Speaking My Mind

www.foiadvocates.net

           (This is a really sad picture...Poor bear.) I would like to talk about two topics that I personally understand that it is important as much as we all do. I want to talk about Climate Change and endangered species.
Maybe  I don't completely understand it because it is more complicated than I think and maybe because I am not a scientist to grasp the whole concept. But do we really need to be a scientist to notice how things around us are changing in a certain way? The elder Amazon man that I watched talking to a journalist on TV complained about seeing too many changes in the nature . Was he a scientist to realize that things are no longer the same that they used to be? Any person who worries about nature can understand a little bit of it...right?
"Earth Song" Michael Jackson. Please watch the video with this strong message

        Recently I was watching that video many times....for some reasons... I don't know why. Some people would may be say look there are more important issues to talk about. Some issues like Human Rights, Child labor, Women's Rights etc. And I agree with them. That is true but Climate change is also real and the first victims are going to be the wildlife (I like animals) and people who live in natural environment. What I mean by natural environment, are people who live and depend on the nature. People such as the Amazon people, Pygmies, Aborigines, the Eskimos and many others. We might not understand it yet because we are still living in a kind of "comfort" but look if it affects their environment it will definitely come to us. (This is my opinion)
         I believe that we humans are responsible for that climate change. I mean we have caused it in the sense that we did so many activities that caused what is happening now. For instance, look the pollution coming out of factories. We have altered the way the nature was working. When in the 90's Michael Jackson was singing Earth Song, I wonder if we understood his call for action. Maybe other artists did the same call too. I understood the message back then but I didn't realized the impact of these words until now. I only realized it later. Earth is crying Mother nature is crying can we hear it? I mostly like the part when he says "What have we done to the world? Look at what we've done." as if he was talking to human kind to observe the damages that we have caused to our planet.
          It's only few years ago that I realized the fact that climate change was real. Now I worry more as much as you do. It was even worse when I saw a video of a polar bear on TV struggling to survive as the ice was melting around him. It really saddened me to be honest I almost cried. Like the man said on that TV documentary climate change it's almost like a death sentence to them (the polar bears). Who would like to live knowing that death is already there without any solution? President Obama also voiced his concern and also show his support for working on that issue.  Global warming has completely destabilized the way animals are living. To me global warming or climate change might make some species disappear as well.  Somebody told me that some species were now found in Iceland (when they are not supposed to be there) just because they  are looking for food. Iceland has no choice than send them back to their normal environment.
            I wish many presidents could do what President Obama is doing now (Ok! I am not talking politics here. I talk about the issue that concern every people no matter your race, your political views, your country and age) I want to share few videos now and maybe they will support the meaning of my post today. I also hope that some people who do not feel concerned about this topic would understand my point of view and might change their view on it. I just wish that people could educate more children on such issue as well.

 Again, like I said earlier, I don't do politics at all but I wish many presidents could  do what he is doing. Talking during summits it is one thing but going on the ground and observing the real threat is another. To me if we people have respected enough our nature we would not see all this change yes we caused it and it is my opinion.
The next video that I want to share is Leonardo DiCaprio's call for action on climate change during his Oscars acceptance speech. Once again I was moved I was touched by this speech. We all know his implication for that cause right? He is really working on it. And yes he is one of my favorite actors (wink) smile. Please listen carefully to what he said. It is so important

      When I thought about that phenomena few months ago my concern was like maybe the children to our grand children might not be able to see such species like polar bears because of that global warming. I mean maybe they would just know them in the books. Can you imagine that?
 It's like when the dinosaurs (Sorry, I do not believe in the theory of dinosaurs...this is my personal opinion but since it is recorded by scientists then I will take it as an example and thanks God they do not exist anymore lol! ) according to some theories dinosaurs extinction happened because of a type of climate change (hmmm...Am I right?) like it was too cold for them they could not resist that climate so they died and they disappeared. Again, I do not believe in the story of dinosaurs but I take it as an example to explain my thoughts that if polar bears (sorry for the same example I like polar bears they are so cute I don't want their extinction) if it is too warm for polar bears they will disappear as well. What a tragedy!
This is another video that I watched and I found interesting to share it with you but please don't get too sad....Maybe we can still do something about it. Thanks to all these brave people out there who are doing their best to save our wildlife.

         Yes this is a serious threat even for us. When animals are struggling to live I am not sure that in time it could be better for us either. Beside, they need us as much as we need them. Their presence on earth is so important and that is why I want to talk now about endangered species. I am not going to be long but what I want to say especially to African presidents is to make a law that will stop illegal hunt and people who come from somewhere in the world to hunt our animals for fun. I am serious about it because we are losing our lions in the continent and I am so fed up to read and see on the news people who come just to kill for fun and others for greed. If we are not careful our lions will disappear, panthers will disappear, elephants will disappear...
To us Africans, lion is a strong symbol. It is the symbol of royalty and strength which represent what the continent was. Centuries before we had many kingdoms and empires to those who do not know that part of the History. We had our lives and we didn't kill the wildlife the way people are doing now. And it also irritates me to see that strong symbol encaged at the zoo I wish they could be in the proper environment. I only encourage parks where they can live free and protected. Seeing a lion in a zoo breaks my heart. People who know me will tell you that I just don't like zoos. Actually I don't go there anymore because I believe that animals enjoy their freedom as much as we humans, like ours. So why encaging them? They don't deserve it (This is my thoughts it does not have to be the same for everyone) but if I could, I would shut down all those zoos and take the animals back to their normal environment. I can't picture myself sitting and eating all day long in a same cage this is like a prison and that's how I see zoos to animals.
Not only are they encaged you will you see people coming to throw at them candies laughing playing with them which is not bad but are they supposed to be there? When you know how royal is the lion when you understand the symbol it represents to some people  you would not encage it at all. The lion is more than that it is continental culture to us. People are really impressed or compassionate when they watch the Lion King in Disney cartoons but why don't they feel the same way when they see the same lion in real life at the zoos? How many times I went to the zoos? Maybe three times in my entire life and I never went back there. I have one picture of a miniature park of wild animals that I visited many years ago. I only went to zoos when we had an excursion and when friends invited me to go there but after that...no!

new.nationalgeographic.com

      If I will bring my children to zoos? No! Why? because as African I have respect for these animals. They all have a meaning to us. Two, I won't take them there because it gives a message to them that it is ok to encage animals which I don't want. I want them to understand that animals are supposed to live free.  If they will really want to visit a zoo for their personal experience, they will go with someone else but not me.
       Back in the days people didn't kill animals this way: Today greedy hunters come and kill even pregnant gorillas with babies. Is it normal? Some even kill for fun or for money! My grand father and many of that generation didn't need to go to school to learn that you don't kill animals any time and any how.  For instance: You don't kill a pregnant female, you don't kill a baby animal. You should also wait for the reproduction cycle to finish normally. There is a time to hunt and there is a time to not doing it! It is commonsense! Today they go after animals and cut the horn of a rhinoceros leaving him half alive walking around until he dies what a painful death! Ok! now let's picture the same scene but in a different way: You are the innocent animal running for your life and right behind you a crazy hunter is chasing you for fun or greed what would be your reaction?

      They do the same thing for elephants because they kill as many as possible to make money out of it. What kind of people can do such things? You don't hunt to have fun. If you want to hunt animals it's maybe because you need food maybe you want to do little artistic things but no exaggeration! Hello!    With the issue of climate change threating the wildlife we add the issue of the hunters who are killing for fun. Most of them proudly and gladly take pictures with the dead animals. Who can do that??? You have a weapon, the innocent animals is trying so hard to escape and survive in vain
    You can see them everywhere on internet or articles, with the innocent animals on their hands or sometimes sitting next to a dead lion with weapon on their hands smiling as if they achieved something great for humanity. I just wonder what message do they send to children? And of course the people who will suffer from this lost will not be them but the local population as usual. Good job! I hope you thought about it before running after the innocent animal. No wonder why these poor beings are more aggressive than they used to be when they smell humans at distance because of that kind of hunters.
         I sometimes wish that by the time they finish taking their pictures where they proudly pose, a national security guard grabs them by the arms with the animals and send them to jail where they belong after such an evil act.There are people out there who are trying so hard to protect the wildlife but the only thing that some think about doing is to make that work even more difficult. When you kill one plus one  that makes two. Then one and another one plus another and the list goes on. It would be simple to not doing it. If somebody wants to hunt he/she has to have a really strong reason to do it. Will you leave these poor animals alone? For crying out loud! Leave them in peace they do not attack us so they do not deserve this treatment!
   Because if we do not stop this madness in the years to come we will loose most of these species. And we will only know them in the books. It is time to protect our nature. I am thinking about working with people who are saving the wildlife. If you can't go on the field, you can sometimes send money to organizations that are doing a great job to protect them. I hope we will teach to our children the respect of mother nature and to understand how important we need to save our wildlife.
People should understand the importance of Creation.
(Sorry for the video quality. At that time I was learning how to make it. I was trying to send a message)

My last message tonight is: Think twice before going to war think about the damages (human lives especially) that it can cause. When hunting think about the damages it can cause. When use all this system and factories let's think about the damages it can cause to our natural environment. Thank you for reading