Harming the Land and Animals

by Raquel Kirchen
(Kinchloe, MI 49788)

Saving the gift we all have: Breath of Heaven - Air isn't just chemistry - it's a miracle. There's a gift in every breeze, every cloud, every heartbeat. However, that gift is fragile, and what we do next determines whether it thrives or dies.

Raquel starts with: - Why do people have to do this to our land? Do they think that this is going to just disappear? We all need to stop this before it gets way worse!

Polluting the earth and the animals is going to make our world a living hell. People need to get a more caring heart rather than just saying, "I don't care, it's not doing anything to me," to themselves. Come on people, do something for your world instead of hurting it more.

So, people may say that they don't care, we can do whatever we want, it's not hurting us or the world is just making it way better. I have a question to everyone: do you guys think it's great the way you talk like this and don't care?

Barry's Response - You are so right, and it's so rightly put. Thanks Raquel.

You know, usually people's thinking affects their outward choices and behaviours, but when it comes to environmental topics and actions, the reverse appears to take place. We end up with a space, a void between our thoughts/words and our actions, where people have a hard time learning to "practice what your preach."

You ever notice that? Some authors have even called this common phenomenon the "value-action gap". The fact is, each decision a consumer (for example) makes is not based on a simple, single parameter (such as nutrition), but rather a complex composite of many factors, potentially, any of which may receive the greatest weighting at any given time (such as cost, the day before payday).

Laws, deadlines and consequences are three effective ways of bringing actions in line with community values, even if they do seem a little coercive. Can you think of any others?

Search this site for more information now.

Taking Advantage of the Land and Animals: When Nature Speaks

Do you ever wonder what the Earth would say if she could text us back? It's probably somewhere between a sigh and a storm. The rivers are coughing up our mistakes, and the skies-those same skies we once painted with dreams-are fighting back with heat, haze, and hurricanes. It's not revenge; it's physics.

"Harming the Land and Animals" isn't just about guilt -- it's about getting smarter. Let's talk about what's really happening in the air and the water. What a factory's cooling pond can do to clouds. Algae blooms can make you sneeze hundreds of kilometers away. Some of this is natural, cyclical, even beautiful in its complexity, until we push it too far.

Meteorology isn't just about forecasting rain

It's also about predicting consequences. When dirty water evaporates, it doesn't disappear. Every little molecule is part of an invisible weather symphony, including VOCs, nitrogen from farms, and ozone from cities. It might be called atmospheric coupling. It's called karma by poets.

Here's the twist: we can still change it. Industry can cut pollution before it escapes the pipe with real air quality consulting (the kind that uses dispersion models). Maybe we can design cities that work with the sky, not against it.

Mainstream climate talk often ends with "carbon bad, renewable good," but nature's story is bigger, more rebellious. There's ocean dust, volcanoes, lightning-born nitrates, and wind's chaotic kindness. Maybe they're half right when they say humanity's role is smaller than we're told. But stewardship isn't about blame—it's about belonging.

It's not a war between humans and nature. The house we're yelling in is the only one we have.

Next time you see a photo of an oil-soaked bird, don't just mourn. Invent like an inventor. Be like a cloud. What if we designed systems that clean as they go? What if we made stormwater, sunlight, and sound waves our partners instead of enemies?

Are we punishing the planet

...or is she just teaching us consequences? Let us know what you think.