The Times newspaper of London on Thursday 14th October devoted an article to the Living Planet Report by the Zoological Society of London and the World Wildlife Fund, the former of which founded the famous Regent’s Park Zoo.
The report describes how man is plundering the planet. It states that by 2030, we will need the equivalent of two planets at this rate.

Back in 1977 and for about 6 years after that, I wrestled with what had been done to me in Denmark. The feeling that I had done something against nature or normality or that offended Danes or their church haunted me. This is something which they had induced. Eventually, after those years of mental and physical pain, I turned from believing in the work ethic and Protestant churches and socialism and turned to Catholicism and Conservatism. About six years later I moved back to a more compassionate view having learned from my experiences and began again what seemed like an interrupted journey.

I have had feelings that perhaps Denmark was hiding necessary things one must do to enjoy life and things beyond life from the rest of the world so that they alone would reap the benefits. As an example of how this was confirmed was that I have seen Danes declared the happiest of peoples, I have seen them engaged in producing and installing wind turbines which echoes my own Green principles of living. I have seen how they have remained broadly egalitarian on incomes while the rest of the world, including England where I live, has seen the gap between rich and poor widen.

In all this I could see a deceit and when Bjorn Lomborg, (see the Pink Dalek) wrote The Sceptical Environmentalist, I was shocked that this nation was making a hero of government of someone who seemed to be putting at risk biodiversity and human life with his convictions that everything would be OK once everybody was rich.

The report I mention above declares which countries have the biggest ecological footprint on the planet, or in another way, which countries are crushing the planet under foot, much as I was crushed in 1977 after entering a Lutheran church, (see the page ‘After Bliss’)

It has all come as a bit of a surprise to me to learn that the Danes are one of the heaviest ecological footprints, as the report declares, along with perhaps the expected Qatar and United Arab Emirates with their oil wealth and the US.
I cannot now help feeling the reason for this is that they mocked the Buddha nature which I had briefly been touched by, (see Bliss page). Buddha states all suffering is caused by our wants and desires. There may be more than a few in Denmark who want it all. Unthinking capitalism and socialism lead to thoughtless materialism. Green politics is probably the only answer as only Green politics will protect things in perpetuity. When economic times get tough socialist and capitalist politicians will not hesitate to sell off forests and national parks in order to appear as cuddly where in fact they are being nothing short of Daleks destroyers of life (see following pages Pink Dalek, Dr Who, Red Dalek). I have to emphasise the Darwinian view of Buddho-Darwinism proposed here, that Buddha could not have reached enlightenment unless the process of evolution had advanced our thinking. However, I must also declare that taking that to extreme such that one becomes in denial of Buddha is to advocate selfishness on a grand scale. The Danes appear to be taking the opportunity to deny personal responsibility by doing this as a unit, like an ants nest or beehive when a new queen departs to start a new colony.

The irony is not lost on me that I have spent decades thinking the Danes knew how to organise collectively and therefore would not be a part of the global rush to self-destruction, whereas in fact it now appears that their collective greed and selfishness is as damaging as the individual greed and selfishness which Buddha advocated avoiding.

It is my contention that only understanding the Buddha can save us from a future of resource wars and the consequent poverty of the many for the pleasure of the few. Further I suggest that only trusting Darwin to be honest can educate one to see virtue in preserving biodiversity. While there may be those in all the other creeds of the world who engage in ecological protection, I would suggest that for each of them there is another or even thousands more, who hold the same belief but are hell bent on accepting all opportunities to profit as their God’s blessings.

Denmark’s position reflects the reaction of Leonard Jorgensen, son of the then Prime Minister, which I have reported elsewhere, when I asked, quite gently, why he ate meat. He angrily replied, “I eat what I like”. I had asked simply because many people in the Hippie movement at the time, many socialist and in my experience, many of the people who worked in youth hotels as Leornard was doing, were vegetarians.
My question was the last straw or tiresome or something to a materialist, socialist, know all.

Footnote:
If I appear to be focussing on a few people and blaming them I apologise. It is simply that their immediate reactions to changes I was going through have led to many consequences over the following decades.