Illustration Above by *
kyrn, not me.
STOCK ART | MERCURY BRIGHTMANWelcome to the DeviantArt Portfolio of self-published author Mary E. Gober.
Enter My Journal
The Updated APN Diary, presented by ^
KevLewis & ^
SheTakesPicsTopic: Impact on NatureYou hear so often these days of people going green to
save the environment. As an employee of an electric company, I hear it daily. Though by general terms it is a good cause, one thing disturbs me still: the last time humanity cared about the Earth, they abandoned the cause and forgot about it.
I worry that going green is just a fad, and will die out, the way so many trendy causes go these days. Take for example that AIDS movement, or the Breast Cancer Awareness movement. Sure we get up in arms in the beginning, or on the day of remembrance, but once the cause has been overplayed, it is often abandoned. I will note that MANY of you that went pink in your icons during Breast Cancer Awareness week, are no longer sporting the pink. I for, one, do not care for the actual color, but I care for the cause, and I have not changed my icon, and will not change it. I fear that the same will happen to the going green movement.
I remember not too long ago, when I was a kid (early 90s), that Earth Day and Recycling actually meant something. Movies played up to the philosophy like Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. The world almost stopped to support it. I bought recycled notebook paper for school, and recycled my trash, but then the movement gradually died out.
As a print designer I can tell you that the declined support towards the closing of the century, has had an impact in how paper is produced today. Years ago, it was easy for companies to order recycled paper at a good price, but then when the movement went soft, so did the demand for recycled paper. Now the movement is back, with a very catchy slogan, and companies are demanding recycled paper, but it is no longer easy to come by, and it is very expensive to produce. Paper companies are even wary about getting new equipment to manufacture recycled paper, because they foresee this new demand as a trend too.
Fortunately for undiscovered authors like myself, the printing industry has made it easy for my book to be Print-On-Demand (POD), making self-publishing a breeze. Unfortunately, the presses for POD books cant handle recycled papers and as a result must used virgin paper. So I am torn. I want to share my book with the world, but I dont want to hurt it by having to cut down new trees to share it.

When that fateful day comes for me as an author, and I get picked up by a true publishing company, I will personally see to it that my books are printed on 100% recycled materials and inks (if I can). Unfortunately, until that day comes, I have no real options. As a nature photographer I struggle with my own principles of going green and my impact on nature. It makes me sad to think that one day, there might not be any flowers left to photograph. This brings to mind one of my favorite prose pieces, written by James Thurber, The Last Flower. The following excerpts are select portions of the piece, which best sum it up:
World War XII, as everyone knows, brought about the collapse of civilization. Towns cities, and villages disappeared. All the groves and forest were destroyed, and all the gardens, and all the works of art. Men, women, and children became lower than the animals
One day, a young girl who had never seen a flower chanced to come upon the last one in the world. She told the other human beings that the last flower was dying. The only one who paid attention to her was a young man. Together, the young man and the girl nurtured the flower and it began to live again
So presently, the world was at war again. This time, the destruction was so complete that nothing at all was left in the world, except one man, one woman, and a flower.
To read the whole piece, someone has posted it here:
[link]This piece was written in 1939, and even then people could see the destructive power we had on nature and the environment.
Isnt nature and environment the same thing? No. An environment is the outside conditions, resources, stimuli etc. with which life interacts. Nature is life. The two are not the same, but they are not by any means without each others support. Nature is dependent on the conditions of the Environment, where as an Environment is not solely dependent on the conditions of Nature. So when you are thinking about going green or saving the environment, remember what you are trying to protect, or Go for.
Often times humans have a tendency to do good things only for themselves
I am no exception to this, and neither are you. We are worried about the environment for one primary reason: to save ourselves. However, in order to save ourselves, we must save other living things and the environments they inhabit. Next time you take a photograph of something in nature, or look at something in nature, ask yourself, would you be willing to give up your way of life to save the life of that natural thing?
If we are going to become consciously aware of our impact on the environment, we need to be consciously aware of the whole problem. I personally dont like the catchy term Going Green, because it doesnt represent the whole picture. If we are going to protect the world, we need to protect all forms of color and levels of nature; not just the green ones. Personally I would like to Go Blue, but that isnt catchy enough. I want blue skies and blue water, because it is the impacts we have on those things that helps the things in nature go green.
If we truly want to make an impact on saving the world, we should all Go Caveman or Go Pre-industrial Revolution, but nobody in this modern age is ever going to make that quantum leap. So what is the next phase in saving the Earth from us and for us? Evolution.
It is time to Evolve. It is time to stop the war we are waging on our planet, and all wars in general for that matter. It is time to share and love one another and the planet that we are so fortunate to be guests upon. It is time for the Natural Revolution to begin and it is time for this essay to end. So thats my hypocritical soapbox about the environment and our impact on nature. I say hypocritical because I am not fully green yet, but I am trying everyday to go a little bit greener. After all, though I would love to see my photos of nature in a museum someday, I wouldnt want to see them in a history museum as a memory of what once was.
Thank you, and have an excellent APN Week!


My book features the beautiful cover art by
Meredith Dillman 
*
kyrn
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Devious Comments
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Plant a tree, and grow
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Come with me and we'll be in a world of your imagination
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new Web site (still in the works): greenantdesign.ca
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I have defied gods and demons. I am your shield. I am your sword.
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Sing like no one is listening.
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Animals are not ours to eat, wear or experiment on!
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Attention: les appareils domestiques marchent moins bien quand on est bourré.
Quick Market is the asylum of the last survivors!
[link]
Thank you so much for the
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To view my paintings:
My WebSite
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...i'm not that creative or in the mood to write something clever here...
Thank you so much for the fav' on "Wide Open" [link]
Really appreciated, you have a beautiful gallery
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CAREFUL !!! DON'T CLIK [link]
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Come with me and we'll be in a world of your imagination
Thank you so much for the fav!!
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♠ May each one create himself his own virtue, his own imperative categorical...
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How do I inject dignity into the word help? - Illya Kuryakin
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My Content Dealer for 3D....
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peace is not a question. it's the answer.
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Take a look [link]
Have a great day!!
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There's no sense crying over every mistake
you just keep on trying until you run out of cake....
I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior.
=sunsets
Those who dance are considered insane by those who cant hear the music.George Carlin
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ACS - 'racing till the brakes bleed!!!
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What A Long Strange Trip It's Been...
Have A Grateful Day!
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