An urgent, sacred mandate for the preservation of our Bahamaland & Mother Earth

An urgent, sacred mandate for the preservation of our Bahamaland & Mother Earth
Joe Darville.

My people, we are called to be the environmental consciousness pioneers, at this critical juncture of Earth’s dramatic agony, caused by our human species. Our mission is sacred; the indomitable laws of nature require us to preserve the sanctity of her breast, her bosom and her precious womb.

We all come forth from her loins, yet she has entrusted the preservation of every aspect of her glorious self to our safekeeping. Indeed, we have within our powers to destroy her and all that exist upon her. Over many millennia, she has through her evolutions passed through significant iterations. However, presently, she is unwittingly, negatively and dangerously being assisted by the footprints of man, down a path she has never intended.

Specifically, within the boundaries of our archipelago formation, she has over millions of years carefully, diligently and graciously laid forth a panorama of seas, islands, beaches, coral reefs, mangroves, bays, wetlands, even swamps; and’ dry land … both relevantly spread with a multitude of terrestrial and marine species.

A multitude of these features are indigenous just to our islands and seas. Thus, smorgasbords of delights have been ours over ions of times. We sin mortally when in our ignorance, or simple disrespect, we wantonly pillage, ravage and destroy her beauty in the name of “progress.”

As similar aspects are rapidly disappearing across our globe, more and more a multitude of prospectors are focusing a keen eye on the splendours of these pristine islands and cays of our Bahamaland. They come, in the name of development and job creation; however, unmindful of the hand of God in this glorious creation, they simply end up more so like pirates, coming often to plunder, and carry off as booty our sacred heritage to feed their insatiable selfish power of greed.

As the available coastal real estate, especially along the seaboard of the United States, completely disappears, many look our way to find and secure their wilderness refuge. However, we are the designated stewards of these islands, so gifted to us unconditionally. Thus our abiding responsibility is to preserve them for time immemorial, into the thousandth generations yet unborn.

We will forever, like the great and enlightened masters of yesteryear, need the silence and peace of the wilderness, whether on land or in the sea to commune meaningfully with ourselves and our creator. Thus upon the bosom and belly of Mother Earth, we discover the true abodes of peace, richness, fullness, rejuvenation and abundance.

We need our wilderness, we need to treasure our places of refuge in order to commune with our spiritual self, contemplate the essence of our being, and come to intuitively perceive the reason of our being here and specifically in this place at this time.

Additionally, the multitude of terrestrial and marine species also need and require their habitats of refuge to prosper and grow. They do so again with an unconditional motive, to share themselves with us, feed us and create a symbiotic relationship with them and the Earth we mutually share and enjoy.

When we lose sight of this transcendent vision of our place and that of every creature in the nature of all things, then we begin to eat away at the abundance, lose sight of the need to replenish, and very soon all is lost. Humanity is fast-tracking along that route of the annihilation of all the natural and sacred gifts so abundantly bestowed upon us by our gracious creator.

As environmentally consciousness pioneers, then, we all are the ones entrusted with the mission to awaken our slumbering fellow human beings, not only locally, but regionally and globally. Our pristine waters do not exist in a motionless state; they flow in and out of our archipelago, sending forth life into other regions and bringing in return life from afar. Water and air are Similar and indispensable, the most unconditionally sharing gifts on this planet. Thus how we treat our waters and our air in and around our islands, bays, streams, sounds, and even swamps have profound effects, not only at home but across the globe.

Thus to the degree that we care for these treasures so will the positive results be realized. What areas we preserve, well planned and managed, will not only return lasting benefits to us but will also send those effects throughout the realm. Then in the ages to come, our children, from whom we are borrowing this planet, will cherish and preserve this God-gifted spot in the limitless universe. They too will have pure drinkable water, clear dividable water, abundant fishable water and refreshing breathable air. These are their fundamental rights and we need to guarantee them.

We need then, to create reserves, banks into which our treasures can reside and grow, providing us with the residual outcome to supply our long term needs, and consequently allowing all living species to roam in their safe wilderness of refuge. Therein lies the sustainability of what God has so graciously bestowed upon our people and nation. In short and in essence, this mission is nothing short of a moral and spiritual mandate. It has just now been estimated that at the rate we are wantonly destroying our lands and seas, our oceans will be devoid of all life by 2048. Is that the legacy we wish to bequeath future generations!?

 

Joseph Darville, Save The Bays 

Waterkeeper

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