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Ecology can be destroyed in the matter of just a few generations of humans.
“When Iceland’s earliest settlers first saw their new homeland, it resembled nothing of what it does today. The uninhabited landscape was around 60% covered with birch forest and woods...”
“When Iceland’s earliest settlers first saw their new homeland, it resembled nothing of what it does today. The uninhabited landscape was around 60% covered with birch forest and woods...”
“.. within months of landing, settlers were chopping down the forests to create grazing lands for their sheep, utilising the wood to build farmsteads, trading posts, equipment and boats. “
A story similar to Iceland happened in a prehistoric time in Australia, now a desert.
A story similar to Iceland happened in a prehistoric time in Australia, now a desert.
The stupidity of a colonizing race of humans, arrogant in their own power over nature (and over the native humans living in that land, if there were any), is the story of the destruction of earth’s ecology.
The very same story is happening now. Capitalism, financialism whatever.
The very same story is happening now. Capitalism, financialism whatever.
What the British destroyed in India is a vast band of precious biodiversity: interconnected forests were violently broken apart by railways. Apex predators like tigers, bears and lions (which supported the ecological balance of the jungle) were hunted to extermination.
Waterways were monopolized for intensive agriculture. Sacred groves in the forests, protected as the property of temples, was turned into state property. The worst barbaric racism of the British was reserved for the jungle tribes. Many tribes were uprooted from ancestral lands.
Even within inhabited lands, the British continued their pestilence. Traditional crops were destroyed and people were forced to grow monocultures as raw materials for the British industry. The cultural diversity of languages and customs was murdered by the imposition of English.
When languages are lost, the traditional knowledge of people for protecting the natural ecology is also lost. The colonized people naturally want to mimic the habits of the British, and identify with them at least partially: a lighter tone of skin, a better accent in English..
These aspirations to be like the English also meant their taste for murder. Indian Maharajas started to exterminate the wild life in a hurry with the British. But even after the capitulation of India, it is remarkable that its biodiversity remained strongest in princely states.
In the long history of India, the British occupation of a mere couple of hundred years is a trifle. But that tiny period of time shows the most devastating impact on the ecological history of the land.
This crime has never been punished, and cannot ever be adequately punished.
This crime has never been punished, and cannot ever be adequately punished.
