I was recently at a friends wedding, a Chinese wedding in New York, where they served
Shark Fin soup. It is amazing to me that we as humans have such a drive for status, that we would both torture animals and destroy the environment that we need to sustain our very lives, for the perception of status or to carry out old and outdated traditions. The shark fins in that bowl of soup were cut off of a live shark that was then thrown back in the ocean to die a slow and painful death. And we as a society are so blind to it because CNN would rather report about the war in Iraq and trivialities of celebrities' lives, rather than help the world. Helping the world just doesn't get ratings, and without ratings, the media become less attractive to advertisers, and without a large revenue stream from advertisers, the media can not afford its infrastructure to cover the ongoing demand for global breaking news. Ultimately advertisers just want to reach as many people as possible with their messaging. Therefore, the fact that educational and important environmental news is only marginally covered by the major media is more of a statement of our society, than of the media itself.
Anyway, it's a sad state of the world that we live in. This is why I travel as often as I do. I want to see the world before we destroy more of it. For years now, scientists have been claiming that
coral reefs may not be here for our grandchildren to see. Some species of sharks and
turtles may end up being so rare that they become mystical sea creatures of the "good old days". We as a society can prevent this. Through simply being concious about it....but on a whole, as a global society, we are not. So it will be the bold and noble gestures of the few to educate and save the rest of the world that may be our saving grace.
