Two Mile Long Scar on Great Barrier Reef After Ship Grounding.

"Even if severe toxic contamination is not found at the site, initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority indicate it could take 20 years for the world's largest coral reef to recover, said scientist David Wachenfeld. In some areas, "all marine life has been completely flattened and the structure of the shoal has been pulverized by the weight of the vessel," Wachenfeld said."

Green Man: I don't know much about international law but I hope that Australia sues this Chinese shipping company for all they're worth to help pay for the clean up and loss. If we take protecting our natural treasures then there needs to be stiff penalties for damaging such world heritage sites like the Great Barrier Reef. The other aspect of preventing this again is to end our use on fossil fuels--our oceans are a life-line for millions of people and trashing them is like slowly taking poison. The reef has been in existence since possibly twenty million years ago and so it's shocking how fast this massive yet fragile reef can be destroyed.

For centuries man has seen nature as oppressive, tenacious and something to be tamed but we have finally remembered what our ancestors knew--that as nature goes, so goes our species and every other one. We mocked Pagans and other nature based believers because they worshiped rocks and trees but they lived in harmony with the environment and not only survived but thrived. So, now that we're nearly at the point of no return from environmental degradation we need to remember that our ancestors gave us these precious treasures and the wisdom to live amongst them and yet still thrive.

Yet we forgot and/or discarded these gifts in favor of the Christian belief that nature is given to man to do with it what we please. And that since we bought the idea that "God" gave it all to us we assumed that nature was inexhaustible. Thus we arrogantly felt we no longer needed to live in harmony with it because "God" would somehow take care of any complications along the way. Well, oh how wrong we were and still are!! There are still some that believe it doesn't matter how we treat our environment because Jesus will sweep in on a white horse and save us regardless. Yet with each passing year no one comes--just like in the play, "Waiting for Godot" and our world gets increasingly uninhabitable. I can almost hear the ancestors speaking through the whispering trees saying, "We told you so" but that it's still not too late to return to the ancient ways.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

PHOTO CREDIT: NASA