Atta Boy!

"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."

~
Buddha

Mother Nature was at her creative best when she went about creating the world. Mountains, plains, rivers, hills and oceans. Trees, animals, birds, fish and butterflies. The Sun, moon, sky, stars and space. But one day she made a mistake. A big mistake. A mistake bigger than even the dinosaurs. She created what she thought would be her master piece - Man. She couldn't be more mistaken.

Man was her favourite of all creations so far. She fondly crafted him to be the most delicate and superior among all beings. She blessed him with supreme intelligence, and an upright spine. She gave him the rare gift of speech. She caressed him like a spoilt child. Little did she know that she was cradling a Frankenstein, for she failed to curb his selfishness.

As time passed, Man honed his skills. He further developed his intelligence and created his own little world. He met his basic needs with the help of other creatures. He depended on trees and animals for his food because he did not have the ability to make his own, as well as for clothing and shelter because his skin was way too delicate to endure the lashes of changing weather. He was Nature's favourite creation, and the most feeble. No other animal can clothe itself or decorate its house with the remains of a human being, can it?

Soon Man discovered the buried treasures within the heart of the earth. He indiscriminately exhumed the same and used them to operate the gadgets that he had invented to make his life even more comfortable. He created tools and equipment that would make his life more luxurious. With those he cut down trees to make way for 'civilisation'. The trees in the forests were replaced by concrete jungles that Man called cities. He wanted more space to satiate his greed for land. So he ushered all other animals and birds into enclosures. He glorified his bullying by calling them reserves and sanctuaries. Man went to these reserves when he pleased and poached the animals that lived there. He used their skin, claws, teeth, horns, bones and other body parts for absolutely wasteful purposes. When he could no longer push animals aside, he warred with other men to grab their land. He was the centre of his own world and failed to see that land was nature's gift to all living beings as were all other things that he plundered.

Man created a nuisance called money, which became the basis of all his misdeeds. He exploited Nature and extracted money from the other men for doing so. This eventually created a vicious cycle of unending exploitation of natural resources and his fellow human beings. Mother Nature hoped that maybe her spoilt child would cease to be so callous about her. But that was not to be.

Today, there are sparse forest covers remaining, and a good number of species of animals are extinct. Huge amounts of carbon dioxide is emitted every hour into the atmosphere which is depleting the ozone layer. The poles are melting. This phenomenon is also glorified by Man under a term called Global Warming.

He is doing a lot to curb this Global Warming - a thing that he solely caused - by monitoring the carbon emissions and trading them under the label of carbon credits around the world, creating environment friendly things that cost a hell lot of money, engaging people in social activities trying to spread awareness about the ills of animal poaching, consequently asking them to donate money for the cause. He also pastes sheets of paper wherever he can that say, "Save Paper, Trees are Precious!"
~