albertans don't give a shit about nature. oil, meat, and pickup trucks...that's what drives our mentality.
with the 100th anniversary of the calgary stampede, record crowds are pouring in through the gates to watch caged animals released into some enclosure to be harassed, badgered, roped and beaten. whether it's calf roping or horses in the chuck wagon races, these animals are invariably injured. but the only time we hear the word injury, is when it pertains to some "manly" cowboy who fell off a bull or got trampled upon.
when will this barbaric form of "entertainment" be abolished? what is wrong with people that they feel they have some god-given right to use and treat other sentient beings in any way they see fit? they want to control all of nature, and what they can't control...they destroy.
the oil and gas industry, agriculture, our growing human population building more and more houses, consuming more and more things, creating more and more waste, is responsible for the end of nature. all that's left are a few pockets preserved here and there, and even they are in no way isolated from air and water pollution or our desire to get at whatever "resources" may lie beneath their soil. and they are certainly not immune from trash being tossed on the ground when people go to visit them.
not so long ago, this province used to teem with roaming bison. now the aspen parkland and grasslands have been virtually eradicated, along with the buffalo, to make way for pastures for grazing cows. cows that will be murdered to feed our lust for meat.
as if it's not bad enough that we needlessly kill these animals, we have to exploit them in rodeos in front of cheering crowds. that's sick!
we don't need majority rule democracy, because it's the majority who is responsible for causing so much harm to other living beings and the natural world. what we need is people to learn how to empathize with other creatures who have the capacity to suffer. what we need is people to learn how to have respect for nature, for the plants and animals we share the planet with. what we need is enforcement of laws and strong penalties for people who pollute, poison, and destroy wild nature.
what we need is a shift in our thinking from believing we are apart from nature, and can therefore do whatever we want with it, to realizing that we are all a part of nature. we all have one breath. the sooner we come to understand that human animals have no preeminence above non-human animals, the sooner our biosphere will replenish itself and begin to heal from the damage caused by us and our thoughtless greed.
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