An overview of deforestation and pollution of the amazon rainforest

By Sergey Baranov

This article was originally posted on October 10

(INTELLIHUB) — When Avatar, a masterpiece written and produced by James Cameron, came out, I was already living in Peru and for the first time I saw it in the bus during my honeymoon heading north to visit a dear friend of mine in the central Andes. But a long bus ride going on a mountain road made the viewing someone difficult.

I thought to watch it again when I got home. Watching the movie upon my return was more than simply enjoying the special effects. It was quite sad since a painful reality was reflected in the science fiction film. The fictional wildlife on Pandora reminded me of real life in the Amazon basin, a unique eco-system and the richest region on Earth in terms of biodiversity.

It is a home for countless species of plants, many of which have incredible curative properties which knows no equal in the world. In the movie, a Resources Development Administration searching for a rare and valuable mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, stumbles upon the richest deposit of it on which ground stands a giant tree which is seen as sacred by the native humanoid tribe Na’vi.

This Hometree, or the Tree of Souls, was seen as source of healing and inspiration by the natives, had to be removed in order to get to the mineral deposit underneath it. But destroying the Hometree would mean more than just a moral devastation of the native tribe who worshiped the tree for its sacredness. It would also threaten the whole biosphere native to Pandora due to its neural connectedness with the web of planetary life. What happens next in the movie, we can see in our world, in which corporate greed is destroying life on its path to enrichment.

While the mining company was searching for a rare mineral on Pandora, corporations are drilling for oil and mining for gold in the Amazonian rainforest, the biggest medical library and best natural hospital on our planet. It has been estimated that one square mile of Amazonian rainforest gives life to 50,000 species of plants!

Thousands of which are healer plants which are able to cure you from many diseases, and some of them are also teacher plants, capable of opening your heart and mind to other realms of consciousness in which you can observe the movement of the Universe like a mechanism of your clock while realizing your higher self as a drop of the Universal ocean of consciousness. While showing you Eternity beyond the sense of time in limitless space, it makes you understand your life as a miracle which can’t be wasted in an unconscious state of mind.

Deep gratitude for being alive can help you to re-examine your life and make necessary changes. New levels of understanding, inner connectedness to the whole creation and new sense of self as the embodiment of cosmic consciousness make you want to live your life in a better way, in the right way, peacefully co-existing with others while living in harmony with the natural world. And that’s to put it briefly.

Besides the rich shamanic tradition based on the use of sacred plants, there is a big indigenous population whose life depends on the integrity of their natural environment which now is threatened by pollution and destruction left behind by corporations drilling for oil123 and mining for gold.

“Last week Peruvian journalist and politician Guido Lombardi showed his audience a video shot from a wingcam aboard the Carnegie Airbourne Observatory (CAO), an airplane used by researchers to conduct advanced monitoring and analysis of Peru’s forests. The video quickly received more than 60,000 views on Youtube” and has left me with heartache.

What you see on the video it’s only a fraction of the ongoing devastation of the rainforest caused by gold mining. Where is Greenpeace on that? Where is UNESCO? Why are mining and drilling not outlawed throughout the whole Amazon basin? Why is the profit base corporate mentality let run free like a wild beast on the gentle fields of life? Is that because of the spiritual void dominating the western world in which consumerism is seen as cultural identity and yellow metal taken as the archetype of wealth? What happened to the human beings who find joy and value in shiny trinkets more than in life itself?

The same goes with money which is nothing more than a shared belief printed on cheap paper. However, many people make a collection of this paper to be the purpose of their life. Time spent in the Amazonian rainforest among native tribes who interact with nature in a spiritual way, can offer you another perspective on life, helping you to challenge your beliefs with the wider perception of reality, thus contributing to your personal growth on the path to awakening.

This evergreen natural environment of the Amazonian basin is now dying due to corporate greed, government corruption and the collective unconscious, all to which an indigenous life of South America with its exotic flora and fauna simply don’t matter and darkens in the light of the profit and image of wealth. But it isn’t a local issue.

Globalization of corporate madness whose ugly face is seen clearly in the amazon basin, is posing a serious threat to the survival of the human species and biosphere of our planet, which if not restrained, will destroy it. A polluted and depleted environment is our tomorrow, if we let the corporate culture enslave our mind and destroy our spirit today.

Sources:

[1] Chevron – AmazonWatch.org

[2] Chevron Toxico

[3] Say no to oil in the Amazon – Avaaz

Writer Bio:

Sergey Baranov, is a contributor to intellihub.com and author of the book ”PATH” Find him on Facebook

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