planet’s ecosystems, combat climate change, and preserve biodiversity.
Watch the Africa Climate Conversations here.
From my point of view, I believe that to repair and heal the earth, we need to have a deeper look into our collective actions as human beings over the decades. What have we done? How did it destroy our common home? Do we want to continue the same business as usual? Can we restore balance?
