The Raped Earth

Copyright © 2021 Sophia Z. Kovachevich.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-2386-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-2387-1 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 12/21/2020

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

PART I

Ancient Civilisations

PART II

Colonisation

PART III

The Industrial Revolution

PART IV

Man and his Environment

PART V

Global warming

PART VI

RightWing Parties and the Environment

PART VII

Australia

PART VIII

New Zealand

PART IX

Summing up

PART X

Bibliography

References

About the Author

NATURE

Aug 16, 2012 8.00 a m

The peace and tranquillity

Of my garden

Reanimates my wracked body

Rejuvenates my soul

Reanimates my brain

The green of the foliage

The varied hues of the blossoms

The beautiful perfume

Of the rose, jasmine and lilac

Intoxicates and brings solace

Nature is, has and will always be

The powerhouse of humanity’s health

The generosity of its gifts

Has always been a great boon

To all created beings

Man, bird and beast

Nurture Nature

Glorify Nature

And in that glorification

You glorify the Creator

Sophia Z Kovachevich –The Chalice pp229

FOREWORD

The ancients left us a world inhabited by many beautiful living things – mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, plants and so on. But what did we do with our inheritance - with this gift? We hunted and killed them for our pleasure and indulgence. We squandered our inheritance. Now our world is the poorer for their loss. Now we wish them back. But it’s too late for many of those gorgeous creatures.

INTRODUCTION

The earth is not our possession. It is not ours. We do not own it. We are simply the caretakers for this beautiful, variegated earth. We share it with God’s other creations. But we reneged in our duty to the earth. We have raped it, abused it and killed many of its creatures mercilessly for pleasure or entertainment or profit. The more we advance technologically, the more we seem to lose our souls, our humanity.

In this book I would like to look at how we came to such a state that even nature has rebelled against our misuse of the earth. Ancient man, it is generally assumed, was not as technologically advanced as we are today. And yet they left behind monuments and other artefacts that awe us even today. They used the earth primarily to help them to survive. They took from it what was necessary. They cared for the other living creatures and had respect for life. But as we advanced, we decided to be the owners of the earth. We began to kill not just for survival (food) but also for pleasure or for profit. Think about the rhinoceros, and elephants and narwhals that are killed mainly for their horns. Or about the sharks whose fins are cut for food and the still alive shark is thrown back into the water to drown. That is cruelty. That is immoral. That is wrong.

It has only been a few generations – since the mid-to-late 1980’s – that knowledge of both anthropogenic climate change and the term ‘biodiversity’ have filtered through to the general public’s consciousness. Since then, they have profoundly reshaped both our behaviour and the way in which we see ourselves in relation to our environment. But this is not the whole picture. For some of us there is no change as we continue to abuse the earth and its creatures. But for some it has been a real wake up call. It is now up to those who realise what is at stake to take the message to the whole world and try to redress the wrong as much as possible. It is still not too late!

We live in a biodiverse world. One can only wonder in awe at the diversity in nature and the beauty! Biodiversity is not just how many diverse living organisms are on this planet. Biodiversity is also the diversity in the ecosystems – freshwater ecosystem, terrestrial ecosystem and the ocean ecosystem as well as the genetic diversity.

What are eco systems? They are all the living and non-living things in a specific natural setting – plants, animals, birds, insects, rocks, soil, water and sunlight. All fall under two categories – terrestrial or aquatic. In the terrestrial group are:

Terrestrial ecosystems

◆ Forest Ecosystems e.g. tropical forests, rainforests

◆ Grassland Ecosystems e.g. prairies, savannas

◆ Desert Ecosystems. The common defining feature among desert ecosystems is low precipitation

◆ Tundra Ecosystem e.g. a harsh ice-cold environment, low biotic diversity characterises ecosystems in the tundra

In the aquatic group are:

◆ Marine ecosystems – have a variety of characteristics

◆ Fresh water ecosystems

◆ Wetlands – are generally expected to have the highest level of productivity

◆ Coral reefs – have the greatest diversity of organisms depending on the type it belongs to (Sandy beach ecosystem; Mangrove Ecosystems;)

◆ Salt Marsh ecosystem

◆ Estuaries are deepest part that opens into larger bodies of water

So far we have only seen a fraction of what the aquatic world holds but from those that we know we have already killed to extinction a vast number and made a huge number extremely vulnerable or at risk. Had we known or discovered more, more would have been extinct by now.

There are about 8 million animal and plant species on the earth that we know about, but over 2 million of them are endangered. At the present moment the global extinction rate is the highest it has ever been. One reason is our callous disregard for life but another bigger reason is climate change – for which we are responsible to a great extent. It has been estimated that 137 species in the rain forests are driven to extinction every day; and many more are vulnerable; 47% of land-based mammals and 23% of birds are seriously endangered. And the rate is accelerating not diminishing. Most at risk are ecosystems that cannot move – like trees.

In due course of time the ecosystems will look alien to what they now look. This is because:

◆ The average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900

◆ More than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of reef-forming corals and more than a third of all marine mammals are endangered

◆ Around 10% of all insect species are threatened

◆ At least 680 vertebrate species have been driven to extinction since the 16th century

◆ 5% of species are estimated to be at risk of extinction from 2o Celsius warming

◆ 16% of species are at risk of extinction from just over 4o Celsius warming

If we are not careful and take the present situation seriously and address the issues we will be the greatest of losers if we are alive till then.

Destruction of our biodiversity will be our downfall!!!

PART I

ANCIENT

CIVILISATIONS

We have come a long, long way from the cavemen to today. As we evolved we started living in groups and then in societies and then we established cities and founded civilisations. It has been a long and very interesting journey. And it is only fair to acknowledge what the ancient civilisations bequeathed us.

➢ The first known record is of the Mesopotamian civilisation. It flourished between 3500BC and 500BC. It was located in the Mesopotamian Delta between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq, Syria and Turkey then known as Sumeria, Assyria and Babylonia. There is no record of any other civilisation before this.

The Mesopotamians developed agriculture around 8000 BC and began domesticating animals for food and agriculture. They began writing in cuneiform script. They gave the world the first code of law – Hammurabi’s Code of Law. They had one of the finest literature and many of the greatest cultural and literary achievements like the epic of Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian odyssey recorded in the Akkadian language about Gilgamesh, the king of the Mesopotamian city-state Uruk (Erech). Then there is the Epic of The Flood Tablet, the 11th cuneiform tablet in the series also relating the Gilgamesh epic, from Nineveh, in the 7thcentury BCE. This is in the British Museum, London. It is one of the best and most important pieces of epic poetry from human history, predating even Homer’s Iliad by roughly 1,500 years. It also predates the Lay of the Niebulungs (Nibelungenlied), the Völsung Saga or even the Mabinogian (all these began as oral traditions and was written down much, much later. Gilgamesh was written at its inception.). The Gilgamesh epic tells of the various adventures of that hero-king, including his quest for immortality and an account of a great flood similar in many details to the Old Testament’s story of Noah. Besides this epic there were many others among them the heroic deeds of kings like Enmerkar, Lugalbanda and Ashurbanipal. Ashurbanipal (see notes pg. 13) had the tablets of this people collected and catalogued (about 20,720 tablets). They, too, are currently in the British museum.

The Mesopotamians made and used the first chariots and sailboats in the world long before the Norse. The Mesopotamians gave the world the first potter’s wheel (around 3500 BC).

This civilisation- the Mesopotamian civilisation - had a lot of very well-known and accomplished rulers. They contributed a lot to the world.

➢ The Indus Valley civilisation was from 3300 BC to 1900 BC in the Bronze Age. It was located by the Indus and Ghagger-Hakra river basins covering present day Northeast Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwest India. It was a very extensive area covering 1.25 million km of land. It is also known as the Harappan civilisation and that of Mohenjo-Daro. It was a sophisticated and technologically advanced civilisation with an urban capital. They were among the first to develop a uniform system of weights and measures and achieved a high level of accuracy in measurement. Artefacts show a high level of proficiency in arts and crafts too. They were also very proficient in urban planning with baked brick houses and a drainage system and water supply. They were also the very first to incorporate urban sanitation. There were clusters of non-residential houses. They also came up with a new technology in handicraft (carnelian ornaments and seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead and tin) and ochre coloured pottery. They also had cemeteries for burying the dead and so avoided contamination. The large cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were among the five urban centres and were inhabited by between 30,000 and 60,000 people.

➢ The Egyptian Civilisation is also called the Nile Valley civilisation. It existed between 3150 BC and 30 BC. It was founded on the banks of the Nile River in present day Egypt.

It was one of the oldest three civilisations and was culturally very rich. It was and is well known for its great culture, its pharaohs, its pyramids and the Sphinx, especially the three enormous ones at Giza. In 3150 the Upper and Lower kingdoms merged together in a political unity.

The history of Egypt can be divided into a number of stable periods with a strong ruler interspersed by weak ones. They were the Old Kingdom of the early Bronze Age, The Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom.

The Egyptians gave the world majestic architecture and intricate ornaments. The kings had their rules/laws/edicts written in stone tablets in a pictorial script called Hieroglyphics. They made great advances in mathematics, literature, astronomy, engineering, statecraft, medicine, writing on papyrus with pen and ink, in art and science. Their mummification process is one of the wonders of their civilisation. It was so skilfully done that now after thousands of years, even the hair of the mummy is intact, the features are easily recognisable and even the tattoos and scars remain.

They had some great soldier kings. They were the first civilisation to begin worship of one - the sun god Aten who was universal and not just for the Egyptians. However after the death of this king – Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), they went back to worshipping Amun Ra and the other gods. The Egyptian Priesthood hankered after the old gods and reinstated them once King Akhenaten the Monotheistic pharaoh who wanted all to worship one god – died.

➢ The Mayan civilisation existed between 2600 BC and 900 AD in present day Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico and south through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. It was a Mesoamerican civilisation especially noted for their logo syllabic script – the most developed in pre-Columbian America.

They gave us a very complex understanding of astronomy and the calendar as well as mathematics, architecture and astronomy. It was a very prosperous and highly sophisticated empire with a population of 19 million people. By 700 BC they had devised their own system of writing and the solar calendar which was carved in stone.

The ancient Mayans were culturally rich compared to their contemporary civilisations. They, as well as the Aztecs built pyramids, some of which were larger than those of Egypt.

Their civilisation came to a sudden, abrupt end and no one yet knows how or why. Their decedents still live in parts of Central America.

Some of their major accomplishments were in astronomy, agriculture, engineering, communication, building modern cities and having a written language. They worked in gold and copper and had a script which was a form of hieroglyphic writing.

➢ The Chinese Civilisation existed between 1600 BC and 1046 BC. It was located by the Yellow River and the Yangtze Basin. The Yellow river civilisation as it is also called is said to be the beginning of the Chinese civilisation. In 2700 BC the Yellow emperor ruled China and he went on to give birth to many dynasties which went on to rule mainland China. It was a one family rule. They were the Xia, the Shang, the Zhou, the Jin, the Ming and the Han dynasties. It has a very diverse history.

The Chinese Civilisation is also called the Han civilisation because this dynasty ruled over China for a very long period of time between the first and last rulers – longer than the other dynasties.

In 2070 BC the Xia dynasty began their rule and was the first to rule over all of China. Under the Zhou dynasty the Mandate of Heaven was introduced to justify their rule. Much of Chinese philosophy, culture and literature developed under this dynasty.

This dynasty was followed by many others until the end of the Qing dynasty. This ended in 1912 AD with the Xinhai Revolution. This occurred during the last Chinese imperial dynasty (the Qing dynasty in 1912 AD). This marked the end of four millennia of rule by the dynasty. It led to the establishment of the Republic of China.

Some of what the Chinese civilisation gave to the world is silk, gunpowder, paper, printing, cannons, alcohol, the compass, fine pottery, agriculture especially millet farming, burial of the dead, specialist craftsmen and administrators. Scholar-officials, proficient in history, calligraphy, literature and philosophy were selected through difficult government tests to carry out administrative jobs.

China has had thousands of years of continuous history and is often regarded as one of the world’s oldest civilisations. It is one of the cradles of civilisation.

➢ The ancient Greek Civilisation was from 2700BC to 479 BC. It was located in Greece, Sicily, North Africa and as far west as France. It was one of the most influential civilisations. The official rise of the Greek civilisation is from the Cycladic and Minoan civilisations in 2700 BC to 1500 BC but the Franchti Caves show burials from as early as 7250 BC.

The Greek civilisations stretched over a long period of time and so historians have divided it into different periods the most popular being the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. These periods are responsible for people and concepts that still influence us today. For example they gave us the Olympic Games – a period of time when all the city states ceased warfare and came together to participate and enjoy the games. It also gave us the concept of Democracy and the Senate. Greeks laid the foundation for modern biology, geometry and physics. It gave us the Hippocratic Oath that is still a cornerstone of medicine. It gave us famous people like Euclid, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Socrates, Plato, Sophocles, Homer, Aeschylus, Sappho, and many more. It gave us rulers like Cadmus, Miltiades, Polycrates, Ulysses, Alexander the Great, and many others. Greek inventions, theories, beliefs, the arts of war and peace still influence us today. Greece also gave us many heroes. Greece influenced Romans to a great extent especially in culture and philosophy. It still influences us, today in many ways – democracy, Olympic Games, in the sciences etc. are among some of them.

➢ The Persian Civilisation was from 550 BC to 331 BC. It spanned the area from Egypt to the West, Turkey in the North, through Mesopotamia to the Indus valley in the East. It covered all of modern day Iran. This was the most powerful civilisation of its time in the world. The Persians conquered extensive lands even though they ruled for a comparatively short period of time. This civilisation was known for its military strength and wise rulers.

Before 550 BC when Cyrus the Great unified them, they were divided into factions with each ruling their turf. After unifying them, Cyrus conquered Babylon and India. After his death his descendants continued conquering and annexing lands. Under Darius they fought the Spartans. Their power came to an end when Alexander the Great defeated them in 330 BC. Their capital was at Persepolis. Their religion was Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna which is one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions. The faith is centered on a dualistic cosmology of good and evil which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil. The religion is based on theological elements of henotheism, monotheism/monism, and polytheism. The spiritual leader Zoroaster (also known as Zarathushtra), exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), as its supreme being. The main features of Zoroastrianism, such as Messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and Free Will may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, Christianity, Islam, the Bahá’í Faith, and Buddhism.

Their temple is now a world heritage site. The Book of Kings or Shahnameh by the great poet and philosopher Ferdowsi is still read today.

➢ The Roman Civilisation lasted between 550BC and 465 AD. It was located by the banks of the river Tiber. In Old Latin, modern day Rome, the capital and largest city was called Romanus or of Rome. They were the most powerful ancient civilisation of their time. This civilisation encompassed the rules of the Roman Kingdom (753 BC to 27 BC), that of the Roman Republic (509 BC to 27 BC) and that of the Roman Empire (27 BC to 476 AD) when the empire was overrun by the Alemanni (an alliance of Germanic tribes).

The foundation of Rome is the stuff of myth and legend. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf. At the height of its power Rome ruled a huge area comprising all of the Mediterranean and a huge part of Europe including Gaul and Britain.

Early Rome was ruled by kings but only after seven of them had ruled, the people took control and introduced a council called the Senate. They referred to it as the Roman Republic.

Rome had some of the greatest leaders like Julius Caesar, Trajan, Augustus Caesar and antiheroes like Nero and Caligula.

The Roman Empire became so large (through its conquests) that it was impossible to be ruled by one person so it was divided into two parts, one ruled from Rome and the other from Constantinople – the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.

Rome bequeathed to us the designing of arches, the building of cities on grids, the concept