Long before the written word or pictograph, before the alphabet or the printing press, before media or mediums... there was fire. The flame has been a passion of mankind's throughout history. With it came the constant need for fuel.
Something to burn. Something dispensable that nobody minds if you turn to ash. At first it was wood and grass, leaves and limbs. Later mankind realized animal fat burned really well, and a few lucky ones noticed coal and petrol burned even better.
Many centuries have gone by with man ignoring what every animal instinctively knows, fire is dangerous, fire destroys, fire should be feared.
Men soon learned how to manipulate fire to make things. Many of these things made killing easier. They helped man hunt for food and eventually, to kill his enemies.
Fire allowed millions of inventions, many of which were made for war. With war comes the need for more fire, more destruction, more fuel.
Every human on earth knows the importance of fuel. We all use fire to survive, create comfort and cook our food.
Changing this innate desire in human life, to have fire and see smoke on every horizon, changing that need to burn will not happen easily. There is chaos in the smoke. There is heat in the embers. The memories will fade slowly, but eventually men and women will learn to use the free energy that is all around us, or we will perish.
The need to control fuel sources has become paramount to all "civilized" nations. Wars that used to be enabled because of fire are now being waged for control of its source. The flames grow.
When a forest is being consumed in a massive blaze the animals that lived there flee, they don't even look back. When mankind sees a fire they are like moths and move toward the flame.
The question is... what will finally be the canary that warns humans we have gone too far? How many species need to become extinct before we realize? When will the collective conscience of civilization become aware, or reacquainted with the notion that fire is death? Why can't we see that the never ending search through the bowels of mother earth for her precious fuel can only lead to the end... of everything human.
This past week we heard republican senators crying for a vote on opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. We witnessed men and women willing to destroy and push other species to the brink of extinction, all so we can continue to drive our Hummers to work and back.
Our leaders tell us to go on vacation and have the audacity to call us whiners while their pundits call us tree huggers. One can only assume it is their own inability to look at the big picture which prompts these responses. Don't they want to find alternatives?
When the last polar bear dies, will that be the canary in the coal mind? If there is another way, lets hope it is found soon... this bird cage is getting crowded.