The Earth is a shining blue, green, and white sphere hanging in the otherwise sparce and lifeless void of space. Like a sapphire our planet glitters in a satin cloth. Our world, billions of years old, an oasis in the cosmos to the human race and trillions of other living organisms, has been our companion, our mother, our protector, our nurturer since the birth of civilization. From the Earth humanity has arisen, and we have grown to fill and explore its every landmass. We humans have taken much from the Earth, but given very little in return, yet it does not waver from its devotion. It is in this time that we are facing the most sobering inevitability of we do not change our selfish ways. The Earth is dying, slowly slipping into the darkness as humanity tarnishes this paradise.

Having lived upon this planet for about five decades (50 trips around the sun) I've seen many changes take place just in my lifetime thus far. During that time, I've seen society do very little to acknowledge the environmental crisis that faces this world. I've witnessed as you too major ecological disasters like the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, The Gulf War, the Oil Spill on the Galapagos Islands, and most recently the floods in Germany and China while a 2-mile thick Asian Brown Cloud disperses over South Asia. My inspiration for writing this article. Governments and societies in general have continued to stagnate in a position of overall apathy and general shortsightedness in regards to the deteriorating status of the environment traded by an obsolete world economy based on the exploitation of non-renewable resources.

It sickens me to see foolish humans wantonly destroying forests and killing endangered animals for something as petty as human greed and childish infatuation with rare novelties. Such gross ignorance is a travesty that will be looked upon with great regret by future generations. The things that we so brazenly take for granted today will be gone - forever. Once something is extinct, it's gone, you can't just make more. Children will have to look in historical records for information about animals like the African rhino, the humback whale, The African gorilla, and the Galapagos turtle. Thousands of individual species on our planet go extinct every day! This is a sad fact, and the ultimate injustice of the whole issue is that it is entirely preventable.

Burning of fossil fuels, coal, and release of chemicals like chloroflorocarbons into the atmosphere has significantly deteriorated the air quality of the planet, as well as caused a thinning of the ozone layer, bombarding the surface with cumulatively toxic ultraviolet radiation, responsible for the new cases of skin cancer and leukemia in children. Human industry has accelerated the increase in global temperature resulting in the eventual melting of the world's glaciers by the end of the twenty-first century if no action is taken to reduce greenhouse emissions. There are places where planet Earth has been so ravaged with pollution, the ecosystems of these areas have been irrevocably destroyed. Over 5 million acres of Amazon rain forest is cut down each year, a swath the size of the state of Rhode Island.

Alternatives to fossil fuels that are accessible to the general public include windmills that generate electricity through mechanical action, and solar panels that create electricity through light/heat induction. Another source of power that comes straight from the space program, includes Fuel Cells. Fuel Cells are being implemented in some vehicles. But, that's not enough.

"Why should I care if all the ice melts?" If you live anywhere near the coastline of any landmass as most people prefer on the planet you are particularly in danger. If the water raises just 20 feet, places like Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, Tampa Florida, The Netherlands, Manhattan, Venice Italy, Bangladesh, the Nile Delta, just to name a few WILL be submerged. Global warming has been linked to the increase in more drastic weather changes and natural disasters like longer hurricane seasons in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, droughts, floods, and tornadoes. El Nino's and La Nina's Pacific temperature anomalies have produced greater havoc and influence on the climate of North America, and indication that there are worldwide climatic changes occurring. The very state I live in has been in the worst drought that it has experienced in 150 years of recorded history and what the leaders do? Governors declare state of emergencies, a President travels to the region to feel sorry in front of TV and voters, and the states recover money without proposing long-term solutions.

When I reflect on the damage that we've done, a tear comes to my eyes and really saddens my heart! People just don't care, and that is truly a shame. Most folks are content to sit on their bloated duffers, drinking beer, eating pizza and watching football than bother with clean air petitions, joining movements to save endangered species, and establish recycling programs in their communities, to say the least. Efforts by environmentalists (the most hated people in our economy) are almost in vain, political leaders tend to put these issues at the very bottom of the agenda list behind more pressing concerns like military and arms development, tax collection, satisfying corporate lobbists, foreign policy, and campaigning for the next term. The United States is one of the worst offenders with its global energy policies. Politicians are the only ones capable of making laws that will ensure that the planet is a healthy place to live in. There are some environmental laws and established preserves like Costa Rica across the world, but what is being done is only a tiny fraction of what needs to be done to restore the balance of things.

I often wonder why people choose ignorance over rationality in such matters. I can not change the minds of everyone, of corporate-oriented political leaders without ecological accountability making a quick dollar, or people who take a blind eye to the truth, but at least on this website visited by few people I can make a plea to all those that read this in behalf of planet Earth. People of my generation and after must live with the mistakes of our ancestors, and if just more people take this seriously we can help to save this place we call home today from being totally annihillated by tomorrow.

The population of humanity is not growing smaller. There are over 6 billion of us here now, and usable free surface area of the planet is reducing. There is still vast open lands that have not been colonized or raped of their natural resources, but these wildernesses are dwindling. I often ponder what the near-distant future will be like when we just can't take anymore from Earth. And we are due for a gigantic shock. We've taken it all, and she has nothing to give back.

If anything, prior to things getting this dire, a very strong effort should be made to pursue space travel (maybe the first Pakal's message carved on the Lid was right: ESCAPE EARTH WHILE YOU CAN AND MIGRATE SOON), include yourself into shuttle travel, propose real estate activities in space and technology capable of terraforming satellites around the globe. Abandon that exploitative job that is making a first-class proud consumer of irresponsible businesses and become sustainable. Otherwise, can you see who will migrate to the space stations? I don't think you are in that list. You are as disposable in the future as the waste you throw every day. Humanity will implode quickly if we can't find a place to sustain ourselves after the food runs out and your near supermarket remains closed, your drinking water becomes more polluted with new chemicals and mutated viruses, and the sources of fossil fuel are burned forever. That is the hidden Truth, the prophetic and scientific words that you don't want to hear. It's about the potential massive death of humanity in the 21st Century.

The Last Pakal near the End of the Great Mayan Cycle