Thursday, May 10, 2007

R 144 F

Human beings are rather stupid creatures, because they pollute that enviroment in which they have to live. They are sticked into the present and cannot think about the future, which is their childrens’ and grandchildrens’ future. The earth-pollution has grown to considerable size in the last decades and has become more and more dangerous. Nowadays it threatens the existance of the whole world. In spite of this only some people realise this danger and try to do something against it, while most of them don't feel responsibility for the Earth at all and go on with their dangerous activities.

These careless people unfortunately mostly are factory leaders managers, or on the higher level political and army leaders of countries, so they have enough power and money to do what they want to do and not bother about the earth-pollution and its consequencies in the future. They take in their mind only the present, and their present aims, plans and interests, and irresponsibly pollute the air, the water, the soil, the whole living enviroment. The most dangerous activities among these are the army nuclear experiments and atomic bomb testings. The radioactive pollution is the biggest sin against the Earth and human beings existence, because it can annihilate the whole life on the Earth and make it deserted and uninhabitable, where life can't appear again.

After the IInd World War and the era of Cold War, when American and Russian armies enlarged their nuclear arsenal in a lunatic way, the political and army leaders realised that their arsenal threatened not only the supposed enemy but their own existence and the whole world's existence. That’s why in 1963 they signed a treaty agreeing to stop testing new nuclear weapons in the atmosphere or under the water. It was a beginning of the "detante" between the United States and the Soviet Union. Later, in 1972 they began the SALT agreements, which were to slow down the arms race. In 1987 the INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Force) treaty was signed, in which both countries agreed that within three years they would destroy all their land-based medium and shorter range nuclear weapons.

These agreements gave a relese to those people who bothered about the life and future, but meanwhile some smaller countries as France, Britain, China created their atomic bombs too, and the problem of the nuclear war emerged again. To avoid this danger the country leaders signed down the so called Nonproliferation Treaty, which restrected not only the number of nuclear weapons but the number of the nuclear experiments and bomb testings. So it seemed that the world could avoid the danger of nuclear war, but unfortunately couldn't avoid the danger of nuclear pollution by atomic bomb testings, because in spite of the Nonproliferation Treaty some countries, as for example China or France, from time to time put away the agreement and made experiments with reference to urgent and immidiate national interest.

Nowadays the French atomic bomb testing on the Muroroa atoll shocked the public opinion of the world. During the last two month France has been made 3 experiments in this area and is planning more three ones till the end of this year. This activity is one of the brightest examples of the human narrow-mindness. Before the first experiment the whole world was protesting against it during weeks, the Greenpeace activists were boating around the atoll during days, but the bomb was blown up by blinded army scientists and politicians although its consequences are incalculable. France, neglecting the world's protesting - after the third experiment Greenpeace activists collected 8 million signatures and posted them to the French leader - is going on with experiments. Of course, scientific researhes need concrete testings, but they shouldn't include such experiments which can be harmful to the whole world's existance.

Fortunately, nowadays there are more and more people who bother about the earth-pollution and try to do something against it. In a lot of countries different kinds of enviromental organisations work. The world-famous international enviromental organisation is the Greenpeace. Its activity spreads away onto all fields of life: it works against those government and industrial policies that threatens the world's natural resources, calls attention to the dangers of nuclear weapons testing and the dumping of radioactive wastes into oceans, opposes the spread of nuclear weapons, whaling and the human killing of animals.

The organisation uses nonviolent methods of protest during their work: there go to that place where is a probably dangerous activity planned and by their presence they try to stop the activity. For example, when they protested against whaling, the activists placed themselves between whales and whaling ships. Of course, this very dangerous for the members, because they often become hurt or even killed during their protesting.

This happened in 1985, when they planned to protest French nuclear tests in the South Pacific using their ship called Rainbow Warrior. The ship became sunk by an explosion in the harbour and a Greenpeace photographer became killed.

On the other hand they risk being arrested and expose theirselves to different tortures. In 1995 in Beinjing, China, in Tiananment Squere six activists were arrested by military and civilian police, because of calling on all nuclear nations to halt nuclear weapons testing by displaying the 5-metre banner reading" Stop All Nuclear Testing", and taken into the custody.
In spite of risks and dangers the activity of Greenpeace becomes more and more stronger and widespread. It was founded in 1969 by a group of Canadian enviromentalists but nowadays it is a world-wide organisation with offices in lots of countries, as for example Russia, France, Germany -to mention only the biggest ones. Its activity makes people think about the enviromental protection because, as Greenpeace's Damon Moglan in Beinjing said: "The clock must not be turned back now.", and more and more people feel that they must do something against the pollution of the enviroment.

This essay aimed to make its readers think about and feel responsibility of the living enviroment. Every people who can do something on behalf of the world's future existence, must do it, because, as the Indian saying says: "The Earth, where we live, isn't left to us by our fathers' will, but it is lent to us by our grandchildren."

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