High waves of toxic
water drown the land
Dead eyes,
the earth cries
The sun colors the morning
in the hues of dead trees
on the banks of greed
How high may become
the price the future
will have to pay?
What is the state of the climate crisis? Or rather, the Earth crisis?
The Earth still cries...
COP16 (Wikipedia, the "2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference") and COP29 (Wikipedia, the "29th UN Climate Change conference") are approaching. So we are being fed scientific publications that give us the latest updates. And the writers hope it will be food for governments and negotiators at the conferences.
Although these are not happy reads, it is important reading for me. It inspires me to make new work. And motivates me to live the way I live. Above that, it inspires and motivates me to tell you about it.
And why this post, why am I telling you this? Why do I hope you will read the whole thing?
Because it's important that you know the condition of your home. It is your only home, our only home. Only then you can make conscious choices. Do nothing, and watch your home become uninhabitable. Doing a little maintenance, knowing it's not enough. Or fix everything that is broken. Maybe even change the way you use the house so that it will be a good place to live for many, many generations to come.
And if you choose to stay with me until the end of this post, you will read that I can and will help you, if you want to change your way of life but need some kind of help and support.
The state of the Earth
Maybe you've read articles about these Earth crisis updates, maybe you prefer to skip them. Nevertheless, I provide a summary here, below the image of my new artwork 'Earth Cries (3)'. I hope that you read it. And that it motivates you to take an extra step in reducing your footprint on this threatened planet, our only Earth.
If you don't want to read the summary of the updates, at least hang on by reading the text up to the image of the artwork !
Who will pay the debt?
Disasters follow each other faster and faster and are more severe than ever. Many climate records are being broken, all over the world.
And still humanity's ecological footprint is growing, consumption is increasing. Governments devise measure after measure to achieve economic growth. Elections are won by whoever dares to promise the highest economic growth. Countries panic when economic growth stagnates. And rich countries that see their population growth stagnating try to entice young people to have more children. While meanwhile they tell developing countries to reduce their population growth, even finance projects to achieve that….
Is payback time knocking on our door?
Think about this, when you place your next order on the Internet for non-essential stuff. When you throw away something that can actually be used for years to come... Or when you take a plane for a vacation... And when you replace something because it is no longer fashionable. Or when you eat more than is good for you or very unhealthy ultra processed food. When you use and eat things that burden and pollute the earth in an unaccountable way....
If you keep buying stuff, keep eating bad and unhealthy food, why should companies stop producing it?
And if you don't want to change your lifestyle, why should political parties and governments risk your vote and their political future by forcing these changes upon you?
Tell me, who will pay your debt to the earth, to the millions of people whose existence is already threatened TODAY by the effects of the earth crisis, to next generations?
(Text continues below the image...)

The vital signs
" A new report by a team of international scientists has revealed Earth's harsh reality: 25 of Earth's 35 vital signs have reached more extreme records.
In the new study, published in the journal BioScience, scientists presented a stark look at the state of the climate crisis.
Scientists use 35 different planetary vital signs to track the effects of climate change, including human population, global tree cover loss, meat production per capita, energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, ice mass changes, glacier thickness and more.
Twenty-five of these vital signs are already breaking records, including human population, coal and oil consumption, ruminant livestock populations, U.S. heat-related deaths, carbon emissions, methane levels, fossil fuel subsidies, ocean heat content changes, ocean acidification, glacier thickness and tree cover loss, among others.
According to the scientists, the human population is increasing by around 200,000 people per day, while ruminant livestock populations are increasing by around 170,000 animals per day. They also found that fossil fuel consumption increased 1.5% in 2023. "
Read the full articles here: The Guardian, EcoWatch
Deforestation
" A separate report, the 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment, recently confirmed a decrease in tree cover, with 6.3 million hectares of land deforested in 2023.
The destruction of global forests increased in 2023, and is higher than when 140 countries promised three years ago to halt deforestation by the end of the decade, an analysis shows.
The rising demolition of the forests puts ambitions to halt the climate crisis and stem the huge worldwide losses of wildlife even further from reach, the researchers warn. "
Read the full article here: The Guardian
Wildlife
" Global wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 73% in 50 years, a new scientific assessment has found, as humans continue to push ecosystems to the brink of collapse.
Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the steepest average declines in recorded wildlife populations, with a 95% fall, according to the WWF and the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) biennial Living Planet report. They were followed by Africa with 76%, and Asia and the Pacific at 60%. Europe and North America recorded comparatively lower falls of 35% and 39% respectively since 1970. "
Read the full article here: The Guardian, WWF
What struck me (but not surprised me) in this article, is this:
" Governments have never met a single biodiversity target in the history of UN agreements and scientists are urging world leaders to make sure this decade is different. "
Yes, you read that correctly: NEVER met a single target...
And although governments will fight that vehemently by citing all sorts of local and regional successes, I believe the same is true of the COP UN Climate Conferences: none of the agreed-upon goals met, none of the promises kept.
Biodiversity plans
” Two years ago, nearly 200 countries agreed with each other that the Earth's biodiversity should be greatly improved. Those countries will meet again in [a little over a week on the COP16] in Colombia to discuss how they will implement the resolutions. To do so, they should have submitted a biodiversity plan prior to the summit.
The website of the Colombia summit shows that only 22 countries have submitted their plans. Among them are a number of EU countries, such as France and Italy, as well as, remarkably, the Taliban from Afghanistan.
The countries that have not yet submitted their plans still have a week to do so. Still, one can already wonder how seriously countries are taking the deadline. It seems unlikely that more than 150 countries will send in their reports in the next week, and the plans that have been submitted are sometimes quite old.
For example, the European Commission submitted an old plan, from 2020. That plan is full of good intentions for the years 2021 through 2024, with no indication in the document of whether those intentions have materialized. ”
Read the article here: NOS (Dutch)
I would say: it seems clear to me that most countries are definitely not taking the conference AND the biodiversity seriously.
The Earth cries...
The Why Question
A lot to think about…
At some point we all get the why question and want/need to explain why we did what we did, or didn’t.
To our partner, our children, other loved ones…. And always at some point to ourselves.
That's why I think it's important that we make conscious choices, that we think about the consequences of our choices. And not just the consequences to ourselves.
And we should all be able to say in all honesty and with a clear conscience that we knew what was going on and did everything within our capabilities and possibilities to prevent it from getting worse.
- o -
ALL WE NEED IS LESS CONSUMING
Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke. Thus to think about your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it. And on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming. And please, reflect on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…
So do you want to know your ecological footprint?
Then visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
And do you want to reduce your ecological footprint?
Then ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply visit my website and choose in the menu for Your Footprint.
And if you appreciate my writings and art and want to support me, you can buy me a piece of fruit here: https://ko-fi.com/jacobberghoef, thank you 🍏 !
So are you interested in more? Then read what I wrote about System Change, Man's impact on the earth, Organic Change, Regenerative Agriculture, Regeneration
- o-
Earth Cries (3) in the collection Drowned Earth and on Fine Art America, on Saatchi Art
© Jacob Berghoef FineArtPhotography
Very interesting article Jacob, yes, earth, nature cries more and more… Whereas she tells it’s enough, people keep on living as if they don’t hear her. We have forgotten that we should live in harmony, we don’t need so much to live happy, it’s the society with politicians and big companies managers who pushed people for always more. It’s more than time to protect nature and give her peace for the new generations, we are responsible of the world of tomorrow.
Thank you for sticking with me to the end of this post Laurence, I am glad you found it interesting.
Your observations are very to the point. We are constantly lured and seduced by marketing and forced by politicians and society to consume more.
And we want to be lured, we want to consume, we love the luxury and comfort. We love it so much, that we accept the force and tricks that are used upon us.
We are made to believe that we can compensate the consequences of our life style, and we gladly embrace that believe, because we don’t want to do with less.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Herzlichen Dank lieber Jacob für Dein tiefes Engagement und unüberhörbare Aufrufe, sich persönlich mehr um den so unglaublich gefährdeten Planeten, unserer aller Heimat aktiv
zu kümmern, vor allem sich nicht von ausufernder Werbung und unglaublichen Lügen so
vieler führenden Personen verführen zu lassen und blind zu glauben und den Kopf in den Sand zu stecken.
Die wissenschaftlichen Daten sind erschreckend und kaum zu begreifen, und doch herrscht weltweit weiter Gier nach noch mehr Genuß . Aufgeben gilt nicht, jeder sollte sich bemühen, weniger Resourcen zu verbrauchen und mehr Verantwortung zu tragen in so vielen Bereichen.
Besten Dank auch für Deine so zutiefst beeindruckende Kreation, dieses Bild sollte jeder gespeichert haben im Bemühen um Erhaltung/Verbesserungen aller Lebensbedingungen.
Beste Grüße für friedevolles Wochenende für Euch Beide.
Vielen Dank an dich, liebe Ute, für dein Engagement und deine Unterstützung, für deine Wertschätzung meiner Beiträge und Kunstwerke.
In der Tat, erschreckende Daten. Vielleicht so schwer zu fassen, dass sie das Verständnis und die Zugänglichkeit für viele erschweren.
Wir dürfen niemals aufgeben, nicht so sehr für uns selbst, sondern für diejenigen, die bereits weniger Glück haben und gefährdet sind, und für die Zukunft.
Angesichts der vorgelegten Daten und der Untätigkeit befürchte ich immer mehr, dass eine Verhaltensänderung letztlich durch die Verknappung der Grundbedürfnisse und durch Katastrophen erzwungen wird.